July 17, 1884] 



NA TURE 



267 



fish to a considerable height, and drop it on to a shallow in one 

 of the bays, recover its prize, and drop it again and again to 

 obtain the fish within. Many weeks before nesting time these 

 birds visit the old breeding-stations, as if to estimate the repairs 

 that will be necessary to render the old nests available ; this 

 visit is carried on with great clamour. A cormorant (Graculus) 

 was shot at and wounded at a tench-pond at Rockwood ; it 

 kept in the pond ; it could not fly. A dog was sent in to fetch 

 it out ; it faced the dog resolutely, which turned tail ; this part 

 of the animal was immediately seized by the cormorant, who 

 was in this singular manner towed ashore ; but its odd feat did 

 not serve to save its life. The fantail flycatcher (Rhipiditra) 

 enters houses in pursuit of flies glancing from room to room ; it 

 soon clears them of these insects. Dr. Otto Finsch in his 

 " Ornithological Letters from the Pacific" mentions this habit as 

 witnessed by him here. 



Amongst hymenopterous insects the Sphegidse offer instances 

 of intelligence. A species of Sphex with orange-coloured body 

 deposits the benumbed or torpid bodies of spiders in some cre- 

 vice for future use. An individual of this species had its hole 

 in a dry corner beneath the plate of a long veranda. One day 

 I observed it dragging a victim along a gravelled walk that was 

 parallel to the veranda ; the small stones and grit made its 

 progress very difficult. After very trying struggles with these 

 impediments it displayed a remarkable degree of intelligence, 

 by which it gained its ends. It altered its course and made for 

 the veranda, ascending the smooth, painted board that adjoined 

 the gravelled walk. After slowly traversing seven inches of per- 

 pendicular it came to a rounded beading which projected out- 

 wards. Now came its supreme moment of physical exertion. 

 The body of the spider apparently was too heavy to render the 

 aid of wings available. After several pauses in its progress it 

 slowly yet surely surmounted the difficulty presented by the pro- 

 jecting beading, gained the level boards of the veranda, along 

 which it travelled rapidly with its burden, which it sometimes 

 dragged, sometimes pushed before it. By the expenditure of 

 great exertion in surmounting the beading it gained a smooth 

 and level run to its home of thirty-nine feet. A species of 

 Mantis remains so still on a leaf of its own colour that it is 

 difficult of detection ; it takes its prey by surprise, darting for- 

 ward its armed fore-limbs with a sudden spring. 



I have had in the shrubbery a colony of Phasmae for the last 

 nine or ten years. In all that time they have remained almost 

 entirely on one tree (Oleurea Fosteri). Yet, accustomed as I am 

 to them, they place themselves so much in a line with the sprays 

 of the tree that they are difficult to discern ; in drizzling north- 

 east weather some dark markings appear along their bodies, 

 which match the wet sprays wonderfully. It should be noted 

 that the Australian magpie, the halcyon, and many insect-eaters 

 have for years bred and lived in the trees or banks near them ; 

 yet they still survive, notwithstanding the proximity of these 

 enemies to insect life. T. H. Potts 



Ohinitahi 



The following extract from a letter which I have just received 

 from Mr. J. H. Wheelwright appears to me of sufficient interest 

 to publish in your columns, as it serves to give, among other 

 things, a good deal of new and first-hand information on one of 

 the most important branches of comparative psychology, viz. 

 that relating to feral and partly wild domesticated animals. 



George J. Romanes 



Cattle very easily relapse from domestication. They become 

 distinctly nocturnal in their habits ; their sense of smell is very 

 strong. Wild cattle degenerate rapidly in size, owing, I think, 

 to the persecution of the young heifers by the yearling bulls. 

 In three or four generations in Queensland wild cattle revert to one 

 uniform colour, a dun colour or dirty brown with a yellowish stripe 

 along the spine, and a yellow nose. Wild cattle will remain all 

 day long concealed in the depths of thick, inaccessible jungle — 

 "bungalow scrub" or "mallee" we call it in Australia — issuing 

 forth at night to graze and drink, and it requires much care and 

 very hard riding to entangle a few of them among a lot of quiet 

 cattle and secure them. Australian cattle have many habits their 

 domesticated progenitors have lost. For instance, in summer- 

 time grass becomes very scarce near the rivers, and the cattle 

 walk in from their feeding-grounds as much as ten or fifteen 

 miles to water, marching in long strings and feeding back again. 

 Young calves of course could not do this. I have frequently 

 noticed two or three cows far out on the plain, who, when they 

 saw me, would lift their heads and watch me. Presently I would 



come across a kind of creche, a mob of perhaps thirty little 

 calves all lying snugly in some small, sheltered clip of the ground, 

 left there in charge of the sentinel cows by their mothers who 

 had gone in to water. Now as soon as these calves saw me 

 they would try to hide — do it very well too, under any'little bush 

 there might be handy, and lie close until I got off my horse and 

 touched one ; then he would jump up, and, no matter how 

 young, make a staggering charge at my legs. He would give a 

 peculiar cry at the same time, which would bring the guardian 

 cows in at a full gallop and give me reason to mount at once. 

 Cattle have extraordinary homing power ; so have horses. 

 Cattle recognise individuals in a very extraordinary way. I 

 have had considerable experience in droving large herds, say 

 1000 or 1200 head, long journeys extending over many months. 

 I have been struck with the fact that, a week after that herd has 

 been travelling, every beast in it seems personally acquainted 

 with every other : that is, if a strange cow or bullock were to 

 join the herd, that cow or bullock would be immediately ex- 

 pelled. When a herd is travelling thus, each beast in a very 

 few days takes up his position in the mob, and may always be 

 found in the van, the rear, or on the right or left wing, the 

 strongest cattle leading. That cattle and horses can smell water 

 is a delusion. Cattle and horses always have their particular 

 friends ; at night when cattle are camping on a journey, there 

 is always much bellowing and fuss until certain coteries of friends 

 get together and lie down comfortably. A beast blind of, say' 

 the left eye, always travels at the outside of the right wing of 

 the drove. A beast that has been scratched sufficiently to draw 

 blood will be hunted and pursued by all the rest. Cattle have a 

 habit of appointing certain camps or rendezvous, where, on any 

 alarm, they congregate. Half-wild cattle are sometimes very 

 difficult to drive off these camps. Wild cattle are singularly 

 clever in concealing themselves, as are all will beasts, and will 

 hide in half a dozen little bushes no one would suppose would 

 hold a calf. 



Wild "dingo" puppies, taken away from their mothers, are 

 easily reared, but never lose their inborn savagery : they are 

 not to be trusted near poultry, sheep, or cats. The chief differ- 

 ence between them and their civilised brethren is, if, say a 

 collie pup misbehaves himself and is kicked, he yelps, sticks 

 his tail between his legs, and runs away ; whereas his wild 

 brother, with his tail erect as that of a Dandie Dimont terrier, 

 snaps viciously at the foot which kicks him. I have owned a 

 pure-bred dingo (" warrigal " we call them) which ran with our 

 kangaroo dogs, and the dog would worry one of his own kind 

 with as savage a zest as would any of the great powerful hounds 

 with which he had associated himself. As to feigning death, I 

 think the Australian "dingo," or " warrigal," a good case in 

 point. We once ran a wild dog with three powerful kangaroo 

 dogs, noted for their killing powers ; they caught him, worried 

 him, and he lay for dead ; at any rate the hounds thought he 

 was done for ; they lay down quite contentedly to regain their 

 wind. We cut off the » arrigal's brush, and he gave no sign. 

 Just as I was getting on to my horse, I saw the supposed corpse 

 open one eye. Of course we put the thing beyond a doubt. A 

 kangaroo dog has been known to run down a dingo bitch at 

 heat, line her, and then kill her. The worst and most dangerous 

 wild dogs in the Australian pastoral districts are half-bred ones. 

 Kangaroo dogs should be, 1 think, about three-quarters grey- 

 hound — the rest either mastiff or bull-dog ; such a dog should be 

 able to catch and kill almost anything. 



A doe kangaroo, when hunted and hard pressed, will throw 

 the young one out of the pouch into any handy clump of scrub 

 or tussock of grass. The "Joey" accepts the situation, and 

 makes himself as small as ever he can ; in fact, in looking for 

 him, all you ever can see are his bright eyes. Young kangaroos 

 seem to possess exactly the same instinct as the calves of wild or 

 semi-wild cattle, that of concealing themselves. Young kan- 

 garoos soon adapt themselves to circumstances, and make them- 

 selves comfortable at the bottom of the pocket of a jacket. 



I remember that once upon a time, about 1856, we caught a 

 brood of wild ducklings, which we took home and put under a 

 hen. These ducklings, not one of them fledged, walked a mile 

 and a half along a very dusty road to the place whence we had 

 taken them, and rejoined, as I hope, their progenitors. Our 

 black boys tracked them. 



Diffusion of Scientific Memoirs 

 In some of the numbers of Nature which have recently 

 reached me I find that Prof. Tait has broached a subject cf 



