SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 1, 1865. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Kestkel {Falco tvnmncidus). — I witnessed some 

 time since, what struck me as a curious incident with 

 regard to this hawk. While staj'ing in the north of 

 Devon, at a farm-liouse, I went out one evening 

 shooting, and walked in the direction of a solitary 

 old barn : while passing it, a hawk flew from a hole 

 in the mud wall, about seven feet from the ground ; 

 1 fired, but as its flight was so swift, I missed. He- 

 turning in about an hour, I saw one of the birds 

 coming out of the hole in a very " hobbling " manner, 

 holding something in its claws ; it commenced its 

 flight, but this time I was too quick for it : it fell, 

 and I saw an egg distinctly drop from it, which I 

 found broken by the fall.—/, P. 



Squiruel Monkey {Callithnx sciuretis, L.). — A 

 pair of these very interesting little monkeys from 

 Brazil, have recently been presented by the Prince de 

 Joinville to the Zoological Society, and may be seen 

 in one of the side cages in the new Monkey-house, 

 at the Society's Gardens, in Hegent's Park. 



CuEioirs CuAB-CLAW. — I euclose a rough sketch 

 of a deformed claw of the Edible Crab, C. Edulis 

 (or Platycarcmus of Milne-Edwards) . The crab was 



Exri.ANATioN OP Figure. 



A. Moveable or upper mandiWe. 



B. Fixed or lower mandible. 



C. An extra or false pincer mandibles, which are both 



fixed, but work together with A at D joint. 



caught here on the 23rd June, and its claw is in my 

 possession. Believing it to be of rare occurrence, I 

 thought it might be of interest to some of your 

 readers.— Z?. H. K. 



CoMPAUATivE Incuease IN SizE.— At the age 

 of twenty, man is rarely four times as long as the 

 new-born infant ; and his average weight is hardly 

 thirty times greater. The Teredo larva, which is 

 about to undergo a change of form, is four thousand 

 times larger than when it sprang from the c^g, and 

 is still many million times smaller than its mother. 

 — Qiiairef ages' Metamorphoses. 



Pigeons eouted by Swallows.— A pair of 

 pigeons have for the last two years made their nest 

 in a box attached to the wall of an outbuilding, the 

 door of which is regularly closed at night. Two 

 swallows attached their nest to a beam of this build- 

 ing, and so persecuted the unfortunate pigeons that 

 they were suddenly compelled to retreat and esta- 

 blish a home elsewhere. The circumstance did not 

 come under my notice until the swallows had 

 hatched their eggs, when the swallows' nest was 

 removed and placed outside the building, under a 

 spouting which protected it from the wet, and the 

 pigeons reinstated. The old ones continued to feed 

 the young, and the swallows soon were on the wing. 

 The pigeons, however, did not long enjoy their quiet, 

 for, having laid more eggs, they were again attacked 

 by the swallows, who made great efforts to build a 

 second time on the beam, but were prevented by my 

 servant. It Avas very curious to witness the attacks 

 made on these unwieldy pigeons. The persecutions 

 were not confined to the building, but wherever 

 these unfortunates were met, down the swallows 

 were upon them, skimming the aii", and with the 

 rapidity of lightning, pouncing upon them, and 

 removing a lot of feathers with their beaks. Whilst 

 the larger birds were turning round to make their 

 attacks, the smaller ones were far out of reach. — 

 diaries Wotton, 3I.D. 



The Natterjack at Coombe. — I lately caught 

 a few Natterjacks on Coombe Warren, on the hill 

 by the back road between Wimbledon Common and 

 Kingston. A shepherd boy in the neighbourhood 

 had some time before told me there were " spotted 

 toads that run very fast " sometimes to be seen 

 about. Mr. Bell in his work says they are found 

 at Selborne, and I have heard of their being about 

 Shalford, west of Guildford, so that they have 

 several habitats along the Portsmouth road, but are 

 nowhere so abundant as on Wisley Heath. They 

 are noted in the "Penny Cyclopsedia" as occurring 

 at Hillingdon, Middlesex, but I lately showed a pair 

 to two or three villagers there, and they did not 

 know them. They are found about Berkhampstead, 

 Herts. — W. R. Tate, Camberwell. 



Elower - LOVING Spiders.- A white species is 

 very common on the flowers of the " ox-eye," and 

 sometimes frequents the wild roses ; another I saw 

 on an orchis, but it hid between the blossoms. They 

 often had hold of a large fly, or even of a bee, which 

 they had surprised at the flower; and one day 

 noticing on a flower of one of the yellow vetches an 

 example of Vanessa tirtic(e with its wings spread 

 out, which did not seem to move on my approach, 

 I looked more closely, and found that it was held by 

 the head by a large bright yellow spider, of almost 

 exactly the colour of the flower.— C. G. Barrett, in 

 Entomologists'' Monthly Magazine. 



