184 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Aug. 1, ISGo, 



EooD OF THE Dipper (Glnclus aqualims). — I 

 am afraid that we cauiiot entirely acquit this bird 

 of occasionally destroying the fry of fish; but I 

 know of no reliable evidence to prove that it takes 

 the ova. In three specimens, the gizzards of all 

 contained Entomostraca, and one of them a Gordian 

 {GorcUus aquatiais). In others that I have dis- 

 sected, I have discovered chiefly Entomostraca and 

 the larvse of Fhnjganea j indeed I have found that 

 its food is very similar to that of the young salmon. 

 —K Crisp, M.D. 



Mischievous Eats.— The other day the verger 

 of my church, going in to prepare for service, was 

 met by a great smell of gas. It spread all over the 

 building. EoUowing an experienced nose, cunning 

 to detect shades of stench, he was led into an inner 

 vestry-room, and brought to a stand at a skirting- 

 board under a table. He got a carpenter, and 

 pulling this down, found a long hole in a gaspipe, 

 made as if with a rough blacksmith's rasp. The 

 marks of the tool were quite fresh in the metal ; but 

 how came the hole to be made ? The pipe was pro- 

 tected by wood, which was undisturbed. There 

 was no friction against any iron-work to account for 

 the leak. On closer examination, it was proved that 

 the pipe had been gnawed by rats, the scorings of 

 whose teeth showed like the cuts of a rasp. The 

 curious thing was, that the rats must have gone on 

 gnawing for some time after the gas had begun to 

 escape under their noses and into their mouths. 

 The rush of gas from the hole was considerable ; but 

 the rats had long gaped over it, and must have 

 swallowed a large quantity, before they gave up 

 their mischievous freak. That is some satisfaction, 

 truly ; but such nasty persistence as theirs may go 

 far to show the cause of many apparently unaccount- 

 able fires. Had the verger not detected the smell, 

 or had he gone into the inner vestry-room with 

 a lighted candle, it is probable l;hat the public would 

 have heard of the result as a " terrific explosion " in 

 the neighbourhood or the papers, and not through 

 a simple little note in a corner of your Science 

 Gossip. — Harry Joties, 



Common Ceane in Shetland. — During the 

 latter part of the month of June three individuals of 

 the Common Crane {Gms cinerea) had been ob- 

 served in the island of Unst, Shetland ; one of these 

 was shot at Haroldswick on the 24th of June. It is 

 now in the possession of Thomas Edmonston, Esq., 

 of Buness, who is about to present it to the public 

 museum at Lerwick. The height of the bird was 

 4 ft. 7 in. ; the spread of mngs, 7 ft. ; the length from 

 the point of the tail to the bill was 3 ft. 10 in. 

 There are records of the appearances of this bird in 

 the Shetland Isles in the years 1807, 1831, and 

 1832 ; but it has not been seen so far north as in 

 the present ct^sG.—RaljJh Tate, F.O.S., Sfc. 



The Gkeat Butcher-bird. — I remember find- 

 ing, when at school in North Yorkshire, three nests, 

 one of what we called the little, and two of the 

 hig butcher-bird. As the country around affords 

 unusual facilities for bird-nesting, and the boys, I 

 am sorry to say, were not slow to take advantage of 

 them, it may be presumed that when captures were 

 pronounced rare, as mine were, the verdict was a 

 sound one. Indeed, to judge by the rush there was 

 to see my eggs, I might have achieved something 

 very wonderful. I was therefore a little startled to 

 find " H. S. S." (p. 64) seriously doubting whether 

 the great shrike has ever been known to breed in 

 England. Bewick describes the eggs, but makes no 

 mention of the place of breeding. The Eev. J. G. 

 Wood, in "My Eeathered Eriends," says, "The 

 great grey shrike is said not to breed in this country, 

 but I have certainly seen eggs which their owner 

 told me were taken from nests found in England." 

 I have in my collection an %%g which I believe is 

 one of those I found when at school ; and a young 

 friend there now says that nests have been found 

 since he went, though not the last half-year. — 

 JEdwhi Green. 



The Roller and Hoopoe.— On the 14th of 

 June a beautiful roller was shot by a gamekeeper at 

 Little Chesterford Park, near S. Walden. The 

 bird was carried to Walden to be stufi^ed by Mr. 

 Joseph Travis. A pair of hoopoes were also sent to 

 him which had been shot a week or two previous ; 

 the male was shot at Mildenhall, Suffolk, and the 

 female at Peverell's Wood, Saffron Walden. The 

 bill and feathers on the neck of the hoopoe were all 

 gummy with the yolk of eggs it had just eaten. — 

 W. B. 



Eabbits and their Eriends.— Mr. C. Gould, 

 in a communication, published in the "Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society," writes : — "In the course 

 of my walk yesterday, I came close to a sand-pit 

 rather suddenly ; a number of rabbits were playing 

 about, who scampered off as soon as they became 

 aware of the dread proximity of man, leaving behind 

 them six or seven nondescript companions about 

 their own size, sedately playful, awkward, and 

 grotesque. At the distance at which I first saw them 

 I was quite at a loss to imagine what they were. 

 Eluding they were curious rather than shy, I 

 approached nearer, and found them to be young fox- 

 cubs ; they allowed me to venture within about 

 fifteen yards of them, and then retired, without any 

 indecorous haste, one by one into their holes." 



Great-Auk Eggs. — The four egg-shells of this 

 extinct bird, recently sold by public auction, realized 

 £122. 10s. in separate lots; viz,, £33, £31. 10s., 

 and two at £29 each. 



