THE TOAD. NESTING OF THE SPARROW, ETC. '221 



I have no reason for doubting that Daws have built in the hollows of trees 

 over since, according to the Roman ornithologist, Ovid, that money-loving 

 traitress Sithonis was metamorphosed into this same bird. Ovid says, 



"Mutata est in a^■em quaa nunc quoque diligit aurum 

 Nigra pedem, nigris velata moxedula pennis." 



I kept one once, the merriest, most mischievous pet that was ever hatched; 



the veriest vagabond thief that ever appropriated what did not belong to 



him; and a brave defender too of what he had stolen; until at last he 



himself was stolen, whether indeed also by himself, or by another, I am not 



exactly prepared to say. 



THE NATURALIST, VOL, 2. PAGE 21. 



THE TOAD. 



Eighteen centuries ago Toads were found in holes: "Inventus que cavis 

 BUFO," says Virgil, in his first Georgick. We are just as far from compre- 

 hending the natural history of these recluses as was the Ausonian farmer. 



..the naturalist, vol. 2., PAGE 36. 



NESTING OF THE SPAEROW. 



Is J. D. of Edinburgh quite sure that the Sparrows which built in the 

 larches and beech trees at Ashes, near Culross, Perthshire, were bona fide 

 Passeres domesticif I am not wishful to impugn the ornithological science 

 of J. D.: by no means. But Passeres arhorei are very similar in personal 

 appearance, in material of nest, and in egg, to the former, and are frequently 

 mistaken for them. I am fully aware that the House Sparrow does build in 

 trees; and, true to his instincts, he there makes a domed nest; thus deluding 

 his young with the idea that they have been as much reared under cover as 

 if they had been hatched under the eaves of a cottage, or in the convenient 

 niches of the flowering capital that curves over the shaft of the Corinthian pillar. 



I have spoken with open-air naturalists, who deny the existence of Passer 

 arhoreus; and who assert that the Sparrow that builds under eaves and in 

 holes is analagous with the bird that builds a domed nest in trees. 



THE NATURALIST, VOL. 2, PAGE 109. 



DO THE HAWK TRIBE DRINK? 



As far as my experience goes — -no. I believe that flesh-eating birds seldom 

 or never drink. I have kept various birds of prey at various times, but never 

 once saw either Falcon or Hawk drink water. I kept two Kestrels in a 

 room, and they never saw any water. They were very docile, and would 

 come and perch on my wrist at my whistle. I fed them with flesh and 

 shell-snails. 



I took a Buzzard Hawk from the top of a mighty ash tree in Sir Arthur 

 Aston's Park, in Cheshire. She was indeed a magnificent bird. She had an 

 eye like an Immortal, and withal as gentle as Night. I entertained great 

 hopes of flying her. She never touched water whilst in my possession; but 



