62 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



amined the tuft in hopes of finding a nest of 

 something or other ; but a careful search 

 resulted in nothing but disappointment. In 

 the course of the day I returned to the 

 spot ; there was the same hop and away, 

 but the motion was so short and quick, that 

 I could not even then distinguish whether I 

 had seen a bird or a mouse. I repeated my 

 search for a nest, but with no better success 

 than before. I then sat down by the spot 

 to watch if anything would approach, and 

 it was not long before I observed the grass 

 move, and a veritable Sylvia locustella (thread- 

 ing its way through the grass) approach 

 within arm's length of me ; but, after eyeing 

 me for a moment, it commenced a retreat. 

 Feeling confident there must be a nest, I 

 took my knife and carefully cut away the 

 herbage near the tuft, and then proceeded 

 with the tuft itself, in the centre of which, 

 and in a depression of the ground, I found 

 the object of my search ; but to the very 

 last there was not the slightest appearance 

 of ingress or egress. I was so struck with 

 what I had witnessed that I again sat down 

 and ever and anon the same stealthy move- 

 ments to and fro were repeated. The male 

 bird appeared very shy, only once ap- 

 proached, and then not nearer than eight or 

 ten yards ; it perched on a twig just above 

 the ground, and for a while kept up a harsh 

 grating noise, but soon disappeared, and I 

 saw it no more. The female uttered no cry. 

 The other two nests I detected in the same 

 manner, in small open places in an exten- 

 sive wood : their situations were exactly 

 alike, being in the centres of two very large 

 tufts of coarse grass, at a depth of fourteen 

 ■5r fifteen inches (about the same depth as 

 the first nest), from the top. These tufts 

 were free from thorns or brambles, and 

 being much larger than the first, aftorded 

 sufficient concealment, without the nest 

 resting on the ground. There was the 

 same absence of all appearances which 

 could lead you to suppose they contained a 



nest. In both cases I watched the move- 

 ments of the female, and they were precisely 

 the same as I have already described ; she 

 never rose on the wing ; and it would seem 

 probable (if not disturbed) she never flies 

 either to or from her nest, but threads her 

 way through the herbage, and thus effectu- 

 ally prevents everything that could lead to 

 the discovery of her retreat. The whole' 

 proceedings most forcibly reminded ' me 

 of a mouse under similar circumstances. 

 The eggs were six in number. The nests, 

 in the two latter instances, were entirely of 

 dry grass, finer internally ; in the first there 

 was a little moss outside, owing probably to 

 a trifling difference in situation." 



Eggs, — The number of eggs vary from 

 four to six, and sometimes seven. They are 

 rather round, pale grey, tinged with rose 

 colour, and finely speckled all over with 

 darker rose spots and rarely streaked ; some- 

 times the specks form a darker zone at the 

 large end. 



Varieties are sometimes found very pale 

 in colour, and with the markings very in- 

 distinct. Another variety is recorded in 

 " Hewitson's Oology " with the ground 

 colour pure white. 



DEVELOPMENT 

 OF A FERN. 



By T. W. WooDHEAD, Huddersfield. 

 When rambling through the woods in the 

 Autumn, every one will have noticed the 

 dark brown bodies, on the back of the fern 

 frond, or leaf. If these are examined by the 

 aid of a microscope, they will be found to 

 consist of clusters of brown capsules, or 

 cases, called spore cases, and these clusters 

 are often covered by a thin membrane called 

 an indusium. If examined carefully, each 

 spore case is seen to be mounted on a short 

 stalk, and girt by an elastic ring. Inside 

 these cases, are contained the spores or 

 seeds, and as many as sixty spores are con- 



