146 soology. 
me, that the probable use is to protect the insertions of the large quill fea- 
thers in the carpus from injury. — Anon. July, 1829. 
Ducks and Hens defending themselves against Rats. — 1 have now a fine 
duck, which was hatched under a hen in the spring of 1828, there being 
seven young ones produced at the time. When these ducks were about ten 
days old, five of them were taken away from beneath the hen, by the rats, 
during the night-time, the rats sucking them to death, and leaving the body 
perfect. My duck, which escaped this danger, now alarms all the other 
ducks and fowls in a most extraordinary manner, as soon as the rats appear 
in the building in which they are confined, whether it be in the night or the 
morning. Iwas awoke by this duck last spring, about midnight; and, as 
I apprehended that the rats were making an attack, I got up immediately, 
went to the building, and found the ducks uninjured. I then returned to 
bed again, supposing the rats to have retreated. To my surprise, next 
morning, I found that ten young ducks had been taken from beneath a hen, 
and sucked to death, at a very short distance from where the duck was sit- 
ting. On this account, I procured a young rat-dog, and kept it in the build- 
ing; and, when the rats approach, the duck will actually rouse the dog from 
sleep, and, as soon as the dog starts up, the duck becomes settled again. — 
M. Saul. Oct. 3. 1829. 
Food of the Wild Peacock. — Mr. Ranking informs us that peacocks, in a 
wild state, feed on pepper pods: a fact which he ascertained in a shooting 
excursion on the banks of the Luckia, in Bengal, when he flushed a flock of 
twenty in a grass field. One which he shot had in his crop more than a 
hundred pods of Chile pepper, the smallest and hottest sort known. —J. R. 
Cock Pheasants. — 1 do not think it is generally known that cock phea- 
sants (Phasianus Gallus) crow in concert during a thunder storm. Yet this 
is certainly the fact ; and their shout may be heard, “ awakening the echoes,” 
at a distance of two miles. — J. Murray. 
The Nightingale.— This “ poet bird,” Jotacilla Luscinia, sometimes 
displays an eccentric and novel taste in the materials of her nest. One in- 
teresting specimen of this kind was wholly constructed of skeleton leaves. 
—TId. 
The Carrion Crow and Hooded Crow, — I was not a little surprised to meet with the following 
question in Dr, Fleming’s late work : — Whether the carrion crow (Corvus Cortne) is different from 
the hooded crow (Corvus Cérnix). If they are identical, they must undergo changes of plumage to 
which I have all my life been an utter stranger. Bothare found in England: the hooded crow, I 
believe, chiefly in the course of the winter ; but, except an accidental and rare visitant, none save 
the hooded crow is ever seen in Zetland. The change of plumage from the black to the grey, or 
vice versa, must take place in those who reside, if they do reside, all the year in England, or in 
more southerly climates ; fora feather is not changed in Zetland. I decidedly question the iden- 
tity ; and this the more, that T was always struck with the difference of bulk : and, on comparing 
the weight, characters, and dimensions, given by Dr. Fleming, the want of correspondence is still 
more strongly marked. They are as follows : — Carrion Crow ; Length, 192 in. ; breadth, 26in. ; 
weight, 10 oz. ; bill and legs, black ; irides, hazel ; tail, slightly rounded. Hooded Crow: Length, 
20 in. ; breadth, 39in. ; weight, 22 0z.; bill, smooth, black, with tip pale; irides, greyish brown ; 
female wanting the grey ; young, like the female. Here, then, is a difference of 13 in. in breadth, 
and 12 0z., nearly a pound, in weight. ‘The two statements of the female wanting the grey, and 
the young being like the mother only, I dare venture to set down as a complete mistake ; which I 
marvel the more that Dr. Fleming should make, since he did himself reside, I believe, several 
years in the Zetland Islands. But here my personal knowledge enables me to speak with a posi- 
tiveness which I otherwise should not; for | have taken and tamed the young from the nest: I 
can, therefore, confidently aver that there isno difference of plumage between the sexes, and that 
the young are like their parents. — Hypercrito. June 6. 1829. 
A White Blackbird. April 30.—In a blackbird’s nest at St. Austell, Corn- 
wall, in which were two young birds, one of them was perfectly white ; and 
the nest was robbed by a boy, who, in a scuffle with the owner of the gar- 
den, killed the bird. It was, however, preserved, and is now in the collec- 
tion of Mr. Jackson of Looe. — J. L. Laskeard Vicarage, Cornwall, Aug. 15. 
1829. 
Pied Flycatcher and Grasshopper Warbler. — I have met with both these birds in this vicinity. 
The former has been observed for the last three or four years, but I have not yet seen the nest or 
eggs. Having slightly winged a male specimen, I was anxious to keep it alive ; but, being at 
some distance from home, I was compelled to carry it in the crown part of my hat for several 
hours, and it unluckily died the morning following. The latter is not at all uncommon ; but as it 
frequents the thickest underwood, is seldom seen, and is difficult to obtain in good feather. The 
singular, long-continued, sibilous note of this bird may be heard in the evening ; in the daytime 
