SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



287 



some such way as that adopted by telephone 

 companies to prevent the annoyance caused to 

 inhabitants of houses on which poles are fixed 

 from the Aeolian strains emitted by the overhead 

 wires under the influence of a moderate breeze. — 

 R. T. Lewis, 4 Lyndhurst Villas, Ealing, W. 



Nest op Humming-bird. — Enclosed I send you 

 a picture of a nest of a humming-bird. It is 

 represented half natural size, and the chief 

 difficulty in taking the photograph was obtaining 



Nest of Humming-bird. 



the light necessary for a successful picture, as the 

 subject was under the eaves of my verandah, 

 where the light was shaded. To get over the 

 difficulty I hung a sheet of cardboard to the left of 

 the camera, and directed a ray of sunshine on it 

 by means of a mirror standing on the grass some 

 distance away. I may mention, as showing the 

 tameness of the parent bird, that she fed the 

 young ones in the nest several times during the 

 operation of photographing, though the camera 

 was not more than two feet distant from the nest. 

 The parents began building on November 28th, 

 1900 ; the first egg was laid on December 9th. I 

 did not get the date of the second egg, but they 

 were hatched on December 25th, and' the young 

 birds were fledged on January 18th, 1901.— 

 E. Bultinfield Jones, Castro, Est ado do Parana, 

 Brazil. 



The Mild Winter. — Since Christmas the 

 weather in the West of England has been remark- 

 ably mild. During the week ending January 25th 

 many evidences of an early spring were to be 

 found, such as pollen-shedding male catkins of 

 hazel (Corylus avellana, Linn.), some I found be- 

 ing upwards of three inches in length. The blooms 

 of sweet coltsfoot (Petasites fragrans, Linn.) 

 scented whole districts with their almond-like 

 perfume; primroses were in bloom, and land 

 mollusca active.— Jolin T. Carrington, Lynmouth. 



Kufous, or Mountain Partridge.— Several 

 specimens of Perdix montana Brisson, a variety of 

 the common partridge, have recently occurred 

 near Stone, Staffordshire, and others have been 

 reported from Norfolk and different counties. I 

 should be much obliged to any of your readers 

 who will kindly supply me with particulars of 

 instances of, or references to, this variety of the 

 partridge which may have come under their notice, 

 my object being to obtain as complete a list as 



possible of British examples. If any supposed or 

 probable cause for the occurrence of this erythristic 

 variety can be given, such as the importation of 

 foreign partridges or their eggs, I shall be glad to 

 have it stated. — John R. B. Masefield, Rosehill, 

 Ch eadle, Staffordshire. 



What the Fny saw when the Spider Spied 

 Her. — Among recent jokes there has been the 

 riddle, "Why did the fly fly?" the obvious answer 

 being, " Because the spider spied her." There is more 

 at the back of this than appears on the face of the 

 joke, for the front of the spider must be appalling 

 to the vision of a fly. Having thought out the 

 subject from the point of view of the wretched 

 dipteron that has been so unfortunate as to become 

 an object of attention of some rapacio\rs arachnid, 

 I have made a drawing of what the fly sees when 

 one of our common species of spiders (Saltieus 

 scenicus Clk.) presents its frontal aspect. My 

 sketch is taken from a photograph obtained by my- 

 self from a living specimen, and forms an accurate 

 picture of the fly's bogey, excepting that the bright 

 colours of the thoracic region are backed by the 

 sombre tints of the body raised behind. We are 

 given to understand that, as a rule, the visual 

 powers of the diptera are comparatively well 

 developed. If this be so, we may extend some 

 sympathy towards these creatures when we con- 

 sider the nervous shock they must experience upon 

 being- suddenly confronted with this ideal of 



What the Fly Sees. 



hideousness. Such an object would probably spoil 

 the riddle, for one can hardly imagine the fly flying 

 under such circumstances. This fascination may 

 account for the obesity of some of our spielers. — 

 Franli P Smith, 15 Cloudesley Place, London, N. 



Kainfall in North Devon. — I have been in- 

 formed that the rainfall in North Devon has been 

 deficient for some years past. During the four 

 years I have kept a daily record at this place it 

 has annually varied to the extent of nearly nine 

 inches, the highest being 44-27 inches in 1900, and 

 the lowest 34"64 inches last year. The rainfall 

 here has never at any one time during the four 

 years been extraordinary, and on fourteen occa- 

 sions only has it exceeded 1 inch in twenty-four 

 hours. The heaviest fall was on December 12th, 

 1901, when the amount was 2-15 inches. My 

 station is only 20 feet above the sea level, and 



