OCTOBER, 1881. 65 



multiplied suns seemed to be more external optical 

 phenomena than simply in the eyes of the observers from 

 the glare of the sun itself. 



Instances of affection in animals during captivity are 

 sufficiently numerous, but it is not so often that we find 

 them rendering themselves mateless through unbridled 

 passion. The pair of young peregrines that were removed 

 from the Black Island in the summer grew apace, and 

 became very handsome birds; but some time since, either 

 from quarrelling over their food, or from their naturally 

 pugilistic tempers being aggravated through continual 

 confinement, they had a domestic jar, which ended in the 

 female depriving herself thenceforward of the company, 

 as well as the rivalry, of her male companion. The hawk 

 tribe are rare examples of female superiority in size and 

 strength, so that Mrs. Peregrine was merely asserting her 

 natural prerogative when she put a tragic end to the 

 weaker vessel. The crime does not seem to rankle in the 

 mind of the survivor. 



We found ourselves the other day introduced to a novel 

 mode of exterminating small birds. In a friend's garden 

 the sparrows have become a nuisance, as they are 

 so frequently found to be whereever they can get a foot- 

 ing ; and as shooting them is a costly and troublesome 

 operation, the members of the household resorted to a 

 very simple and effective mode of thinning the ranks of 

 what had become a common enemy in the fruit season. 

 On the gable of the house the ivy was thickly growing, 

 and in this, every evening at dusk, the gathering sparrows 

 sought shelter, keeping up a continuous chatter for some 

 time, ere all had found their allotted corners in which to 

 spend the night. Ivy is always a great haunt of small 

 birds, and, more especially after the nesting season is over, 



