144 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSEEVATIONS. 



Chrysosplenium oppositifolium. — With reference to this, the fol- 

 lowing note occurs in the ' Flora ' : — " I have been informed that a 

 Chrysosplenium is to be found in some of the ditches on Bernard Heath, 

 but I have not been able to ascertain which species it is. — C.H." I 

 am happy to be able to confirm the above, only instead of on 

 Bernard Heath it should read near Bernard Heath. It is flowering 

 at present, and is very abundant. — A. E. Gihbs, St. Aibans. 



Ornithology. 



Woodcocks carrying their Young. — I observed a short time since, 

 in the ' Times,' an elaborate description, by the Hon. Grantley 

 Berkeley, of the mode in which this operation, viz. of carrying its 

 young from the nest to appropriate feeding-grounds, is effected by 

 the woodcock. Mr. Berkeley has always been a zealous observer 

 of nature, but by no means an accurate one, and this i.y not the 

 first time that the ' Times ' has aided the promulgation of glaring 

 errors in natural history, merely because they have been vouched 

 by writers who have managed to bring their names prominently 

 before the public. I should not, however, have drawn your attention 

 to the mistake above referred to, but that my attention has been 

 called to a spirited sketch in the ' Zoologist,' cle2:)icting the bird in the 

 act of carrying its young ones dangling from its claws precisely as de- 

 scribed by Mr. Grantley Berkeley. Now, the thingis simply imposnhle. 

 If an owl, a hawk, or any of the " Raptores" took to carrying their own 

 young, instead of those of other birds, no doubt they would adopt this 

 mode, as they do in the case of a mouse or a linnet, but Nature has 

 provided them with four prehensile claws for the express purpose, one 

 being in opposition to the others, thereby enabling them to grasp the 

 object (as in the human hand the thumb affords like facility) ; but 

 the foot of the woodcock is altogether different, he has but three 

 toes, and, besides that, they are de>litute of prehensile power, they 

 are all anterior. You might as well try to carry a basin with your 

 toes. How then does the bird carry its young ? By a much safer 

 and more simple method — she grasps it between her thighs, pressing 

 it against her body, and I think, though I am not sure, steadying it 

 at the same time by means of her long bill. This, as we all know, 

 is always carried at something like a right angle with the body, 

 and a very slight further depression would sufiice. However, I 

 merely suggest this. The only time I ever witnessed the operation 

 was on the shore of Loch Awe, from a considerable distance ; the 

 bird flew very low, and I could not be certain about the bill, but of 

 this I am quite sure, that the young bird was not dangling from 

 the claws, as represented in my friend Mr. Harting's clever, but 

 misleading sketch. — George Hooper, fVatford. 



