Qiieries and Answers. 287 



Part II. of Gould's Birds of Europe, whence we learn as fol- 

 lows : — " Mr. Selby has, in the Transactions of the North- 

 umberland Natural History Society, noticed the occurrence of 

 the C. alpinus in Britain, and an individual has been killed 

 on the estate, and is now in the possession, of R. Holford, Esq., 

 Kingsgate, near Margate. " The natural habitat of the C. 

 alpinus is more exclusively limited to the middle of the 

 southern districts of Europe, particularly its alpine regions, 

 and the shores of the Mediterranean : being very abundant at 

 Gibraltar, Sardinia, Malta, and throughout the whole of the 

 Archipelago ; and to these may be added the northern parts 

 of Africa. In its manners, it closely resembles our well-known 

 swift (C. murarius), but possesses, if possible, still greater 

 powers of flight. It would appear that the clefts of rocks, 

 and high buildings, are the sites which this bird chooses for 

 the purpose of nidification ; the female laying three or four 

 eggs, of a uniform ivory white. The sexes of this species pre- 

 sent but little difference, the colour of the female being 

 rather less decided ; in the male, a uniform greyish brown is 

 spread over the whole of the upper surface, which descends 

 across the breast in the form of a band, along the flanks, and 

 over the inferior tail coverts ; the throat and the middle of the 

 belly are of a pure white, the tarsi covered with brown fea- 

 thers, and the irides brown. Length, from 9 in. to 10 in." 

 (Gould's Birds of Europe, part ii.) 



Has any one observed the under-described Act in the Great 

 Black Ant ? — I shall consider myself very much obliged if 

 any reader will inform me if he has ever observed the fol- 

 lowing curious movements in the economy of that most 

 interesting creature, the ant. I have been for many years an 

 attentive observer of them, but never, until this instance, re- 

 marked a similar occurrence. 



Resting myself, a few days ago (a fine warm sunny day), 

 on an old wooden bridge near the forest, and near to which 

 was a large nest of the great black ant ; my attention was 

 arrested by numbers of them passing to and fro, and all of 

 them having something in their mouths. To discern what it 

 could be, I took one of them in my hand, when, to my surprise, 

 I found that each ant, so employed, had one of its fellows in 

 its mouth, but so rolled up as to appear like a ball, held by 

 its forceps, and on its back, forming a complete round, and 

 quite motionless ; there was no attempt to get away ; and 

 when released by my fingers, the one so held made no attempt 

 to get away, but remained still in my hand, seemingly not 

 at all disturbed by its late conveyance. I tried many of them 

 in this way, and all exhibited the same appearance. It was a 

 fine day for the time of year, and quantities of them were 



