400 SAXICOLA CENANTHE. 



It is only fair, however, to state that in the following passage Mr. W. 

 Duppa Crotch (Journ Linn. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 31), on the habits of the Nor- 

 wegian Lemming, mentions the same alarm as common in that species of 

 mammalia :— ''A mere cloud rapidly passing over the sun affrighted them.'' 



The writers who mention the cloud theory have, as I consider, done so 

 without due examination, or by mistake. Take Pennant, for example. He 

 made a like error about the herring (cf. Nature, Aug. 24, 1876, p. 352) :— 

 " Pennant's tale of these fish coming annually in a vast heer from the high 

 latitude of the northern seas has been discussed and settled again and again. 

 ... He gave literary life to the fables of the fishermen ; and, so far as we 

 know, he made no personal efi^ort to determine w^hether or not the herring 

 was a migratory fish." 



Willughby appears to have believed the tale of the shepherds. The 

 raw material received from such persons requires to be sifted. 



Speaking of Hawks, it may be possible that a few Wheatears try to 

 escape them. But Hawks are not very plentiful now; and shepherds would 

 catch very few birds if they depended on accipitrine compulsion. 



When I have been round the traps, I have taken out a good many 

 Starlings — one of the least timid birds we have. Wrynecks have been 

 caught in this way also. With these, clouds could have nothing to do. The 

 truth is that the Starling and the Wheatear are birds accustomed to enter 

 holes, and finding these tempting-looking places handy they run in. 



Moreover the turf is cut into a trench ; so that beetles must frequently 

 fall in and remain there. Thus it is a beetle-trap, which probably has a 

 good deal to do with the matter ; for we know how fond Wheatears are of 



