MISCET.LANEOUS NOTICES. 83 



about 1839, in the grounds adjoining Pensylvania Castle, Portland; unfor- 

 tunately, however, they were both afterwards shot, and one. I understand, is 

 now in the possession of Captain Manning, of Portland Castle. 



The Fieldfare, (Turdus pilaris.) — I observed several of these birds in a 

 turnip-field near this town on Monday, October 20th., which I imagine must 

 be very early. 



Cistus, (Helianthemum vulgare.) — This little plant is also met with, I learn, 

 on the eastern side of Portland, near Pensylvania Castle. 



Dorchester, January, 1852. 



Blisrrllnarniiig JhWm. 



Note on a Black Rat. — During last week a Rat, which attracted curiosty, from its unusual 

 appearance, was caught in Bristol cathedral. It was sent up to tlie Pliilosophical Institution, 

 where, upon examination, it was found to be one of the Black English Rats, a race which 

 is now nearly extinct, having been all but exterminated by the Rats now ordinarily met with, 

 the species which is known as the Brown or Xorway Rat, which is really, by the way, an 

 Asiatic importation.— "Wells Jouunal, December 13th., 1851; Michael Westcott. 



Sagacity of a Rat. — I send you the following instance of sagacity in the Rat, in case you 

 should deem it worthy of a place in your highly-interesting periodical :— In an out-house used 

 for garden tools, I placed, for the purpose of procuring maggots, to feed some young Partridges, 

 Avhich I was rearing, several Rats which had been trapped. A few days afterwards, there was 

 scarcely anything left of these Rats but their skins ; their entrails having been entirely devoured by 

 their living brethren. I then placed on the floor, near a Rat hole at one comer of the out-house, 

 a candle prepared with arsenic: next morning the candle had disappeared, and I congratulated 

 myself that one, at least, of these destructive vermin had taken more than was good for it. 

 However, some weeks afterwards, finding that the Rats were still in the tool-house, and were 

 working their way into the poultry house adjoining, I took up the floor of the former in order 

 to lay it with broken glass and lime. In doing this, I found the place quite honey-combed 

 underneath, with the runs of the vennin ; and, at the very opposite corner fron^ the one where 

 I had placed the candle, a distance of three or four yards, I found the candle untasted ; showhig 

 that the Rats must have dragged it that distance underground, and though, for some time 

 previous, they could have had nothing to feed on but the refuse of the drains, they had the 

 sagacity to discover that the candle was dangerous, and the self denial to abstain from devouring 

 it. This is the more extraordinary, as I have not been in the habit of using poison to get rid 

 of them.— C. M. 0., Edinburgli, December, 1851. 



Note on tJie Kowail, or Black Indian Cuckoo, (Cuculus Indica,) — The Kowail is a handsome 

 bird ; the plumage of the male is black and glossy as the Raven ; the shape is elegant, tlie eye 

 a brilliant scarlet. The female is larger, brown and black, regularly baiTcd with white, and the 

 whole breast speckled and spotted; the eye a rich crimson brown. These birds come in spring, 

 with the lilac blossoms of the Ash, ( Melia Azedarachta,) and the bursting leaves of the Sissoo, 

 (Balbergia Sisso.J They are seen about the gardens, and heard chattering to each other; but 

 their song does not fill the gi-oves with melody till March, when the Mango flowers, (Mango/era 

 Indica, J load the air with perfume. The voice of the Kowail, the bird of the Indian poets, is 

 most musical; the note is "cuckoo, cuckoo," but prolonged and repeated, and swelling as it goes 

 up higher and louder; three or four birds singing together, like voices perfoi-ming a catch or glee, 

 till the quiet night and moonlight air ring with their music. The Black Cuckoo, for there are 

 three or four different species of Cucidus found in our woods, lays its e%^ in the nest of the 

 Common Crow ; the eggs of both are bluish green, speckled with brown, and the same size and 

 shape. The Crows make excellent foster-parents, unweai-ied in theii' exertions to feed their greedy 



