6676 



Birds. — Crustacea. 



(not a " theory ") as that of feathers scudding in a breeze, which even a closet natu- 

 ralist may witness any day by extracting a handful from his bed, without disturbing 

 that of " the goddess Holda," and letting them loose at a window, I should have 

 thought could have been called in question by none. And as to mistaking feathers 

 for snow, I answer by asking, was the latter ever seen floating on water ? I 

 can hardly agree with Mr. Greene, tliat it requires specimens of goose-down and 

 feathers to be sent "by post to England," some thonsands of miles, in order to settle 

 " the matter beyond doubt or dispute," when the experiments can be made, as I have 

 described, so near at home. — Thomas Blakiston ; Woohuich, July 24, 1859. 



A Kile (Milvus regalis) flying over London. — On Friday, June 24th, between 5 and 

 6 o'clock p.m., I saw a large kite, with very long wings and a forked tail, flying at the 

 height of about a hundred yards above Piccadilly (opposite the Green Park), in a 

 north-easterly direction. As the bird moved slowly, it might have been easily shot at 

 that time. Its appearance excited a good deal of attention among the passengers in 

 Piccadilly, and probably it was seen by other readers of the ' Zoologist." — /. Altham ; 

 Manchester Street, Manchester Square, June 30, 1859. 



Note on the Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). — I do not know whether the following note 

 on the cuckoo is worth recording ; but it appeared to me to offer presumptive 

 evidence of a love of offspring which I had never before witnessed ; neither had 

 T any very settled opinion of cuckoos possessing any share of natural affection for 

 their offspring. On the 7ih of June I was collecting insects on Hampstead Heath, 

 about 7 o'clock in the evening. On arriving at that part which is contiguous to 

 North End, I started two birds, which flew from the middle of some dense furze- 

 bushes ; they rose with a sharp, snapping sound, and, after taking a wide circumvo- 

 lution, again flew close to me, uttering the same sharp, snapping sound, which was 

 immediately followed by a quick repetition of the call of "cuckoo, cuckoo;" this was 

 repeated three or four times, the birds each time dashing within two yards of where I 

 stood. They then flew together into an oak tree, and continued to "cuckoo,'' appa- 

 rently in a state of great excitement. The impression on my mind was, that I had 

 disturbed and frightened them away from a nest which contained their young, or that 

 they were in attendance upon a young cuckoo which had not acquired sufficient 

 strength to take flight. I searched, hoping, but in vain, to find either a nest or 

 young bird, and so more satisfactorily arrive at the object of the anxiety of the pair 

 of old birds. The snapping sound resembled that made by the goat-sucker when 

 hawking in the evening after fern-chaffers. — Frederick Smith; British Museum, 

 June 27, 1859. 



The Crab and its Allies. 

 By C. Spence Bate, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 

 (Continued from p. 6630.) 



The Crustacea, in the tabulated idea, consists of twenty-one dis- 

 tinct segments, of which that furnishing the organ of vision is the 

 most anterior. 



Sight is not the only sense with which these animals are endowed : 

 senses of hearing and of smell are more or less perfect in most of 



