OENlTHOLOaiCAL AND OTHER NOTES. Od 



mentioned birds, yet of a verity they must be considered "thorough economists" 

 — economists in "the raw material/' economists in time, and economists in 

 Labour; or did the exigencies of the case require extraordinary dispatch? and 

 is it possible that in order to meet this, they might have been gifted with 

 discrimination enough, or even with powers of calculation sufficient, to enable 

 them to arrive at the conclusion that a fabric half-raised might be completed 

 in just half the time that would be indispensable in the construction of a 

 fresh one? Their proceedings would almost seem to justify such a supposition. 



A Moorhen chased hy a Rat. — Standing one evening in autumn on the 

 margin of a moat, near the just-named Gentleman's residence, an extraordinary 

 noise proceeding from the opposite side suddenly arrested my attention, when 

 on turning my eyes in that direction I observed an enormous Rat, [Mus 

 dec.itmanus,) in hot pursuit of a Moorhen, (GalHnula chloropus.) The extra- 

 ordinary sounds, which partook of something of the nature of a hiss and a 

 yell, and which I can compare to nothing so aptly as those produced— of 

 course in a less powerful and appalling degree — by the escape of the steam 

 from the boiler of a railway steam engine, intermingled with its horrible whistle, 

 or rather shriek, warning all who may not feel desirous of undergoing the 

 process of decapitation, amputation, or mutilation, to "keep clear of the line," 

 I found proceeded from the pursuer, in good sooth never before nor since 

 have I heard "sounds such as these" proceed from the oesophagus of mortal 

 Rat. If the pursuer gave vent to this extraordinary noise under the impression 

 that it would so act upon the nervous system of the pursued, as to paralyze 

 its efforts at escape, he for once ^'^reckoned without his host," for instead of 

 producing any such effect it chanced to have just the opposite one, "to wit" 

 ths selfsame eflfect which the poet informs us fright produced upon the steed 



bestrode by that 



"Citizen 

 Of credit and renown," 

 John Gilpin; it only 



"Made him faster run." 



Although the bird was not foolhardy enough to pit itself against so formidable 

 an antagonist in a "stand up fight," it nevertheless seemed to have selected 

 for its motto "never say die," and had moreover presence of mind enough 

 promptly to act thereon, deeming, as "featherless bipeds" have deemed, that 

 "the better part of valour is discretion." Escape from an enemy is almost 

 tantamount to victory over him, for although the enemy may not be said to 

 be defeated, his intentions effectually are: in this sense I had the satisfaction 

 of seeing that the Moorhen was victorious over the Rat, and heartily did I 

 congratulate it, as Hudibras did himself and Squire, on having 



"Made so I'esolute 

 And brave retreat." 



The Goat Moth, (Cossus ligniperda.) — The Entomologist who may be in 

 search of caterpillars of this species, will require no canine or other agent to 



