6i 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[March i, 1SG5, 



Hed-backed SiiBiKEj Lesser BuicJier-Bird {La- 

 nius colhirio) .—^iwdiiQ, in his description of the 

 above-named bird, observes that " the larger beetles 

 appear to be the principal food of these biids, though 

 they are also said to eat mice and to kill little birds, 

 much after the fashion of the gjreat shrike._ There 

 is, however, a want of precision in the description of 

 their habits, as they seem to have been mixed up 

 with those of the other; and they are given by 

 British ornithologists more at second hand than 

 from observation." Now, certainly, in Montagu's 

 Ornitliological Dictionary, edited by J. Rennie, there 

 is a mixing up of the two species ; for the great 

 shrike {Lanius exciihifor) is an extremely rare bird 

 in England ; and I much question if it has ever 

 been known to breed here ; and yet, he ma.kes the 

 following quotation from Knapp, the Gloucestershire 

 naturalist, xurder the head of the larger butcher- 

 bird : — "I could never observe that this bird de- 

 stroyed others smaller than itself, or even fed upon 

 flesh. I have hung up dead young birds, and even 

 parts of them, near their nests, but never found 

 that they were touched by the shrike." It was 

 evidently the red-backed shrike which Mr. Knapp 

 Avas here speaking of, which is not uncommon in the 

 part of Gloucestershire where he resided ; it could 

 not be Ihe species to which Montagu applies this 

 passage from the naturalist. After alluding to these 

 opinions by well-known writers on ornithology, it 

 has occurred to me that a little incident, which fell 

 under my own observation when on a visit to Lyme 

 llegis, two summers ago, may be worth insertion in 

 your entertaining periodical. While walking along 

 a field pathway near the town, I noticed a red-backed 

 shrike making a great fluttering and bustle near the 

 top of a liigh hedge, at a short distance off; and 

 after watching his movements for a few minutes, I 

 crossed tlie grass to the spot", in order to ascertain 

 what could be the cause of the disturbance, when I 

 discovered a small brancli with peculiarlv long 

 thorns, on one of which a young robin still warm 

 had just been fixed ; and on adjoining thorns were 

 the wings of some other young bird, also the ske- 

 leton of a small mouse and portions of beetles. I 

 had evidently hghtcd upon the larder of a pair of 

 butcher-birds. Again, last summer, when crossing 

 a field in the same neighbourhood, a bird flew across 

 me with great difficulty apparently from being en- 

 tangled with a piece of wood ; it alighted in a pollard 

 elm close by ; and thither I followed it ; on cla])ping 

 my hands, out came a butcher-bird, carrying in its 

 claws, as I think; a young thrush; at all events the 

 bird it was carrying looked much larger than itself. 

 It struggled on to another tree near ; and the ground 

 being very steep and much timbered, I was unable 

 to follow it up with suflicient promptitude to compel 

 it to drop its prey. However, these two incidents 

 prove beyond a doubt that this little bird, scarcely 

 larger than a house-sparrow, does destroy other 

 birds, and does likewise transfix thera upon thorns, 

 in order, we may suppose, more conveniently to feed 

 upon them. — //. 8. 6'. 



WATEU-riPiT {Aiitlms splnoletttt) . — At the meeting 

 of the Zoological Society, January 2Ith, Mr. Sclater 

 exhibited a specimen of this continental bird from 

 the Collection of the Bishop of Oxford, stated to 

 have been obi-ained near Brighton in the winter of 

 Wo'b-Yim.— The Header. AVc hope to give further 

 information of the occurrcnec of tliis bird in the 

 British isles in our next. — Ed. S. G. 



Weather Eoretolh by the Egbin.— Eew ob- 

 servers of nature can have passed unheeded the 



sweetness and peculiarity of the song of the robin, 

 and its various indications of atmospheric changes ; 

 the mellow liquid notes of spring and summer, the 

 melancholysweet pipings of autumn, and the jerking 

 chirps of winter. In spring, when about to change 

 his winter song for the vernal, he, for a short time, 

 wai'bles in so unusual a strain, as, at first, to startle 

 and puzzle even those ears most experienced in the 

 notes of birds. He may be considered as part of 

 the naturalist's barometer. On a summer evening, 

 though the weather be in an unsettled and rainy 

 state, he sometimes takes his stand — 



" On the topmost twig that looks up to the sky," 

 or on the housetop, singing cheerfully and sweetly. 

 When this is observed, it is an unerring promise of 

 succeeding fine days. Sometimes, though the atmo- 

 sphere be dry and warm, he may be seen melancholy, 

 cliirpiug and brooding in a bush, or low in a hedge ; 

 this proniises the reverse of his merry lay and exalted 

 station. — G. T. Goodwin. 



Another Swift in Difficulties.— One evening, 

 shortly before dusk, my attention was drawn to a 

 swift {Cijpselus aj)i(s) endeavouring to cling on the 

 plaistered side of a house. This it attempted several 

 times, but from the evenness of the surface it could 

 not manage to stay for any time, and invariably 

 slipped down._ After each futile effort, it would take 

 a short circle in the air, and then return, to be again 

 foiled. At last it seemed to give it up as useless, 

 and flew off some distance, mingling with others who 

 were sportiugnear ; but they bnmediately pursued 

 it, and drove it from them. Then it returned to the 

 house, and renewed its eftbrts; at last, when dark- 

 ness had set in, and all the other swifts had gone to 

 their nests, this bird managed to cling to some slight 

 projection ; and as it evidently intended to remain 

 there during the night, I was anxious to find out the 

 cause of this occurrence ; so about ten o'clock p.m. 

 1 mounted my insect-net upon a stout fishing-rod, 

 and, with the 'further assistance of a ladder, managed 

 to place the net over the bird (having previously 

 ascertained its whereabouts with the aid of a lantern). 

 Upon examining it, I found the legs had become en- 

 tangled in a quantity of fine cotton, and this I 

 imagine was the cause of the exclusion from the 

 society of other birds ; but how it became thus en- 

 tangled I know not, unless some sparrow had taken 

 the cotton, for domestic purposes, into the same hole 

 in which the swift also had its nest, or while purloin- 

 ing materials from the nest of a sparrow (I have seen 

 it mentioned that it docs do such things), it had met 

 with the misfortune alluded to.^^. B. F. 



The Brambling. — During the recent severe 

 weather large flocks of the brambling, or mountain 

 finch {FruM/illa monfifriiigilla), have been observed 

 in this neighbourhood. The bird is a native of 

 the northern parts of Europe, and is only known 

 to us as a Aviiiter visitant. It is of handsome ap- 

 pearance, and rather larger than the chaffinch, 

 which, in habits, it closely resembles. Although 

 few winters pass without our being visited by a few 

 of these birds, the large number that have been 

 observed this season is unusual, and is, in all proba- 

 bility, occasioned by tiic state of weather, as regu- 

 lating the direction and extent of their migration 

 southwards. — Ahmick Mercury, 11. T. 



Cape SaljIon. — Under this name the " Geel- 

 beek " {Otolithns (eqicldens), one of the edible fishes 

 of the Cape, has been eulogized. Dr. Pappe says, 

 " the flesh is dry, but fit for salting. It forms food 

 for the poor and lazy." ^Vhy call it Cape Salmon. ? 



