GENERAL NOTES. 135 



natural history. All that he says about grasshoppers and some 

 fish having no mouths is totally wrong. So is his assertion anent 

 the raven. No fish fasts entirely when in fresh water. 



Bats are not birds, and are not migratory like swallows, but lie 

 dormant all the winter, in holes, in trees, and caves. Swallows 

 migrate, leaving us for a warmer clime in the autumn. Yet many 

 instances have been known of swallows and martins hybernating 

 through the winter, they being discovered alive packed away in 

 dark holes. Probably these are late bred or weakly birds which 

 are not equal to the fatigue of a long journey. 



Frogs will live an incredible time without food or even air, but 

 their mouths are not naturally "shut up." 



Birds of Paradise live, as do other birds, and chameleons live 

 upon insects, which they very cleverly shoot with their long tongues. 



3 The caddis is a plump white or yellow grub, which lives in a 

 sheath or case made of bits of stick, sand, or fine gravel, and creeps 

 about the bottom of the river. It is a capital bait for trout and 

 gudgeon. In Wales it is called " corbet." The fly proceeding 

 from this grub is, however, not the May-fly, but some species of 

 the Fhryganidce, which class includes the sand, sedge, and other 

 flies of similar shape. The Ephemera, of which the May-fly is the 

 best English representative, come from larvae which are in shape 

 something like the perfect fly, with a fringe down each side, six 

 legs, and strong curved jaws. This larva lives at the bottom of 

 the river in holes and under stones. It turns into the pupa state, 

 and then into a fly, which in a short time throws off a complete 

 outer skin, and becomes the perfect May-fly or grey drake. It 

 enjoys its brief dance in the sunshine, lays its eggs on the surface of 

 the water, and dies. 



4 The long-tailed tit will lay nineteen or twenty eggs, but the 

 wrens and other kinds of tits rarely more than a dozen. Out of 

 the whole batch, too, there will often be three or four addled. 



