396 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



from the branch on which he stood, and though I cannot say for 

 certain lie was eating the acorns, I presume that this was what he was 

 doing, as I afterwards saw him fly to another bough, no doubt to got 

 a more favourable position for picking them, and on the following 

 Sunday I again saw him behave in exactly the same way. — F. Finn. 



Hobby in Petersfield District. — I am sorry to record the death of 

 a fine old male Hobby which was shot here during July last whilst 

 it was ranging a field where there happened to be some Pheasant 

 coops. This is the only Hobby I have ever seen in this locality. — 

 (Kev.) H. Maemaduke Langdale (Compton, Petersfield). 



PISCES. 



Colour-change in Fish. — That not only Tench, but probably all 

 species of freshwater fish without exception (certainly most British 

 species), involuntarily change colour so as to harmonize with the 

 bottom of the stretch of water they frequent, must have been known 

 ever since people first began to keep fish in confinement, not only in 

 glass aquaria, but in any artificially circumscribed basin. I have not 

 forgotten my astonishment fifty or more years ago, when, having 

 temporarily placed a mixed lot of fish (Eoach, Dace, Gudgeon, and 

 probably two or three other species, but I cannot recollect with 

 certainty) in a white bath, where they were of course very con- 

 spicuous, I found, after a short time (perhaps less than an hour, but 

 certainly under two), that they had all become quite pale and incon- 

 spicuous. Since then I have seen the same change and its reverse 

 over and over again, so that I should no more have thought of noting 

 it than the apparent fact that the sun rises and sets every day. 

 Whether sea-fish have the same power of unwittingly changing 

 colour I do not know, but as the large majority inhabit such much 

 deeper water, they may have no need for this provision ; but as Mr. 

 Milligan has sea- water aquaria, he has a chance of making observa- 

 tions which, even if they should prove not to be new, would be so 

 at any rate to me. — Alfred H. Cocks (Poynetts, Skirmett, near 

 Henley-on-Thames) . 



INSECTA. 



Hornet's Nest in the Ground. — In reference to the Rev. Julian 

 G. Tuck's note in the ' Zoologist ' for August, p. 320, I once saw a 

 Hornet's nest in a low hedge-bank by the roadside at Framfield, 

 Sussex. I have no recollection of ever having seen another in the 

 ground. I doubt if a Hornet has been seen by me in this district 

 for over thirty years. — Robert Morris (Uckfield, Sussex). 



