66 



MISCELLANEA. 



Y. — Miscellanea. 



Note on the curious proceedings of a Nuthatch (Sitta ceesia, 

 "Wolf) observed at Oatlands, 1889. — This short note is written to 

 show the sagacity of two Nuthatches observed by myself, my 

 sister, and a lady friend, at Oatlands, this summer. 



"We are in the habit in the mornings at breakfast time of 

 throwing on to the lawn fronting the window steeped bread, etc., 

 for the small birds which assemble there. This year two Nut- 

 hatches have joined in the repast, but Sparrows are the most 

 numerous visitors. The bread given to the birds not being much 

 appreciated by the ISTuthatches we laid some nuts out for them, 

 which were very soon carried off, no doubt to some hiding place, 

 by our little sprightly friends ; but observing that there were 

 always some of the nuts left on the ground, we at once thought 

 there must be some reason for it. It struck us all very forcibly 

 that the nuts left behind must be bad, empty nuts, and this, on 

 examination of all the nuts that were left behind by the Nut- 

 hatches, was really the case. Each nut examined was, without 

 exception, empty. 



Watching the actions of the birds more carefully, we noticed 

 that the birds took the nuts first in their bills, and then often 

 dropped them on the ground ; these were found on examination 

 to be all empty nuts. "We certainly broke more than twenty 

 nuts that had been left, and each one was empty, that is, no 

 kernel bad been matured in it. Afterwards I tried the weight 

 of several nuts in my hand, and I found a very perceptible 

 difference in the weight of those nuts that were full and those 

 that were empty, and I need scarcely say that the birds must 

 have determined by the same mode the full nuts and those 

 that were empty. Is this an instance of reasoning, or is it 

 instinct ? — John Hancock. 



Trades and Travels of Earth Worms. — On the morning of the 

 21st November, 1889, at nine o'clock, after heavy rain, I noticed 

 a great number of worm tracks on a footpath in a field near 



