518 Miscellanea, by Mr James Hardy. 



bit. On my approaching the object, the crows flew off to a safe 

 distance, when to my surprise I found a Sparrowhawk with its 

 talons grasping a newly killed partridge ; so that the crows were 

 in the most persistent manner, disputing possession of the game 

 with the hawk ; which had in turn to deliver up the coveted tit- 

 bit to myself. I noticed that although the crows were most 

 anxious for the prize, they did not attack simultaneously ; but 

 took it in turn to assault the hawk, which most reluctantly had 

 to beat a retreat." 



Hoodie, v. Shepherd's Dog. — Mr John Ferguson writes, Mar. 

 8th, 1876. " When coming from Swinton the other day, I wit- 

 nessed a rather amusing exhibition of pugnacity on the part of a 

 common ' Hooded Crow,' (Corvus comix), not far from Mount 

 Pleasant. One of these birds was picking up some garbage from 

 the road, when a shepherd's dog, which was passing at the time, 

 halted quite close to it, and surveyed it for a minute with a 

 puzzled and rather suspicious air. Whether the dog had never 

 seen a pied crow before, and may therefore be presumed to have 

 felt a scientific interest in the individual in question, or whether 

 he had theftuous designs upon the crow's meal, is uncertain. The 

 bird apparently came to the latter conclusion, for it speedily put 

 itself in fighting attitude, and the dog, thinking no doubt, that in 

 this case discretion was the better part of valour, immediately 

 turned tail and scampered off. His plucky antagonist watched 

 his retreat for a moment, and then, with a triumphant croak, took 

 wing and quickly disappeared." 



Cecidomyia Persic ariae, L. — The larva,which is found in the 

 leaves of Polygonum amphihium, is orange coloured, and its presence 

 occasions the margins of the leaves to roll inwards. Sometimes 

 the roll is on both leaf-margins, and then the leaf acquires a fan- 

 tastic twist, and looks as if contorted by a caterpillar. There are 

 three or four larvae in each roll. The rolls are pale green and 

 crimson ; making the affected leaves very conspicuous. I obser- 

 ved it at Turvielaws, Northumberland ; at the side of the loch in 

 Holy Island, in June ; near Tyningham. and Beltonford, East 

 Lothian, July 14th. Mr. Walker, Dipt. Brit. iii. p. 79, describes 

 the fly from a German source, but it is questionable if the perfect 

 insect has been observed in Britain. It is only one line long. 



Cecidomyia Tili^e, Schr. 1 — This has a gall very different from 

 the minute mite-gall infesting the leaves. It is oval, round, or 

 oblong, pale green, or purple checked, smooth, of the size of a pea, 

 or larger, situated on the twigs, chiefly those issuing from the 

 main stem. The inside is fleshy or fibrous, and is occupied by 

 colonies of slender orange spindle-shaped maggots, from ten to 

 twenty in number. The maggot is scarcely a line long, puckered 



