162 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



that of inanimate nature, because in his selfishness he 

 is disposed to reduce them to slavery. 



" We find the animal world either in a state of 

 savage wildness or enslaved submission. It is possible 

 that as the character of man is changed they may 

 attain a midway condition removed from both. As 

 the mind of man acknowledges its dependence on the 

 Divine Mind, brutes may add to their instinct sub- 

 mission to human reason, preserving an unbroken 

 chain from our Father in heaven to the most inani- 

 mate parts of creation. . . . Everything will seem 

 to be conscious of its use, and every man will become 

 conscious of the use of everything." 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE MARSH 

 . TITMOUSE. 



EARLY in the spring of 1891, my son, who was 

 eighteen years of age, and a bit of a naturalist, 

 came home one day and said he had found a fresh- 

 pecked hole in a very rotten tree, which he thought 

 was the work of the lesser spotted woodpecker. 

 About a month later he went to the tree and found 

 a large hole about twelve inches deep, with a nest in 

 it ; the hole in the tree was much too small to put 

 his hand in, so he cut a piece of the tree away on the 

 opposite side, to reach the nest, which had nothing in it. 

 He replaced the piece of wood and secured it by 

 binding a twig round the tree, but he was surprised 

 to find such a large hole made, and not a chip to be 

 seen lying on the ground. A few days later he 

 looked at the nest, and there was one egg, which he 

 brought home. I suggested it was the egg of the 

 coal-titmouse. In three days he went to the tree 

 again, and removing the piece of wood, found the bird 

 on the nest with three eggs ; he carefully examined 

 the bird, thinking that would be the last he should 

 see of it, and brought the eggs home, and as I have 

 specimens of most of the tit family, the marsh titmouse 

 was readily selected as being like the bird he took 

 from the nest. In a week he went to the tree again, 

 and found the bird on the nest with seven eggs ; he 

 brought the eggs home, and there were not any more 

 laid that year. 



Last April he went to look at the tree again. He 

 found the tree was broken in two at the weak place 

 caused by the bird, and another hole begun lower 

 down. Some time after, I went to the tree, and found 

 a hole about six inches broad and about nine inches 

 deep, and the bird in the hole pecking away. I put 

 my hand over the hole, thinking, Most likely you are 

 the same birds that were here last year, and don't 

 object to be caught ; I will catch you. I rapped the 

 tree with my stick, expecting it instantly in my hand, 

 but it did not come. I rapped again and kicked the 

 tree with my foot, took my hand from the hole ; but 

 do what I would I could not make the bird leave the 

 hole, so I went a distance away and waited to see 



what would happen. In a few minutes the cock-bird 

 appeared on the scene ; but instead of going to the 

 hole in the tree, he flew to the ground, picked up a 

 chip, gave a shrill note, and flew away with the chip. 

 The hen put her head out of the hole, dropped some 

 more chips and returned to her work, and I went on. 

 About a month later we went to the tree — I might 

 mention it was in a small wood about a mile-and-a- 

 half from my house ; we cut a hole in the opposite 

 side of the tree, to get the nest, which contained seven 

 eggs. We took the eggs, replaced the piece of wood, 

 and went home. Next week my son was by the tree 

 again. He thought he would have a look at the nest. 

 To his great surprise he found there were seven more 

 eggs ; he brought them home, and going to the nest 

 ten day's later, found another seven eggs. I know 

 I shall be severely censured by some of our readers, 

 but my curiosity was aroused, and it seems to clear 

 up a doubt that has long existed in my mind, that 

 birds have the power to lay more eggs or sit as they 

 choose. I have on several occasions taken the eggs 

 from a nest whichiwould have been sat upon the next 

 day ; and about a week after I have found another five 

 eggs in the same nest. However, he brought the 

 seven eggs home, and in a fortnight there were four 

 egg-sittings, making a total of thirty-five eggs taken 

 in two seasons. All the eggs except three are still in 

 my possession. This year there is another nest in 

 the same tree, which we do not intend to disturb. 



H. Blaby. 



BracMey, Northants. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The past month has been one of unusual turmoil 

 for scientific circles, stirring even those profound and 

 tranquil depths which the waves of current politics 

 are powerless to ruffle. By electing Sir Henry 

 Howorth to a Fellowship, in accordance with the 

 original nomination of the council, the Royal Society 

 has undoubtedly saved its dignity. The annual 

 election of the council's nominees has been suffered 

 for so long to degenerate into a perfunctory routine 

 that any breach of the custom, especially one in- 

 volving the invidious distinction of striking a single 

 name off the list, should have been carried out with 

 the greatest delicacy and caution. 



Alfred Russel Wallace has been admitted 

 into the sacred ranks of the Royal Society. In 1858, 

 before Darwin had published a print of the great 

 theory he was compiling, an essay by Mr. Wallace, 

 then a comparatively unknown man, forced his hand, 

 and compelled him, unless he wished to be antici- 

 pated, to send in to the Linnean Society all the work 

 that he himself had done in the same direction. 

 Mr. Wallace's essay was entitled, " On the Tendency 

 of Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original 



