30 WHITE 



with this wonderful quadruped, I saw it several times confute 

 the vulgar opinion, that bats when down upon a flat surface 

 cannot get on the wing again, by rising with great ease from 

 the floor. It ran, I observed, with more despatch than I was 

 aware of ; but in a most ridiculous and grotesque manner. 



Bats drink on the wing, like swallows, by sipping the sur- 

 face, as they play over pools and streams. They love to fre- 

 quent waters, not only for the sake of drinking, but on account 

 of insects, which are found over them in the greatest plenty. 

 As I was going some years ago, pretty late, in a boat from 

 Richmond to Sunbury, on a warm summer's evening, I think 

 I saw myriads of bats between the two places ; the air swarmed 

 with them all along the Thames, so that hundreds were in sight 

 at a time. I am, etc. 



NOTES 



1 One occasionally sees mention made in the scientific and natural his- 

 tory periodicals of the occurrence of the hoopoe (iipupa epops). Of course 

 it is generally shot, and no chance is given it of breeding. Its nest has 

 only rarely been found in England. G. C. D. 



2 The grossbeak (coccothraustes vulgaris), or as it is more commonly 

 called, the hawfinch, is not so rare as is generally supposed. Its shyness 

 prevents its being easily observed. G. C. D. 



8 The crossbill may occasionally be seen, in small flocks, in districts 

 where the larch is plentiful. With its peculiar curved mandibles, it ex- 

 tracts the seeds from the fir-cones. The birds vary greatly in size and 

 color, according to age and sex. They are yellow, green, red, or brown at 

 different times, so if it were not for their crossed bills, it would be rather 

 hard to distinguish them. They breed in Norway and Sweden, and very 

 occasionally in England. G. C. D. 



4 We used, when I was a boy, to catch great numbers of bull-heads to 

 bait our eel lines with. They were found under every flat stone in the 

 Shropshire streams, in company with the loach, also an excellent bait. 

 G. C. D. 



6 It is now well known that there are three kinds of eels which inhabit our 

 rivers and pools, the snig, and the broad-nosed and sharp-nosed species. 

 The habits of eels are very peculiar.. Nothing certain is known about their 

 breeding, but it is believed that the young are born alive. In the autumn 

 the eels descend the rivers in vast numbers, and go either to sea or to the 

 brackish waters, where they breed. In the spring the little eels, or elvers, 

 ascend the rivers in columns so dense that they may be scooped out by the 

 bucketful. G. C. D. 



6 In the Dee at Llangollen, lamperns were very numerous. They hold 

 on to stones by means of their round sucker-like mouths, and can move very 

 heavy ones. G. C. D. 



