Peb. 1,1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



S9 



A Live Porpoise. — At length a real live por- 

 poise has reached the Zoological Gardens, Regent's 

 Park, in safetj^ At present it is said to be in rather 

 delicate health, but it is hoped soon to be "at home" 

 to visitors. 



SosG_ OP THE Skylakk {Alaudu V2dgans). — 

 White, in his " Natural History of Selborne " (Let- 

 ter 27), says that the skylark sings in " Pebruarj', 

 and on to October." This year, on the morning of 

 1 he 12th of December, I saw a lark rise out of a 

 pasture by the road, and ascend about the usual 

 iieight, singing- as heartily as if his mate sat in the 

 daisied sod beneath. The welcome strain at such an 

 unusual time, and so unexpected, was doubly sweet, 

 and I could not help exclaiming, with honest Izaak, 

 " Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints 

 in heaven, when thou affordest bad men such music 

 on earth ! " — Jno. Ranson^ York. 



CoLorrv OF Birds' Eggs.— The popular idea as to 

 the colouring of eggs I think is quite at variance 

 with fact, 1 don't say that old birds have not finer 

 coloured eggs than young birds have, but from 

 many experiments, made some years ago, when the 

 question was mooted by a number of j^oung ornitho- 

 logists, we found the first eggs laid were the best 

 coloured. By removing the eggs of the sparrow- 

 hawk daily, the eighth or tenth egg will be quite 

 white. By tlie same rule, if its nest is taken, and 

 it builds again, the second batch will be light varie- 

 ties, and one or more of them without any blotch. 

 So with other birds, and the reason is obvious. Tlie 

 colouring matter is contained in what I may be ex- 

 cused calling " colour cells," and the egg is coloured 

 as it leaves the ovary, the colour being exliausted 

 the eggs are light.— C. >S'. Gregson, in Naturalisfs 

 Scrap Book. 



Double yolkedEggs. — A correspondent observes 

 in the " Naturahst's Scrap Book " that he found an 

 uncommonly large nest of the green linnet {Frin- 

 gilla clitoris) containing four eggs, two of which 

 presented nothing worthy of remark, the third was 

 much longer and curiously pointed, whilst the fourth 

 was the size of an average skylark's. Each of the 

 latter contained two birds and, unfortunately, incuba- 

 tion had proceeded so far, there was no chance of 

 preserving the shells which were tender and thin to 

 an extreme. He adds that he had not the slightest 

 doubt, had another week elapsed without disturb- 

 ance, that three live birds, if not four, would have 

 been hatched from the two eggs. 



The Spider and the Wasp. — I once saw in a 

 hothouse in Sln-opshire a large female wasp caught 

 in the irregular web of a quite small spider; and 

 this spider, instead of cutting the web, most per- 

 severingly continued to entangle the body, and 

 especially the wings of its prey. Tlie wasp at first 

 aimed in vain repeated thrusts with its sting at its 

 little antagonist. Pitying the wasp, after allowing 

 it to struggle for moi-e than an hour, I killed it and 

 put it back into the web. The spider soon returned, 

 and an hour afterwards I was much surprised to 

 find it with its jaws buried in the orifice through 

 which the sting is protruded in the living wasp. I 

 drove the spider away two or three times, but for 

 the next twenty-four hours I always found it again 

 sucking at the same place. The spider became mvich 

 distended by the juices of its prey, which was many 

 times larger than itself. — Dartvin's Journal of Re- 

 searches, 



The Golden Eagle.— A few days ago, while one 

 of the Earl of Breadalbane's gamekeepers was out 

 shooting rabbits, he observed a golden eagle, and, 

 taking aim, succeeded m bringing it to the ground. 

 The bird is a beautiful specimen, and measures six 

 feet nine inches from tip to tip of the wings. '\\'ithiu 

 the last few weeks four eagles have been shot and 

 trapped on the Breadalbane estate, and the noble 

 birds are now getting very scarce.— DffzY^ Telegraph. 



Spiders at Home.— A friend of mine, who was in 

 Australia some years, informed me he used to destroy 

 all the large spiders he found in his house, until he 

 discovered the nest of one of them surrounded by 

 the remains of dead bugs with which the house was 

 sadly pestered. Since this I have told many people 

 to allow the spider a location in their dwellings, 

 in places where the eye is not offended by the sight 

 of their webs. I follow this plan myself, and my 

 house _ is free from other insects ; only two bugs 

 were found in my house the past twelve m.onths on 

 bedclothes, none in crevices of furniture ; these two 

 I suppose to have been brought from the places of 

 amusement which had been previously visited. — 

 Thos. W. Brotcn. 



Blue Tits.— Mr. Artroyd, of Chester, relates the 

 following anecdote in the "Naturalist's Scrap Book." 

 In the winter season his garden was frequented by 

 some tomtits {Parus ccerulens), and wishing to amuse 

 himself with the active Uttle creatures he attached 

 a piece of fat mutton to a string and hung it on the 

 bough of a pear tree growing near one of the win- 

 dows. The birds tried various means to get at the 

 meat and failed for some time; at last a male bird 

 flew at it, fixed his claws, and succeeded in hanging 

 on until he had made a hearty meal. The female, 

 after trying several times, alighted on the branch 

 from which the string was suspended, and by means 

 of her beak and claws hauled up the meat. After 

 eating as much as she required she flew away, letting 

 the meat drop to the length of the string again. 

 The same pair of birds continued to feed iu the 

 same way for a considerable time, i.e., the cock flying 

 boldly at the meat and hanging on by its claws, 

 while the female waited on the branch ready to draw 

 up_. If the cock bird remained longer than her lady- 

 ship thought proper she would begin pulling up tlie 

 string, and letting it go suddenly, whereby she never 

 failed to shake off her tardy mate. No other birds 

 were permitted to interfere; these alone had dis- 

 covered the secret, and took care to keep possession 

 of the well-earned prize. 



Newts in Confinement. — In March, 1861, while 

 fishing for water insects on Barnes Common, a 

 female smooth newt made its appearance close to 

 my net. I immediately made a dab at it, and fished 

 it out, accompanied by a male of the same species, 

 and putting them in a glass bottle brought them up 

 to London, and placed them iu a fern-case about 

 3 ft. by 1 ft. 6 in. in area. The male did not thrive 

 so well as the female _; he gradually got thinner, 

 and as I have not seen him since the autumn of 1863, 

 I conclude he is dead, though I have not searched 

 particularly for him. The female is still alive, and 

 is now out and about, looking nearly iu as good con- 

 dition as usual. In the fern-case I formed a small 

 pond of water, thinking that as effets are mostly 

 found in ponds during the day, in summer they 

 would enjoy the luxury of a bath.' Not so, however. 

 I never saw them voluntarily go into the water, and 

 when thrown in they always scrambled out_ as soon 

 as possible. The same thing occurs in keeping thcni 



