450 Retrospective Criticism. 



•not only where the earth was dry and hard, but their bills were evidently 

 too soft and tender to be thrust into the earth. — J. Hay ward. Feb. 11. 

 1830. 



The Cuckoo and the Cuckoo's Maid. — Sir, Your correspondent X. Y. 

 {p. 160.), speaking of the abundance of cuckoos in the neighbourhood of 

 vthe Malvern Hills, observes, that " the workmen in the neighbourhood say a 

 bird comes with them, which they call the cuckoo'' s maid ; but I never saw 

 it." The species alluded to, I have no doubt, is the wryneck (Funx Tor- 

 quilla), which comes and is heard about the same time as the cuckoo, or 

 usually a little before that bird, and is commonly known in this neighbour- 

 hood by the name of cuckoo's mate. Possibly X. Y. may have mistaken 

 the word " mate " for " maid," owing to the provincial pronunciation of 

 his informers ; or the bird may really be called " cuckoo's maid " in that 

 quarter, from the notion of its being the usual attendant, the handmaid as 

 it were, of the cuckoo. I recollect once, in the spring, asking an intelligent 

 labourer, much in the habit of observing birds, whether he had yet heard 

 the cuckoo ? " No, Sir," he replied, " but I dare say we soon shall, for I 

 have heard his mate." 



While on the subject of the cuckoo, I may be allowed, perhaps, to ask 

 (and I do it respectfully, without meaning to give offence,) whether Mr. 

 White of Bedford can be correct in stating (p. 154.) that " the cuckoo 

 continued to charm us with his twofold note till the 28th of July ? " The 

 hiYdi is commonly silent three weeks or more before that date ; and if, in 

 this instance, he continued his song till the- 28th of July, it is certainly a 

 very unusual circumstance. .,,.,, 



Departure of the Swift. The same naturalist, too, I cannot help think- 

 ing, must be under a mistake where he states (p. 154.) that " the house 

 marten and the swift took their departure on October 27." The latest 

 date at which I ever could see the swift was September 15., two or three 

 individuals only, at the sea-coast, near Penzance, evidently in the act of 

 migrating, as the main body of them had disappeared long before. Mr. 

 'White's notice seems to imply, not that a stray swift was left till Oc- 

 'tober 27. (which yet would be a very remarkable instance), but that the 

 general flight remained till that time, which appears to me hardly credible. 

 Some apology, I am aware, is due from me to Mr. White, for having ven- 

 tured to call in question the correctness of his information. Truth and 

 accuracy, however, I conceive to be the object with us both. Having long 

 been a close observer of these interesting birds, and finding them, for the 

 most part, pretty uniform in their motions, I cannot help hesitating to give 

 •implicit credence to statements so very much at variance with what usually 

 takes place. Had the swifts presented themselves to my notice at the end 

 of October, I assure you I should have looked at them again and again, 

 'before I could have been persuaded to believe my own eyes. It is not 

 impossible that some typographical error respecting the date may have 

 crept into the text of your Magazine, in which case it would be desirable to 

 correct it in a future Number. — W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory ^ March 29. 



Snakes taking the Water. — In reference to your Portsmouth corre- 

 spondent, it may be remarked, that I believe it not a rare phenomenon to 

 find snakes or vipers occasionally take the water, either to cross a stream 

 or traverse a pond or lake. A curious instance was communicated to me 

 of an adder having seized the artificial fly of an individual when fishing in 

 one of the lakes of Scotland, on the verge of the estuary of a river. It 

 was finally drowned, by dragging it into the current against the stream. — 

 ■J.Murray. CarmarthenyApril2. 1830. 



Skate Spawn. — The "Fairy Purses" found in abundance along the 

 sea shore, and alluded to in p. 157., are well known to be the ovaria of 

 the skate; but it is very rare to find an imperforated specimen ; they are 

 generally rent, and the young animal has made its escape. I have in my 



