The Zoologist — September, 1867. 911 



daughter 29 in two, making an average of 14? at every birth. The whelps are par- 

 ticularly large and healthy, with the assistance of wet-nurses. — John Middltton, 

 Gamekeeper to the Earl of Rosslyn.—From the ' Field.' 



Are Blue-bottle Flies distasteful to Bats P— I am induced to ask this seemingly 

 irrelevant question through having observed that a longeaved bat, which I kepi in 

 captivity for several days, until a wound caused its death, on being fed by hand, 

 greedily took and devoured insects of the most different kinds, especially Muscidae, 

 but obstinately refused to eat blue-bottles, though preseuted at long intervals, and 

 once after its having fasted a whole night. It would seize them, it is true, but a 

 single bite sufficed in each instance to prove the mistake, when these flies were 

 rejected, living and almost uninjured, whilst dozens of other Diptera were eaten in 

 rapid succession. Had my pet lived any longer I should have tried it with Telephorid;e, 

 which are said to be a protected group amongst Coleoptera, but this must now be left 

 for another opportunity. With a view to substantiate or invalidate recent theories, it 

 seems desirable to ascertain fully which insects are rejected by insectivorous mammals 

 or birds, and which species are preferred for food. To enter here further into the 

 question of the " Kampfum's dasein," as the Germans say, is not my purpose, this 

 subject having lately been handled in such a masterly manner in the 'Westminster 

 Review;' but I cannot resist pointing out that the blue-bottle is one of the most 

 gaudily-coloured members of an usually soberly attired tribe. Do birds eat blue- 

 bottles?— Albert Miiller; Penge, S.E., August 6, 18ti7. 



[The genus Musca and Musca vomitoria (the blue-bottle) is a favourite food of 

 the harvest-mouse (3fus messorius); from actual observation I can vouch for this, and 

 shall feel obliged for the experience of others. — Edward Newman.] 



Starvation of Birds. — It were easy to attribute the death of birds to the dryness of 

 the weather, and consequent hardness of the soil; but it is wiser, I think, to state the 

 fact, without assigning a cause. That birds have suffered and are suffering greatly 

 from the want of sufficient food is, I think, undeniable; but how this want is caused 

 may remain an open question. On Friday morning, the 28th of June, I was disturbed 

 at my usual avocation of writing by a prodigious cawing of rooks, and, going out into 

 my little cockney garden, 1 found a dozen or more of these birds stealing my neigh- 

 bour's cherries, currants and gooseberries, and flying about in a feeble floating way 

 that most clearly indicated a want of strength. Seven rooks were perched on a neigh- 

 bour's house, either on the roof or chimneys— a position in which I had never seen a 

 rook before, and certainly never expected to see one. On Saturday and Sunday several 

 rooks were picked up dead, and were mere lumps of feathers and bones, thus exhibiting 

 every symptom of being starved to death. A number of other birds have been picked 

 up in a similar condition, but I am not able to say of what species. — Edward 

 Newman. 



Varieties in Birds' Eggs.— To the list of varieties of birds' eggs taken in Suther- 

 land (Zool. S. S. 875) I must add two white grouse's eggs, which were taken after 

 I left the county : they were in a nest along with two others of the usual colour; they 

 closely resembled teal duck's eggs, being creamy white. On arriving at home I heard 

 that another similar egg had been found in this county (Stirlingshire), and my friend 



