206 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



opportunity of giving more information respecting her, I would do so ; unfortunately I now have 

 that opportunity, as she was shot last week; I say unfortunately, because she was in suoh a 

 ragged state of moult, that she would almost bear a comparison with the celebrated Jackdaw 

 of Kheims, whilst under the curse of the church of Rome, "with his feathers all turned the 

 wrong waj'." On comparing the following with my former communication, it will be seen that 

 she has grown much winter. — She has the right wing now white, with the exception of the 

 outer part of one of the primaries; the left wing has three of the primaries, and two of the 

 secondaries (new feathers) mottled; there are a few old feathers black in the middle of the 

 back, with a very small sprinkling of black feathers on the neck and breast, more so on the 

 loft than right side; there are three or four dark brown feathers (old) on each shoulder; the 

 remnant of her tail (old feathers) is of the natural colour, the two longest feathers of which 

 are wanting, and are being replaced by two new feathers, now about a third of their proper 

 length, one of which is nearly white, whilst the other is more of the usual colour, showing 

 that the whitening was still going on; and I have no doubt had she been spared a few years 

 longer, she would have become quite white. Her legs arc flesh-colour behind, black in front; 

 feet and beak black, with eyes of the natural colour. She weighed seven ounces, and the 

 apparent smallness of her head, noticed in my former comnnmication, would be accounted for, 

 by the back of the head and a portion of the neck being denuded of feathers, which appears 

 to have been of considerable standing. She has been mounted by my friend, Mr. C. Jackson, 

 whose interesting communications frequently appear in "The Naturalist," and he has succeeded 

 in making out of a mass of rags and filth, a much more respectable-looking bird than I 

 thought could have been possible. — Stephen Clogg, Looe, July 27th., 1853. 



Malformed Hen's Egg. — I met with a singular malformation in an egg a few days since, 

 which had been laid by a Hen. It was two unshelled eggs, linked together by a white mem- 

 branous substance about an inch long, being a circular tube somewhere about a quarter of an 

 inch in diameter. The eggs were about the size of a Pigeon's egg — both^of the same size and 

 shape. The one contained the yolk, and the other the white, each entire and unmixed. — 

 D. Thorn, Preston, Yorkshire, May 13th., 1853. 



A. Carious Fish was taken out of the river flowing through this town, about a month since, 

 by a friend of mine. Owing to its being very decomposed, he could not make out the genus, 

 but he had it carefully cleaned. There were no side bones, but the vertebrae measure in 

 length about four feet; I have a small portion of it that was detached, and should be glad to 

 forward it to any reader of "The Naturalist," who could give me any information on the 

 subject. — J. Williamson, Jun., Sherborne, Dorset, April_22nd., 1853. 



May not the fish have been a large Eel. — B. E. M. 



Experiment in the Propagation of Fish. — "We understand that Dr. Robertson, of Dunkeld, 

 questioning the popular idea as to the natural history of Fish, which is that the male and 

 female meet on the redd, or spawning bed for__the purpose of each depositing its roe and milt 

 in the channel — and conceiving, on the contrary, that the ova of the female were impregnated 

 previous to their development within the body of the fish — in order to test this theory, took 

 a number of live female trout from the spawning bed, and having extracted the roe, deposited 

 them in a perforated zinc box, containing also some gravel. All these, on the 14th. of October 

 last, were placed in a running stream, and on examining the box last week several of the 

 ova were found to be hatched, of which a specimen may be seen by any one taking an interest 

 in the matter. The proof of this will completely do away with the trouble of obtaining the 

 milt to apply to the roe, as is done by the French fishermen, and establishes a theory strongly 

 advocated by Mr. T? Stoddard. From the severity of the winter the whole of the ova are not 

 yet hatched, but a sufiiciency are to prove the truth of this theory. We imderstand that the 

 Dr. is preparing a detailed account of the experiment, which will appear soon. — Perth Courier. 

 Communicated by the Rev. W. Waldo Coopek. 



Occurrence of the Sharp-winged Hawk Moth, (Metopsilus celerio.) — My sister captured, in 

 the beginning of October last, a verj' perfect specimen of the Sharp-winged Hawk Moth. 

 Perfect specimens of this very rare British Sphinx are not often to be met with. — C. Stubhs, 

 Henley-upon-Thames, Oxon. 



