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roots of plants ; and when, as is often the case, the ants make their nests 

 near plants whose roots are infested with these Aphides they no doubt 

 take the greatest care of them and utilize the sweet fluid which they 

 secrete, but it would be useless to try to keep Aphides which live on the 

 leaves of plants in an ants' nest, as they would be unable to obtain any 

 nourishment, and the ants certainly could not feed them. — G. Saundees. 



Perennial "Wasps' Nest. — Hornets are well known to occupy the 

 same nest if undisturbed for a succession of years, but this is not 

 supposed to be the case with wasps. From a bank near Sandwich 

 however, where there was a pretty strong nest of wasps in the year 1888, 

 numerous females were seen to issue the following spring (showing that 

 they hibernated in company), and the same nest having been left 

 undestroyed proved a strong colony both in 1889 and 1890. It will be 

 interesting to note if this year it be again made use of. — S. W. 



Suspended Bird. — Occasionally, when winter has denuded trees of 

 their foliage, the body of a bird may be noticed suspended in the fork of 

 a branch, and this, as a rule, is attributed to its having been shot in such 

 a situation, or upon being wounded, and escaping for a time, having 

 lodged there after death, and not fallen to the ground, but it is probable 

 that accident has often been the cause, although it is seldom one has 

 the opportunity of witnessing the catastrophe. 



Last winter a sudden scare caused a number of sparrows from 

 a neighboring garden to seek temporary resting places in some trees 

 opposite my windows ; I was looking out at the time and perceived that 

 one had upon alighting missed its foothold, and turning over it was 

 hanging head downwards from its intended perch; it made strenuous 

 efforts, but in vain, to release itself, its companions looking on with 

 interest, but neither attempting any succour, nor emitting any cries. 

 Flutter after flutter, some individually distinct, but in rapid succession, 

 others sustained for some little time with pauses for rest between, were 

 without avail, and exhaustion seemed soon to set in. Then the other 

 birds left, curiosity on the part of some having been the only expression 

 of the emotions shown by them. The struggles of the victim became 

 fainter by degrees, and the quiet periods longer, until twelve minutes had 

 elapsed, when a relaxation of the foot muscles allowed the claws to close, 

 then the weight of the body naturally drew the foot through the fork of 

 the bough, and after falling only a couple of feet, the sparrow regained i 

 its equilibrium and flew away, apparently none the worse for being so : 

 near death. 



Curiously enough the tree was a horse-chesnut, not one we should 

 think in which such an accident was likely to take place. — S. W. 



Kake Birds ix Kent. — Several specimens of the Black Tern {Sterna 

 nigra) have been killed near Lydd, where a few are annually met with; 

 a Spoonbill {Platalea leucorodia) was also noticed, but this was not 



