156 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[July 2, 1900. 



BRITISH 



Of!NlTH0L0GVc/\I?- 



NOTES. 



Conducted by Harry F. Witherby, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



Ducks assuming Drake's Plumage. — On a pond at 

 the Red House, near here, there are two semi-wild 

 ducks (."f. hriscliax) in complete drake's plumage. Colonel 

 Taylor, their owner, who bred them himself, tells mo 

 they are six years old, but only a,ssumed their present 

 dress two years ago, and like the real drakes, partly 

 lose their male attire in the autumn. I have known 

 hen pheasants assume a good imitation of the cock's 

 plumage, but these two ducks have adopted a perfect 

 drake's dress. — Jos. F. Green, Benacre Hall, Wrentham. 



Fowl and Rabbit.- — In October, 1899, a keeper here 

 saw one of bis hens attacked by a rabbit. The 

 hen in its fright got jammed between some wire 

 netting and a tree, so could not move. Before the 

 keeper could come to the rescue the rabbit had plucked 

 most of the feathers from the bird's back. The idea is 

 that it was a doe rabbit who wanted t« line her nest 

 with feathers. — Jos. F. Green, Benacre Hall, Wrentham. 



Summer Migrants. — I did not see a swallow this year 

 till Easter Sunday, April 15th ; this I consider late, 

 but was probably caused by the long continuance of 

 cold weather. On Easter Monday I saw quite a. 

 strong flight of swallows, some sand martins being with 

 them. On the 19th the cuckoo was heard here, and 

 on the 21st I heard the wryneck (the cuckoo's mate"). 

 An informant tells me he heard the nightingale about 

 a week before this date. On the 25th I heard the sedge 

 warbler, and on the 28th I saw the first swift and the 

 first house martin. — E. Sillence, Romsey, May, 2, 1900. 



Report on ihe Movements and Orcurrence of Birds in Scotland 

 diirint) 1899. B% T. G. Laidlaw, M.B.O.U. (Annals of Scottish Nat. 

 Hist., April, 190o, pp. 70-87). This is a very useful report iMinpiled 

 from the notes of a numtjer of observers in various parts of Scotland. 

 The autlior regrets a sliglit decrease in the number of observers, as 

 well as iuthe extent of tlieir observations, as compared to the returns 

 for 1898. 



Cliiff-Chiff in Barra (Annals of Scottish Nat. Jw^, April, 1900, 

 p. 12i.) Mr. W. Li. Maegillivray records that two specimens of 

 PhvUoscoptis rufus were shut on Barra on November 18th and 20th, 

 1899. Ihe Chi'ft'-Chaff has hitherto been but doubtfully recorded for 

 the Outer Hebrides. 



Long-fared Owl in Barra (Annals of Scottish Nat. Hist., April, 

 19(K), p. 121). Mr. W. L. Maegillivray reports the occurrence of a 

 bird of this species on Barra, on Oelobi-r 28tli, 1899. This bird has 

 been recorded but very rnrely from the Outer Hebrides. 



The Cuckoo: A Sludu, By Kev. E. A. Woodruffe-Peacock, l.th., 

 ■F.L..S., F.G.s. (The Naturalist, April, 19u0, pp. 99-108.) Tliis is an 

 interesting essay on the habits and notes of the Common Cuckoo. 



Ornithological Notes from Norfolk for 1899. By J. H. Gurney, 

 F 7. s. (Zoolojist, March, IfOO, pp. 97-115.) This forms a record of 

 bird movements and occurrences in Norfolk — an exceedingly useful 

 annual contribution to tin' pages of our contenijiorary. 



The Hawfinch as a Durham Bird. By J. W. Faweett. (The 

 Naturalist, April, 190(1, pp. 113 and lit.) Mr. Faweett gives a brief 

 history of the occurreiice of the Hawfinch in the County of Durham, 

 where it is decidedly increasing in ninnbers as it is in other ]>arts of 

 England. 



Water Pipit (Anthus spipoletta) in Sussex (Zoologist, June, 1900, 

 p. 278). Mr. N. F. Ticehurst records that a female specimen of this 

 rare visitor to England was shot by a boy on February 19th near 

 St Leonards, 



Bird Notes from North-east Lincolnshire during the Antumn 

 Migration of 1899. By G. H. Caton Haigh. (Zoologist, May, 1900, 

 pp. 201-212.) The autumn of 1899 was not a remarkable one either 

 for great "rushes" of migi'ating birds or for any great rarities. Mr. 

 Haigh gives a concise account of the movements of the birds in 

 Lincolnshire. 



Natural History Notes from Yorkshire for 1899. By Oxley 

 G-rabham, M.A., m.b.o.u. (Zoologist, May, 1900, ])p. 229-23(1). 

 These note.-* are chielly concerning birds. 



Breeding of the Shoreler (Spatula clgpeota) and of the Oarganey 

 (Querquedula circia) in Kent (Zoologist, June, 1900, p. 279). It 

 is very satisfactory to learn from Mr. N. F. Ticehurst that both of 

 these ducks have bred in Romney Marsh this year. Both the birds 

 are rare breeders in England, the Shoveler especially so. Hut both 

 birds are no doubt increasing as a breeding species, and it is to be 

 hojied that witli a little more protection from owners of the land they 

 may be induced to appear regularly where they now only visit 

 occasionally. 



Alt contribution.i to the cohimn, either in tlie iray of notes 

 or p/iotof/nipli.t, shouhl he foricarded to Harry F. Witherby, 

 at 1, Eliot Place, Blackheath, Kent. 



^otittn of Boofts. 



" Horns of Honour, .and other Studies in the Bye- ways of 

 ArchiEology." By Frederick Thomas Elworthy. xii. and 315 pp. 

 (John Murray.) 10s. 6d. net. Judged by the canon of pedagogics, 

 ^ihieh one naturally associates with the name of Herbert, that go id 

 teaching must maintain the interest of the pupil in the subject 

 under consideration, Mr. Klworthy's book must be given high praise, 

 for, even throughout the discussion of subjects where many would 

 consider it impossible to develop interest, he always succeeds in 

 retaining the reader's attention. The accounts of the evolution 

 both of " horns of honour " and " horns of the devil," with their 

 plenitude of anecdote and their liberal accompaniment of illustra- 

 tion, abound with evidence of the .'luthor's industry in research and 

 of his power with the pen. What we now call crests were, in th^ 

 Middle Ages, worn as ensigns of high distinction, especially in per- 

 sonal prowess, and few were they who attained unto them ; but, 

 says Mr. Elworthy, they have now sunk to be mere fantastic 

 ornaments of the vulgar and the nouveau riche. Starting probably 

 with the idea of the cock's comb, man has, at different times, 

 invented and elaborated wonderful forms of head-dress, which are 

 in the volume before us described in detail. The crests which can 

 be traced back to the shape of the crescent moon seem to be legion 

 but this is not the place to attempt an enumeration ; the interestel 

 reader must be referred to the book under notice, where he will 

 find them described — down to the widely divergent form seen in 

 the crown of Kaiser Wilhelm. The modern representative of thd 

 crescent, not used as a cranial ornament, but for occult reasons 

 of different kinds, is the horse-shoe, which so many use to bring 

 good luck. Sometimes the horn of honour has been turned to base 

 purposes, as Shakespeare knew, for Jaques' song in "As You Liki 

 It " runs^ 



" What shall he have that killed the deer? 



His leather skin, and horns to wear. 



Take thou no scorn to wear the horn ; 



It was a crest ere thou were born. 

 Thy father's father wore it, 

 Anil thy father bore it." 

 The section on " Horns of the Devil," with its biography of this 

 interesting personage, provides a number of quaint tit-bits. There 

 is evidence, we find, that popular imagination made the devil black 

 as early as the death of William Rufus. Church bells were originally 

 intended to keep the devil from church, and the cock was placed 

 on the highest point for the same purpose, whilst the presence of 

 gargoyles is to be similarly explained. The latter half of the volume 

 is concerned chiefly with the hand, or as Aristotle called it the 

 " tool of tools," and the various ways in which the hands have been 

 used symbolically provide plenty of material for demonstrating the 

 extent of Mr. Elworthy's work in collecting and recording data 

 in a somewhat obscure subject. 



"Modern Italy, 1748—1898." By Pietro Orsi. xxiii. .and 

 404 pp. (T. Fisher Unwin.) 5s. " This latest addition to the 

 deservedly popular " Story of the Nations " series, is from the pen 

 of the distinguished Professor of History in the R. Liceo Foscarini 

 Venice. The translation of the work has been done by Mary Alice 

 Vialls with sympathy and judgment, the result being that the 

 English reader can now study without trouble the history of the 



