4702 Birds, fyc. 



has explained any doubt that may have existed on the subject, by drawing them in 

 considerable numbers into such houses as were accessible to them. 



Water Shrew (Sorex fodiens). This is a common animal with us, and often meets 

 the fate of the ordinary shrew (Sorex tetragonurus), in being left dead on the surface 

 of the ground in summer : it is so rarely seen in the winter as to have led to the belief 

 that it passes the cold season in a state of sleep ; but in the last week in January, when 

 there was a smart frost, and snow lay on the ground, two of them were found lying 

 dead on the ground ; and on the 1st of February, still severely cold, another was seen 

 to be killed by a hen. They had probably been driven from the water by the frost, 

 which had congealed the whole surface of the stream ; but their plump condition 

 showed that they did not die from want of food. In some notes which accompany my 

 sketches of the organs of this creature I find the following remarks: — The three 

 internal lobes of the ear, in their ordinary condition, are closed over the aperture; so 

 that when the animal goes into the water none of the fluid can enter through the 

 orifice: but at pleasure, or when alarmed, it can open the aperture widely, and thus it 

 hears well ; it is able also to open or throw back a portion of the tragus, by which 

 means a blind sack is exposed, which guards the orifice of the ear from water, and yet 

 allows of some degree of hearing. The auditory passage is directed downward and 

 forward, and is wide for the size of the animal. The antitragus, by being placed a 

 little backward, forms one side of the blind pouch, and at the same time constitutes a 

 valve for the auditory passage. 



The Wren. This little bird braves our hardest winters, but the manner in which 

 it obtains protection from the cold has been little attended to by naturalists. Solitary 

 as they usually are, they assemble and cluster together to obtain warmth. In one 

 case, in the hole of a hedge where moss was in abundance, my informant found them 

 assembled together in a ball as large as a quart measure ; and in a short distance of each 

 other were three or four of these clusters, containing together little short of a hundred 

 wrens. In less numbers this clustering is not uncommon ; and when the birds are 

 seen acting thus it is supposed to foretel a cold night: they sometimes seek refuge in 

 the hole of a tree, and prefer a haystack before a corn-mow. The wren has not suffered 

 from want of food, as the Turdi have done severely. 



Conger. Towards the end of February a ship from Cornwall, passing northward, 

 came among a large quantity of congers which were floating on the surface, nearly but 

 not altogether dead, and much inflated. A boat was sent out, which took up about 

 500 tbs. weight of them for food, and the largest was found to weigh 30 lbs. These 

 fish were scattered over a wide space, and the men supposed they might have loaded 

 their ship, if so inclined. I suppose the death of these fish to be less owing to the cold 

 of the air than to the cold water, which a long continuance of N.E. winds had driven 

 down from the German ocean. — Jonathan Couch ; Polperro, March 6, 1855. 



The Birds of London. — Many of the feathered race love the haunts of man, and 

 build and breed near homesteads, despite of ill usage. The thrush and the blackbird 

 are heard throughout the year in your shrubbery, and promenade at all times on your 

 lawn ; the titmouse rears its young in a" hole in the garden-wall ; while the pert note of 

 the robin is heard in the walks, and his red breast is often seen on your window-sill. 

 Even the magpie, the most wary and cunning of birds, often selects a tall tree near 



