8832 



Reptiles. 



orange, darkest on sides and back of tarsus. Claws pale in colour, hut faded. Webs 

 apparently orange, but faded. Hind toe more like that of the Fuligulinse than of 

 the true Anatiuae, but the membranous expansion is not so decided as in most of the 

 pochards: resembling them, however, in this particular, as well as in one or two 

 characters of bill (although in other features of this organ it is quite dissimilar), 

 I should be inclined to class my specimen under the subfamily Fuligulinae. — W. W. 

 Boulton ; Beverley, Yorkshire. 



The Little Auk and Spotted Crake in Devonshire. — A little auk. (Alca alle) was 

 obtained at Plymouth a few days since, and a spotted crake (Crex porzana) near 

 Tavistock. The latter bird was found dead on the line of railway, and doubtless met 

 its death by flying against the telegraph wire. — John Gatcombe ; Plymouth, October 15, 

 1863. 



Razorbills and Guillemots in Devonshire. — The late severe gales have caused sad 

 havoc among the razorbills and guillemots. For the last fortnight I have been 

 visiting Seaton, a watering place on the coast of Devon, where I found numbers of 

 them lying dead on the shore, washed up by the force of the waves. During a heavy 

 sea these birds remind one of ships on a lee shore not able to "claw off," as the sailors 

 say. At such times they may be seen riding on the immense waves close to the land ; 

 and it is really wonderful to observe the instinct and dexterity these poor birds 

 evince to avoid being dashed on shore: intently watching the moment when the tall 

 thin waves are about to break and roll over on the beach, they suddenly dive through 

 them, and, appearing almost immediately on the other side, are enabled to maintain 

 their position for hours together, until at length, becoming exhausted from want of 

 food and continued exertion, they are obliged to succumb, and get rolled on shore 

 almost lifeless at your feet, surviving the shock but a very short time. — Id. 



The Deaf or Death-Adder of Australia. — The idea that snakes sting has long been 

 laughed out of the minds of the most credulous, and he who would venture upon such 

 an assertion at the present day must expect to meet with general discredit. Never- 

 theless, I am disposed to believe that there is a species in Australia, commonly called 

 there the deaf or death-adder, that really does possess a sting at the tip of its tail, 

 which, as well as its bite, is venomous and fatal to human life. Neither ought the 

 idea that a creature possessing such a property is to be found in a country whose 

 natural productions are so much at variance with those of the rest of the world be 

 thought more improbable than the existence of the peculiar warning process at the 

 tail of the rattle-snake would have appeared to the ancient naturalists. And before your 

 readers reject it, let them remember that in ancient times a black swan was esteemed 

 such a myth that the improbability of its existence became the subject of a proverb ; 

 and, even in modern days, had any one asserted some years ago that there was a 

 mammal, a quadruped, which had the bill of a duck, such an idea would have been held 

 quite as incredible as the one I now venture to advance, supported by my own personal 

 observation. The aboriginal natives of Australia, as a general rule, subsist more upon 

 the smaller mammalia and reptiles (as opossums, snakes, iguanas, &c.) than upon 

 kangaroo or emu; for it requires quite a large party to hunt down either of the latter, 

 and as the blacks generally travel in small' parties or in families, they trust chiefly to 

 what they can pick up on the road for a subsistence. Thus they can scarcely err with 



