1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



455 



of the nest and eggs, and the nests on trees and 

 spotted eggs of Audubon appear to belong to the 

 next species. 



3. Olive Backed Thrush— (T. Olivaceiis, Gir- 

 aud, Merula Wilsonii, of Swainson.) This spe- 

 cies, described by Swainson as the Wilson's 

 Thrush, which, indeed, it much resembles, and 

 which Audubon considered a variety of the same 

 — caused by sex or age — is undoubtedly a dis- 

 tinct species, distinguished by its uniform olive 

 brown color above — throat and breast more de- 

 cided buff or salmon color — legs shorter, stouter, 

 of a pale brown color — bill shorter and more com- 

 pressed. This is probably the kind mentioned by 

 Audubon in his account of Wilson's Thrush as 

 equalling the Wood Thrush in its song. So far 

 as I have been able to determine, its note has a 

 general resemblance to the Wilson's, but is supe- 

 rior to it in richness, though not equalling the 

 Wood Thrush. According to Brewer, it builds 

 its nest on trees ; eggs spotted with brown on a 

 blue ground. As stated by "J. A. A.," I have 

 found this bird while here to be less suspicious 

 than the other Thrushes. 



4. Wilson's Thrush— (T: Mmtelimis, of Wil- 

 son, T. Wilsonii, of Bonaparte, Audubon and 

 Nuttall, Merula Minor, Swainson.) This species, 

 whose peculiar whistling notes, often heard until 

 quite dark, and whose shy, retiring habits are 

 well described by Nuttall, is a constant summer 

 resident here, found in solitary woods, usually in 

 the vicinity of a stream or pond. It is distin- 

 guished by its uniform tawny color above — long 

 slender legs — the spots on the breast less decid- 

 ed than either of the other species. It measures 

 7 inches in length, not 10, as stated by "J. A. A.," 

 who probably followed a mistake of Wilson in- 

 stead of actual measurement, and 12 inches in 

 extent. 



5. The Water Thrush — {Sdurus Aquations, 

 Swainson,) is seen in this vicinity through the 

 month of May, and early in August ; late in the 

 spring it has a loud and pleasing warble, resem- 

 bling in part the note of the American Yellow- 

 bird or Goldfinch. It also often utters a sharp, 

 clicking note like the striking of two pebbles. 



The Canada Flycatcher is seen here some sea- 

 sons as late as the first of June feasting on the 

 destructive canker worm. Its note resembles 

 somewhat that of the summer yellowbird, or that 

 of some of the redstarts, but is more full and mu- 

 sical. It measures 5 inches in length and 8 in 

 extent of wings. I. Sprague. 



Cambridge, Aug. 17, 1861. 



METEORS, 



Saturday night there was an unusual number of 

 meteors or shooting stars. They were visible at 

 times in all parts of the heavens, being most nu- 

 merous, however, in the southwest. Those ob- 

 served in this quarter radiated from a point about 

 ten degrees south of the zenith. Between .eleven 

 and twelve they were most numerous, appearing 

 in rapid succession, and frequently two and three 

 being visible at a time. One was very large and 

 brilliant. The head or nucleus was five times 

 the apparent size of Venus, and emitted a very 

 bright light. It was followed by a trail about five 

 yards in length, which was visible nearly a min- 

 ute. Others appeared like stars of the first mag- 



nitude, and were also followed by trails which 

 were visible from ten to thirty seconds. Those 

 which were smaller were not followed by any 

 trails. 



At invervals throughout the night, the portion 

 of the heavens near the zenith, described above, 

 continued to send off meteors. In other portions 

 of the heavens they were not so numerous, and 

 appeared at less regular intervals. Some were 

 very small, and were visible only for a moment. 

 Most of them shot downward in different direc- 

 tions, and at various angles. We noticed three 

 which moved in a horizontal direction. They 

 were not so bright as most of the others, being 

 of a yellowish tinge. Their motion was not as 

 swift, their velocity being less than half as great 

 as that of those which moved downwards. One, 

 for a moment after it became visible, had an un- 

 dulating motion, and then moved on in a straight 

 line. 



There are two well-ascertained periods when 

 meteors appear in showers — Aug. 9 and 10, and 

 November 12 and 13. We are now in the August 

 period, and close observation for a few nights will 

 probably discover more than the usual number. — 

 Providence Journal. 



THE APPLE "WOBM. 



Everybody knows — when we have apples — how 

 very generally they are infested with a worm ; not 

 the worm proceeding from the egg deposited by 

 the curculio, but from an egg deposited in the 

 blossom, and thus growing with the growth of 

 the apple. It is a fat, sleek-looking, white worm, 

 often an inch in length, which eats to the very 

 centre of the fruit, and frequently in transverse 

 directions, throwing its offal out at the calyx, or 

 through the sides of the fruit. The centre is 

 sometimes filled with this matter, so that the 

 whole apple is thoroughly ruined. 



In the autumn of 1859 there was a fair apple 

 crop, yet scarcely ten in a thousand apples, could 

 be found free from this worm ! 



A few days since, Mr. J. W. WiLCOX, of West 

 Roxbury, brought us a bottle of these worms, 

 eighty odd in number, which he caught in two 

 nights under a single tree. He learned how to 

 catch the rascals in the following manner : Sev- 

 eral years ago, while engaged in doing carpenter 

 work, some timber and boards were left under an 

 apple tree, lying in various positions upon the 

 ground. Upon removing this lumber, he found 

 that wherever two pieces of board or timber lay 

 pretty closely together these worms had crawled 

 in in considerable numbers, and seemed to be 

 well pleased with their snug retreat. This served 

 to give him the idea of a trap which has proved 

 the death of thousands of the offenders. 



He places two boards, each about three feet 

 long, and of a pretty smooth surface, not planed, 

 however, together, under the tree and near the 

 stem. These boards are visited each morning 



