106 MISCELLANY. 



confirmation than the above anonymous notice. Man is too apt to judge hastily 

 of a thing which he has not himself had an opportunity to verify, and to 

 think that because it is remarkable it must necessarily be absurd — as if nothing 

 unusual were ever likely to happen. We, however, do not undertake to deny 

 the truth of the above " remarkable fact," but, finding in our brain no explana- 

 tion of the circumstance, either practical or theoretical, we trust we shall be 

 excused if w e remain sceptical for the present. — En.^ 



The Blood of Quadrupeds poisonous to Birds. — If blood with circular 

 particles be injected into the vessels of an animal whose blood- corpuscles are 

 elliptical, the most violent effects are instantly produced ; such blood acts upon 

 the nervous system like the strongest poisons ; and death usually follows with 

 extreme rapidity after the injection of a very small quantity. Thus, if a few 

 drops of the blood of a Sheep be injected into the vessels of a bird, the bird is 

 killed instantaneously. It is very remarkable that the blood of mammalia should 

 be thus fatal to the bird. The effect cannot be dependent on an}' mechanical 

 principle. The injection of a fluid with particles the diameter of which is 

 greater than that of the papillary blood-vessels, would of course destroy life by 

 stopping the circulation ; but the blood-corpuscles of the mammalia are much 

 smaller than those of the bird ; yet the Pigeon is killed by a few drops of mam- 

 miferous blood ; and the blood of the fish is rapidly fatal to all the mammalia as 

 well as to birds. — Dr. Southwood Smith's Philosophy of Health, Vol. II., p>. 430. 



Prize-Essays on the Turnip-fly. — In Vol. III., p. 45, a correspondent 

 makes inquiry with regard to prize essays on the Turnip-fly. Last summer 

 twelvemonths the Saffron Walden Agricultural Society offered two prizes of £50 

 each, one for the best description of the economy and structure of the Turnip-fly, 

 the other for the best essay on the mode of destroying this insect. I heard from 

 a friend at Walden the other day, and he tells me that the prizes have not- yet 

 been adjudged. Further particulars can be obtained on this subject from Mr. 

 Joshua Clarke, Saffron Walden, Essex. — Edwin Lankester, Campsall, near 

 Doncaster, Jan. 12, 1838. 



The Hen Harrier near Scarborough. — Specimens of this bird are repeatedly 

 shot on the moors near Scarborough. They also breed there. One was very 

 recently brought to me by Mr. Smith, gamekeeper at Hackness. — Patrick 

 Hawkridge, Scarborough, Aug. 7, 1837. 



Wild Swans near Ayr. — On Thursday last, a flock of nearly thirty Wild 

 Swans were observed flying in a very compact body, and almost within gun-shot 

 of the town of Ayr, directing their course southward, with the intention, perhaps, 

 of visiting, during the winter months, some of the farms situate in our inland 

 mountains. These feathered strangers inhabit the northern regions of the globe, 

 and seldom leave those inhospitable climes to visit more southern latitudes, un- 



