36 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



side by tlowor-Ofds altenmtely round and oblong, Avith luxuriant borders of cushion pink. Not 

 long after Hodge had been naturalized in tliis retreat a beaten path was found across one of 

 the oblong beds, about four feet from the end; while the track of some animal was plainly 

 visible on the path which went round the farther side of the circular bed, which came next 

 it. This excited some surprise, but a little observation soon discovered the cause, though only 

 to i-ender the surprise greater. It was found that, as regularly as the evening set in, Hodge 

 was to be seen running round and round, with a swift and steady pace, exactly in the track 

 which he had beaten out, and never in any other. The oddity of the circumstance often drew 

 spectators, but for them he cared not a pin, if they only kept out of his way. 1 once had 

 the pleasure of witnessing this nocturnal exercise. It was quite ludicrous to see his grave, 

 steady air as he emcirged from under the cushion pinks of the circular bed, trotted up the 

 middle path close under the border, came in full view as he crossed the oblong bed, and 

 dived out of sight behind the opposite border, to appear again in a few moments. If uninter- 

 rupted he generally kept on a good while without pausing. All who witnessed his circum- 

 ambulations were quite at a loss to give a satisfactory reason for them, though several (myself 

 among the rest,) puzzled over the subject a good deal. If it were merely for exercise, why 

 choose that particular spot, and always keep to it? and why should he strike out a path aCT'oss 

 the oblong bed, instead of keeping to that which went round the circular one." Be this as it 

 may, the sport, if sport it were, was kept up with commendable punctuality for some weeks, 

 as long, I believe, as Hodge remained there. His object in running this eternal round still 

 remains a mystery ; but if any wiser heads have met with any thing similar, and are prepared 

 with an explanation, they would do well to give it in the pages of "The Naturalist." — 

 Henky Ferris, Kingsdown, Bristol. 



The Sparroiv, (Passer domesticus.)~In the October Number of "The Naturalist," page 221, 

 I observe a paragraph by a correspondent, on the Nesting of the Common House Sparrow, in 

 which he a.sks if the Sparrows raeutioued in a communication by me, in "The Naturalist," for 

 February, 18-52, page 36, were not mistaken by me for the Tree Sparrow, {Passer arboreus,) 

 by which I suppose he means the {Passer montanus.) Now, I am quite sure that they were 

 the ordinary House Sparrow, (P domesticus,) and not the {P. montanus,) as I fully convinced 

 myself of at the time. It is not at all a rare circumstance for this bird to build in trees near 

 houses; at least in this part of the country. I am not aware of the other species, {Passer 

 montanus,) ever having been seen in Scotland; I believe it is a bird of rather local distribution, 

 and never nestles but in trees. When the House Sparrow builds in trees, he constructs his 

 nest in a more compact way than when he lodges under the eaves of houses, or in the thatch 

 of stacks.— J. D., 38, Cumberland Street, Edinburgh, November 5th., 1852. 



Additional Heronries. --In addition to the already-mentioned Jleronries in "The Naturalist," 

 may be added one in "Babingley Wood," near Castle Kising, Norfolk, and one at Cobham Pai'k, 

 Kent.-J. W. LuKis. 



"Corvus fnigilogus."— In this parish, in one of the Rook-shooting excursions of last month, 

 which j-our valued correspondent, J. Me' Intosh, Esq., so feelingly denounces in No. 16 of "The 

 Naturalist," one of the victims was pied, I do not mean put under the crust, but partaking of 

 the Magpie's colouring. There was a large white spot in the throat just und(>r the bill, and 

 the three large outside feathers in each wing were pure white. It is a fine male bird, and is 

 preserved.— R. E. Morues, Ashcott, June 3rd., 1852. 



"Pyrrhula vulgaris."— I never knew till the other day, while staying with a friend of mine 

 near Glastonbury, that feeding cage-birds with hemp-seed produced such a change of colour in 

 their plumage. I was of course aware that birds often died from being too plentifully supplied 

 with this food, but the case I am speaking of struck me as somewhat singular, and may perhaps 

 be interesting to some of your bird-keeping readers. My friend had bred some Bullfinches in 

 a cage, and one fiue cock-bird, which was kept by itself, and fed upon scarcely anything but 

 hemp-seed, lived three years; and at the time of its death its plumage, both the beautiful gray 

 of the back and the vermillion of the bresist, had become perfectly black. It was not the glossy 

 purple black of the Rook, but a dead inky-looking colour. It is now stuffed, and in company with 

 a few other qunndim songsters is perched, a curiosity at least, if not an ornament in my friend's 

 drawing-room, whore I saw it last month. Is there any other instance on record of so totalis 



