Feb. 1, 1865.1 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP 



27 



or, what is more probable, the same flock 

 several times. Their flights are short and 

 low, only sufficient to clear the reeds ; on the 

 seedy tops of which they alight to feed. If 

 disturbed, they immediately descend by run- 

 ning, or rather by dropping. The movement 

 is rapid along the stalk to the bottom, where 

 they creep and flit, perfectly concealed from 

 view by the closeness of the covert and the 

 resembling tints of their plumage. 



" Yie could hear, but not see, our dog hunt- 

 ing ; and we thought he was of service in point- 

 ing out to us whei'eabouts the birds were. His 

 being near them, however, did not make them 

 easily take wing ; they seemed to follow him, 

 hovering and crying about him. I question 

 if we should have seen, or even heard, a single 

 bird without his assistance. We were for- 

 tunate enough to shoot one (a male) in fine 

 plumage. I held it in my hand when scarcely 

 dead. Nothing could exceed the beauty of 

 the eye ; the bright orange of the iris, nearly 

 surrounded as it is by the deep glossy black 

 of the moustaches and streak above, receives 

 additional brilliancy from the contrast, and 

 struck me as a masterpiece of arrangement in 

 colour and neatness. The bill also was of a 

 fine clear delicate orange ; but this, too, soon 

 became dull and opaque." 



Their food is said to consist of the seeds of 

 the reed, as well as insects and small snails, 

 but we are disposed to conclude from the 

 contents of their crops that they are more 

 insectivorous than otherwise, at least, during 

 the summer months. 



The Bearded Tit is found amongst reeds in 

 various parts of Great Britain. We have 

 seen it commonly in Norfolk, and know that 

 it is found also in Cambridgeshire, and along 

 the banks of the Thames. It is also recorded 

 to occur in Suffolk and Lincolnshire, and a 

 very few other localities. In Scotland it ap- 

 pears to be unknown, and in Ireland to have 

 been seen but once. 



During the month of April, this Tit builds 

 its nest amongst the dry stems of grass, reeds, 

 and sedges ; these it binds together around 

 its nest by interlacing them with the outer 

 layer of reed leaves, of Avhicli the structure is 

 composed. The nest is sometimes in such a 

 ])oyition amongst reeds, that it is scarcely pos- 

 sible to reach it from the shore, unless by 

 wading in three feet of water and mud, into 

 the depths of reed-clumps. The marshmen 

 know more of the homes, haunts, and habits 

 of this bird than any one else, or at least 

 might do if they not only saio but observed, 

 and the nests are seldom taken by any except 

 themselves. We have seen a great many 



nests in our time, and not one taken from the 

 ground, but from vv^ithin a few inches to a foot 

 of the surface, or suspended amongst dry grass, 

 reeds, or, rarely, in a clump of fragrant " gale," 

 or "guile," as it is locally termed [Myrica 

 gale). The eggs are commonly but four or 

 five, of a pinkish-white, irregularly spotted 

 and streaked with reddish-brown, and larger 

 than those uf any other British Tit, except 

 the Great Tit. In process of time the eggs 

 are hatched, and a young progeny grow up, 

 to gambol and sommersault amongst the reeds, 

 — and wear moustaches. 



, M. 0. 0. 



DIATOMS. 



WHAT THEY ARE, AND YniERE TO FIND THEM. 



SOME months since, availing myself of a 

 fine afternoon and a few hours' leisure, I 

 made an excursion into the country in search 

 of objects for my microscope. I had scarcely 

 commenced operations, when I fell in with a 

 gentleman, who, as I soon discovered, was on 

 the same pursuit as myself : the similarity 

 of our object superseded the necessity of a 

 formal introduction ; by a kind of instinct we 

 became mutually attracted to each other, and 

 in a few minutes were as free and familiar as 

 old friends. 



I found my friend, for so I shall now call 

 him, was the possessor of one of the best 

 microscopes, with objectives ranging from 2 in. 

 to -I, and all the et ceteras, that placed v/ithin 

 his reach every facility for microscopic re- 

 search. On the present occasion he was 

 hunting for Entomostraca, Eotifera, and any 

 other kind of Infusoria that might come to 

 hand. In the course of conversation, I said, 

 " Are you well up in Diatoms 1 " To my 

 astonishment, he replied by asking, " What 

 is a Diatom ? " Eor the moment I thought I 

 had unconsciously met with some learned 

 professor, and that his interrogatory was in- 

 tended to probe the depth of my knowledge 

 on this interesting question, but I soon found 

 that he did not know what I meant by a Dia- 

 tom, and that he was really unconscious of 

 ever having seen one. 



I do not suppose that amongst our readers 

 there is one so thoroughly ignorant on a sub- 

 ject familiar to almost every microscopist ; 

 there may, perhaps, be some to whom the fol- 

 lowing hints on Dlatomaceoi would not be 

 uninteresting. 



The Bicdomacece are a large family of tiny 

 plants, almost invisible to the naked eye, re- 



