196 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST 



To such a man, however, all is as nothing 

 compared with the joy of being alone with, 

 and reading, the mysteries of nature. 



Want, care, pain, all fade into insignifi- 

 cance when her lover walks in the pure light 

 of the morning, by the murmuring waves, on 

 the mountain slopes, or in the deep solitude 

 of the woods. 



All those who have read the " Life of a 

 Scotch Naturalist " will understand this ; to 

 those who have not, I say, lose no time in 

 studying its lessons, Montagu Browne. 



Birmingham. 



"PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY." 



In reading the very interesting review of the 

 above work which appears in your issue of 

 the 3rd (No. 23), I notice three grave errors 

 which perhaps you will allow T me to correct. 



1. — On page 178, 2nd col., gth line, you give 

 my formula (No. 9, which is only intended for 

 animals), in place of No. 4, which latter is 

 the non-poisonous preservative for birds, and 

 is compounded thus : — 



Powdered Whiting or Chalk — iflfo. ; 



Soft Soap — ilb. ; 



Chloride of Lime — 2 ozs.; 

 Intimately mixed and boiled together, as 

 directed at page 46 of " P. T." The substitu- 

 tion of the animal preservative for the above 

 bird preservative would be attended with 



deplorable results. 



2. — At bottom of the same page — speaking 



of Ducks — your reviewer say, " the head 

 cannot be passed through the neck, so the 

 neck has to be cut off, &c, &c." This reads 

 as if the head was taken completely away — 

 skin and all — from the body ; what is meant 

 is, that after skinning the bird in the usual 

 manner, as far as the head will allow, the neck 

 is decapitated by the scissors from the inside. 

 The body with neck attached is now free, the 

 skin contains the still unskinned head : to get 

 this out an incision is made either by the side 

 of the face, or on the hinder part of the head, 

 as fully described at pp. 69-70, "P. T." 



3. — In speaking of white-bellied birds, 

 you say, I " recommend skinning down the 

 back ; " so I do in certain cases, but at p. 59, 

 " P. T ," will be found the system of skinning 

 from under the wing, by which method, or 

 the back plan, all white-breasted birds must be 

 skinned. Hence, I totally disagree with your 

 dictum, that any amount of skill can — in the 

 long run — conceal the stitching up of a sea- 

 bird's breast.— Montagu Browne, F. Z, S. 

 Birmingham. 



COLLECTING AT 

 HARTLEPOOL. 



By John E. Robson. 



Many rare plants are found in Crimdon Dene. 

 Truly wild gooseberries, raspberries, and 

 currants. The winter green (Pyrola rotundifolia), 

 Truelove [Paris quadrifolia), Spurge Laurel 

 [Daphne Laitreola), Sand Leek (Allium Scoro- 

 doprasum), and many others are plentiful, 

 while primroses, oxlips, hyacinths, orchids, 

 | red campion, and many other showy flowers 

 j luxuriate in the wildest profusion. For insect 

 . collecting I prefer this Dene to Castle Eden, 

 partly, perhaps, because I have visited it 

 more, and know it better ; but I think insects 

 are more abundant in it, notwithstanding the 

 fame of the other, The first species we get 

 in it is P. piiosaria, but till May is well in, 

 there is not much to repay one for the journey. 

 Then N. confusalis may be found on tree 

 trunks, sitting head downward. S. biundularim 

 is very abundant ; A . ulmata common ; C. suff- 

 umata and the dark unicolorous variety, 

 piceata, not rare ; C.corylata common. Silaceata 

 sits on trees, but is so wary that you must 

 approach it cautiously, or it. is off. E. ajfini- 

 tata and alchemillata are common ; dc.olurata 

 rather scarce. Where there are larches, F. 

 piniaria flies freely in the sunshine, and E, 

 lariciata may be found at rest ; U. sambucaria 

 is common towards the edges of the wood ; 

 A . blomeraria is far from rare ; A . derivata sits on 



