Birds. 9037 
of twenty-seven eggs having been taken from the nest of a wryneck is 
mentioned. 
Water Ouzel’s Nest. I never but once found a water ouzel’s nest, 
and that was in 1854, upon the banks of the little River Seven, 
which runs through Rosedale, North Yorkshire. I was fishing in a 
very retired part of the river when an ouzel popped out, within three 
yards of me. I spent considerable time in looking for the nest, and 
was at last rewarded by finding it: it was under a projecting slab of 
stone, which hung a foot over the nest, and there was scarce room to 
pass my hand between it and the stone: the nest contained eggs, 
which felt as if hard set, for I did not disturb it. 
Loistering. At page 26, spearing eels by the light of a fire is 
mentioned. Some years ago I was very innocently drawn into an 
unlawful taking of trout near Harrowgate. Two men got into the 
Beck, each with a tin, like a bread-tin, containing three candles each; 
the trout were attracted by the light, and when they met the quick 
eyes of the two men a push was made at them with a fine steel comb 
fixed at the end of a pole, about three feet long. In this way, in a 
remarkably short time, above three hundred fine trout were captured. 
One of the keepers was present, and got his share and a few over. 
Rats. In spring, when the farm-yards are generally cleared, the 
rats migrate to the fields, and making their holes in banks, breed 
there. I can bear witness to the destruction they cause in a field. 
One of my neighbours had a bean-field that was bounded by a brook, 
the banks of which they soon colonized, and as soon as the beans were 
set they commenced plundering them; they stripped the stems of the 
pods, extracted the beans and left the pods, and in this way bushels 
were destroyed. 
Bite of the Adder. In my early days I was acquainted with a 
viper-catcher, who always carried a flask of Florence oil with him as 
a remedy: it was used to rub the wound, and was also taken inter- 
nally. He used to tell me of a brother adder-killer who lost the use 
of an arm from the bite of one. 
Red Field Mouse. During the autumn of 1861 I planted a pint of 
Mazagan beans, on a sheltered border, for an early crop. Before 
they appeared above ground something removed them all: my 
gardener blamed the blackbirds. Some time after I was removing 
a pit of wurzel, when out jumped a red field mouse, who fell a victim 
under the spade; in a minute after out jumped another, which 
escaped. When the whole of the earth and straw were removed 
from off the wurzel, there lay my beans piled up in a nice heap, close 
