Zoological Notices, by James Smail. 105 



When startled from their nests there, they are so numerous, that 

 they rise on wing like a white cloud. In a small moss about a 

 hundred yards from the Haining Loch, Selkirk, they also nest. 

 These birds fly about during the night. I have heard their 

 sharp creeking cry at all hours of the night, in mid-summer. 



Lob-worm in Water. — Many people think that the Worms on 

 which trout get gorged in a flood, are brought into rivers by 

 flooded drains and the like. Such is not the case. The Worms 

 are bred and fed in the river-beds, under the stones. When a 

 flood comes it moves many stones, and dislodges the Worms, 

 which fall a ready prey to the voracious trout. By turning over 

 those stones, which form what is locally called the "dry channel," 

 at the edge of a river, Worms will be found numerously embedded 

 among the damp sandy soil underneath ; and where the water is 

 running Worms will always be found more or less numerous 

 underneath the stones, provided they lie on soil, or on soil inter- 

 mixed with the river sand. I have picked Worms out of the 

 Teviot, at Kelso, from beneath stones over which the water was 

 running at from two or three to eight or ten inches in depth. 

 These Water-worms are nearly all of a dark red colour, with 

 black heads, and somewhat flat in head and body. Some of the 

 small worms are green. I have often caught trout with the 

 largest of the two kinds. They, of course, have no soil inside. 



Having observed that these apparent earth worms lived and 

 flourished in the rivers, I thought I would try what effect might 

 be produced by keeping a large Dew or Lob-worm in water. I 

 accordingly took from the garden a very large specimen ; and 

 put it into a glass jar beside a live minnow, which had inhabited 

 the same for a year. At the bottom of the jar, there were a con- 

 siderable number of small pebbles. The worm for a short time 

 crawled and wriggled, as if a little frightened. It then settled 

 among the stones, the minnow swimming about overhead. The 

 water was changed every three days ; and the worm having been 

 immersed a few days gave up crawling, unless for the purpose of 

 twining round a fresh stone now and again. At the end of six 

 weeks it was as lively as when it was put among the water ; but 

 it was much clearer than when immersed, because all earthy 

 matter had been discharged. The jar was broken by accident at 

 the close of six weeks ; and I then took the worm, which wriggled 

 in my hand, and placed it again in the garden, where it soon 

 crawled out of sight. 



