350 



THE NATURALIST. 



Podiceps rubricollis, was brought to 

 me yesterday. It had flown against 

 the telegraph wires near here, and 

 was picked up apparently uninjured, 

 at all events it seems very lively to- 

 day, and has eaten half a dozen 

 small fish — it is very cross, and 

 pecks savagely at any one who goes 

 near it. I think the occurrence of 

 this bird so far inland and from any 

 large sheet of water worth recording. 

 A week or two ago, I had a Wood- 

 cock brought me which had killed 

 itself by flying against the wires 

 near the same place — and not long 

 ago, a Spotted Crake under similar 

 circumstances. — W. Christy Hors- 

 FALL, Horsforth Low Hall, near 

 Leeds, Feb. 15th, 1865. 



Podiceps cornutus, &c. — At Cook- 

 ham last month, was shot a fine male 

 of P. cornutus. Picus major and mi- 

 nor have also been got. A beautiful 

 white stoat was shot towards the 

 beginning of the month. F. spinus 

 has not been nearly so common here 

 as usual. F. carduelis, F. linaria, 

 F. montifringilla, have been in great 

 abundance. The larks suffered se- 

 verely in the snow, and a great 

 many fieldfares and redwings were 

 starved out. — K. B. Sharpe. 



Fresh Water Mollusks, — In the 

 second week of January, in the pre- 

 sent year, I, along with a friend, 

 took a walk towards Swellington 

 Bridge ; when we arrived at a place 



called Waterloo, about two-and-a-half 

 miles from Leeds, there was a shal- 

 low running stream of water in which 

 we cast our net, and ran down the 

 stream for about twenty yards and 

 back, then withdrew it, and were 

 much surprised at the great number 

 of shells we secured. We divided 

 them and I was so curious as to 

 count my lot and found I had got 

 upwards of two dozen Limnmis palus- 

 tris, one-and-a-half dozen of L. pere- 

 ger, and upwards of 200 Planorhis 

 complanatus (Linne) ; some of those 

 last named are very curious ones, 

 being twisted like a corkscrew, some 

 have open whorls and some with 

 the inner whorl edge upwards, and 

 many other monstrosities ; any gen- 

 tleman in want of Planorhis com- 

 planatus, as I have a few dozen to 

 spare, can have them sent by paying 

 postage, &c. — J. Blackburn, 42, St. 

 Mary's Street, Mabgate, Leeds, Jan. 

 26th, 1865. 



Scottish Summits. — No. IV. 

 (Ben Lawers.) 

 July 9th, 1864. Ben Lawers, my 

 last climb, is the highest mountain 

 in the county of Perth, and over- 

 hangs the beautiful Loch Tay. It 

 is composed, like so many others, 

 of micaceous schist, but its surface 

 is remarkably verdant, and perhaps 

 no mountain in the Highlands is 

 richer in Alpine plants. Its height 

 is 3984 feet. My starting point was 



