CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES. 275 



quite wet. The surface of the tree was entirely sound, and there was no appear- 

 ance of a communication to this hidden cavity. — Gloucestershire Chronicle, 

 Jims 17- 



Instance of the Wood Snipe (Scolopax rusticola) carrying its Young in 

 its Bill.— A rare fact occurred a short time since in this county. A boy fishing 

 disturbed a nest, the birds from which flew in different directions, one with a bird 

 in its bill. The boy followed the weakest of the brood, and discovered it to be a 

 young Wood Snipe, which is now in the possession of Mr. Burgoin, gamekeeper 

 to the Duke of Devonshire, at Chatsworth. The bird which the boy first saw 

 was one of the parents conveying its offspring from the impending danger, across 

 the river at Ashford. — Derby Mercury. 



The Egyptian Goose, the Bluethroated Fantail, and the Wood Snipe's 

 Nest, found in Dorsetshire. — Mr. Knight tells me that two Egyptian Geese 

 were shot last year in Dorsetshire, and Mr. C. Henning has one of them. The 

 Bluethroated Fantail \_Pandicilla Suecica. — Ed.] has also been killed in the 

 same county, and is in the museum of Mr. R. A. Cox. A Woodcock's nest was 

 found in Middlemarsh Common in April 1837. Sir R. C. Hoare has a white 

 Woodcock, another dusky, and a third with white wings. — J. C. Dale, Glanvitte 

 Wootton y Dorsetshire, June 19, 1837. 



Utility of the Hedge Urchin.-— The Hedgehog is, in general, the object 

 of persecution, not only of idle boys, but is often obnoxious to the farmer and 

 gamekeeper, on account of its mischievous propensities. It is, in fact, one which 

 the agriculturist should endeavour to preserve. A garden in which a Hedgehog 

 is kept, will, in the course of a few nights, be entirely freed from Slugs ; and 

 that enemy to fruit trees, the Millepede, is always a favourite food with him. 

 An eminent professor, now living, has communicated the following circumstance. 

 He states that Hedgehogs prey on Snakes. He saw one seize its prey, crack its 

 bones at interval of half an inch or more, and then, placing itself at the tip of 

 the Snake's tail, begin to eat upwards till about half was consumed, when it 

 ceased from repletion, but during the night finished the remainder. The usual 

 aliment of the Hedgehog is insects, Worms, Slugs, and Snails, but it goes higher 

 in the scale of gastronomic enjoyment, devouring Frogs, Toads, and Mice. The 

 Snake experiment was made by Professor Buckland, as above described. The 

 fondness of the Hedgehog for insects, occasions it to be kept in many houses in 

 London, for the purpose of ridding the kitchens of the innumerable hosts of Cock- 

 roaches with which they are infested.— Gloucestershire Chronicle. 



Instinct of Birds. — A curious and pleasing instance of the instinct of birds, 

 and their anxious affection for their offspring, was observed last week in Chelten- 

 ham. A gentleman who had discovered a Starling's nest, in which were several 

 young birds, being desirous to domesticate them, had the nest removed from its 



No. 11, Vol. II. 2o 



