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THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



covering, the birds, particularly those of the insectivorous tribe, or whose 

 chief pabulum consists of worms and insects, soon began to feel the 

 effects of famine; and blackbirds, redbreasts, hedge-sparrows, &c, were 

 reduced, at a comparatively early part of the storm, to a deplorable state 

 of weakness, and were daily found dead, or dying from the combined 

 effect of hunger and cold. Many fieldfares also perished at this early 

 stage of the frost, though the great body of this emigratory species, soon 

 after the commencement of the storm, moved southwards ; the thrushes 

 also, which I have previously observed were singing at Christmas, en- 

 tirely disappeared, a precaution I have observed for many years to take 

 place in regard to this species, whenever a storm or frost of any conti- 

 nuance has occurred. I may remark, that, previous to the commence- 

 ment of the storm, all the haws and other berries, which are the occa- 

 sional food of the thrush tribe, had been devoured by them, so that no 

 resource of this nature was left them to fly to when the frost first set in. 

 About this period of the storm, that is, after a fortnight's continuance, 

 the arrival of a great variety of the rarer kinds of water-fowl along the 

 line of coast proclaimed the intensity as well as the wide extended range 

 of the cold. Wild swans then made their appearance in flocks, and for 

 two or three weeks several of these birds took up their residence in Bud- 

 die Bay, when, as may be supposed, their unwonted presence caused an 

 active pursuit, and many individuals were shot. Among them, I may 

 mention two that were taken alive, having been wounded, but only so 

 as, in conjunction with their reduced condition, to incapacitate them for 

 flight ; these soon became very tame, and were afterwards placed by W. 

 B. Clark, Esq. of Belford Hall, in a piece of water, where one of them 

 continues to thrive, and now associates with a common goose ; the other 

 died during the course of the summer, apparently from the effects of 

 some internal wounds it had received. Botli of these were of the com- 

 mon or elk species, (Cygnus ferus,) nor did any specimen of Cygnus 

 Bewiclcii come under my observation, though I am aware that a few in- 

 dividuals of this species were taken in other parts of the kingdom. In 

 other districts of the country, and in the south of England, the destruc- 

 tion of these beautiful and noble birds was very great. Among the rarer 

 species of water-fowl killed upon our coast, the following are deserving 

 of notice. Larus minutus, (little gull,) near Embleton, the first instance, 

 I believe, of its occurrence upon the Northumbrian coast. Several spe- 

 cimens, also, of the Mergus albellus, (Smew), in the adult male plumage, 

 in which state it is considered a rare bird, were killed upon different parts 

 of the coast ; and of Podiceps rubricollis, far from a common species, I 

 saw several instances. Many specimens of the different colymbi (divers) 

 were also shot, and wild-ducks, widgeons, brent-geese, scaup-ducks, 

 pochards, tufted-ducks, and golden-eyes, were very plentiful. Upon the 

 southern coasts of England an equal or even greater influx of water-fowl 

 took place, and the destruction, as may be conceived, was comparatively 

 great. In Hampshire, I am informed, that a noble sportsman, who 

 rented a small part of the coast expressly for the shooting of wild-fowl, 

 killed, during the storm, the extraordinary number of 515 head of various 

 kinds, among which were thirty-seven swans. This warfare upon the 

 aquatic tribe continued for six or seven weeks, and it was not till the 

 middle or latter end of March that the wild-fowl began to shift their 

 quarters, or yield to that influence which directs their migratory move- 

 ments to the higher latitudes on the first approach of spring. Before a 

 thaw took place, many of our hardy indigenous and resident land birds 

 also suffered from the intensity of the frost and the want of food ; part- 

 ridges and pheasants were found dead in every direction, and even the 

 hardy muirfowl, upon the higher grounds, were many of them frozen to 

 death. In Edinburgh, I am informed, that for weeks, after the first ten 

 days of the storm, baskets full of partridges, and other game, were 

 brought to the poulterers, which had died or been caught in a dying state, 

 and, when taken into the hand, were found so reduced as to be a mere 

 collection of bones or feathers. Four-footed game, also, did not escape 

 ■with impunity, and during a great part of the storm, their only food, in 

 this district, was the bark and twigs of such underwood and young trees 

 as appeared above the snow. But it was not in those districts alone in 

 which the snow lay deep upon the surface, that animal life suffered from 

 the severity of the season, for I find that in Dumfries-shire, and otherparts 

 along the western coast, where the fall of snow was very trifling, and 

 scarce whitened the surface, great mortality, nevertheless, prevailed 

 amongst the feathered race, all access to food having been as effectually 

 prevented by the stony hardness of the earth, as it was where the hoary 

 covering hid every thing from view. 



MISCELLANIES. 



LINNjEUb' DAUGHTER HER DEATH. 



Robert Bremner, Esq., in his very agreeable work, " Excursions in 

 Sweden, &c," has supplied an interesting account of his interview with 

 the daughter of Linnaeus, which is the more agreeable, as most biogra- 

 phers have stated that the family of the illustrious Swede became extinct 



as long ago as the year 1783. On reaching Upsal, he naturally inquired for 

 the house of Linnaeus, and for some time in vain ; and, while looking du- 

 biously for the object of his search, was invited in by a lady, who told 

 him that he should see not only the house, but the daughter of Linnaeus. 

 This was a most unlooked for piece of intelligence. " On ascending the 

 stair, however," he remarks, "our doubts were completely expelled. The 

 lady who had first addressed us now spoke a little English, on discovering 

 what country we belonged to, and ushered us into a neat little carpeted 

 parlour, where we found the personage in question, Louisa Von Linne 

 herself, seated on a high-backed arm-chair, in company with another 

 lady. Her appearance was highly interesting, but indicated a degree of 

 feebleness both bodily and mental, which her eighty-seven years but too 

 amply justified. Her grey silk gown and crimped cap spoke of a bygone 

 taste, but were in excellent keeping with her venerable age ; while the 

 tidy look of every thing about her indicated the unforgotten habits of 

 order and cleanliness in which she had been trained. She attempted to 

 rise when we approached, and seemed highly gratified in learning that we 

 were all from such far countries, and had come in search of her father's 

 house out of regard to his great name. Her speech is almost gone, but she 

 still follows attentively all that is said. The sharp scrutinizing glance 

 which she cast at each of us, ere she consented to give us a pinch from 

 her silver snuff-box, was highly amusing. We might be relic hunters — 

 such seemed to be the thought passing in her mind — and would not re- 

 store it. The extended hand was almost withdrawn — but a second sur- 

 vey removed her suspicion, and the antique implement made its circuit 

 from one to the other of us, with all the reverence due to the name 

 which it bore. Our visit evidently gave her great pleasure; it seemed as 

 if she had never known the extent of her father's fame: she could scarcely 

 understand how people from such distant countries could know or have 

 heard aught about a Swedish professor. The other ladies were oblig- 

 ingly communicative, and mentioned that the fortune left by her father 

 was so considerable, that she had been able to retain all her life the 

 country seat purchased by him, which is so near, that she spends a great 

 part of the year there. As we took her hand at parting, and felt the sands 

 of life ebbing so fast that a few weeks might lay her by his side, we rejoiced 

 that our idle visit had shed a glimpse of joy over the last hours of a great 

 man's child." 



From a late Number of the Athenaeum, we learn that this lady died on 

 the 21st of March 1839, at the venerable age of ninety, and that her for- 

 tune descended to two grand-daughters of the Swedish Botanist. 



Dublin Royal Zoological Society The Dublin Zoological Society 



seems to be a very thriving institution, and in some degree owing, we 

 doubt not, to its plan of frequently giving public and popular lectures 

 upon the fascinating subjects embraced within its sphere. These lec- 

 tures are delivered in the evening, in the Theatre of the Royal Society's 

 House. At the second meeting for the season, the Archbishop of Dub- 

 lin presided, and three discourses, if we remember right, were delivered. 

 One of these was by Dr Houston, upon the Organs of Hearing in 

 Man, as contrasted with those of Animals, a subject which he illustrated . 

 by numerous drawings and diagrams. Preparatory to a description of 

 the individual organs, he made several observalions on the nature and 

 properties of sound, and the difference between air, water, and solids, 

 as media for its transmission to the ear. As an instance of which, he 

 stated in general terms, that a cannon fired at the North Pole would, 

 supposing the sound to travel with its ordinary velocity, be heard at the 

 South Pole in thirteen hours and twenty seconds, if conducted through 

 air. It would go the same distance in three hours and twenty minutes 

 if conducted by water, and if by wood, metal, or stone, it would reach 

 that point in twelve minutes and twenty seconds, a velocity almost equal 

 to that of electricity. Several interesting experiments were related 

 by the learned Lecturer in proof of the conducting power of air, and 

 other media. 



Aerial Voyages of Spiders In our November Number we gave, in 



Mr Darwin's words, an account of a curious visit of these creatures to the 

 vessel when nearly 200 miles from the coast of South America. We now 

 present a not less singular invasion on the banks of the Indus. " I was 

 taking a stroll," says the writer of a letter from Sukkur, dated September 

 17, "into the fields, when 1 found myself suddenly covered with a whole 

 host of small and large spiders. On looking about, I observed that I was 

 standing in the midst of a large cloud of these animals, who appeared 

 descending in a filmy web of no small dimensions from the upper regions. 

 Having extricated myself with some difficulty from their embraces, I took 

 a position whence I could see about me, without being annoyed by them, 

 and to my astonishment I beheld descending, maze within maze, and fold 

 within fold, an innumerable host of spiders, all suspended and dancing on 

 their numberless tiny threads, which were at times seen to glance in every 

 variety of shade, amid the beams of the rising sun." ^^ 



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