MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 163 



The grasshopper-lark chirps all night in the height of 

 summer. 



Swans turn white the second year, and breed the third. 



Weasels prey on moles, as appears by their being some- 

 times caught in mole-traps.* 



Sparrow-hawks sometimes breed in old crows' nests ; and 

 the kestrel in churches and ruins. 



There are supposed to be two sorts of eels in the island of 

 Ely. The threads sometimes discovered in eels are perhaps 

 their young : the generation of eels is very dark and myste- 

 rious.f 



Sinclair, Bart, long known for his patriotism, commissioned the late Mr 

 Dickson of Covent Garden, to purchase for him as many nightingales' 

 eggs as he could procure, at a shilling each. This was accordingly done, 

 the eggs carefully packed in wool, and transmitted to Sir John by the 

 mail. Sir John employed several men to find, and take care of, the 

 nests of several robins, in places where the eggs might be deposited and 

 hatched with security. The robins' eggs were removed, and replaced 

 by those of the nightingale, which were all sat upon, hatched in due 

 time, and the young brought up by the foster-parents. The songsters 

 flew, when fully fledged, and were observed, for some time afterwards, 

 near the places where they were incubated. In September, the usual 

 migratory period, they disappeared, and never returned to the place of 

 their birth. The nightingale is usually silent on the 1 st of July. ED. 



* A man of acute observation, who had set a common spring mole- 

 trap, perceived that a mole was taken. He took the trap from the 

 ground, allowing the mole to continue suspended in it. He was working 

 iu the neighbourhood, and chancing to look at the trap, he perceived 'a 

 weasel actively engaged in attempting to get the mole out of the wires 

 which held it. The weasel ran up the stick, which formed the spring of 

 the trap, and descended on the captive, which he seized, and, tried by 

 wriggling, twisting, and hanging by it, to disengage it from the trap, but 

 without being able to effect his purpose. When exhausted with these 

 fruitless efforts, he relinquished his hold, and dropt to the ground, where 

 he rested for some time; he re-ascended the stick, and renewed his efforts 

 with redoubled ardour. The workman, after seeing him make nearly 

 a dozen attempts, took the mole from the trap, and threw it down as a 

 reward for his perseverance ; but, on seeing the man, he made his escape, 

 and never returned while he remained. EC. 



f- The uncertainty on this subject has, as is usual in most cases, invested 

 it with a degree of fable. It is a common belief among schoolboys in 

 Scotland, that horse hairs left in the water are, in a short time, converted 

 into young eels ; and they establish the fact, to their own full satisfaction, 

 by experiment. Repairing to a rivulet, they stick a hair in the mud at 

 the bottom, both because they think the incipient animal derives some 

 nourishment from the ground, and to prevent its being swept away from 

 their observation. On their return to the spot, next day perhaps, the 

 admiring group gather round; one of them with his finger touches the 

 hair, which being by this time moistened and rendered pliable, exhibits 

 in the rippling stream a tremulous motion, that is unhesitatingly ascribed 



