254 



THE NATURALIST. 



Mr. Henry Miller, of Accrington. Upon 

 dissection, it proved to be a male bird, 

 and on opening tlie gizzard we found it to 

 contain five marine shells, Littorina Uttorea, 

 besides some young crabs. We were sur- 

 prised at finding in the windpipe four 

 large reservoirs, about three-quarters of an 

 inch apart and measuring one inch across, 

 and quite as hard as a piece of shell ; whilst 

 the windpipe between these reservoirs was 

 only a quarter of an inch thick. Also, on 

 the same date, a pair of snow buntings, 

 Emheriza nivalis, in excellent plumage, 

 were shot, and sent by the same person. — 

 On the 26th of November, being out with 

 a friend, I had the pleasure of seeing within 

 fifty yards of us, amongst a flock of rooks 

 and jackdaws, a fine specimen of the hooded 

 crow, CoTvus comix. We watched it for a 

 short time, and it appeared to be quite 

 friendly with the rest of the flock. This 

 is the only instance in which I ever saw 

 the above species in company. I should 

 be glad if any reader of the Naturalist 

 could inform me what is the use of these 

 reservoirs in the windpipe of the duck, as 

 I have never observed them before. — Syd- 

 ney Smith, Church, near Accrington. 



Notes on some of the Vespidce. — Being 

 desirous to add to my collection of ornithic 

 nests, and obtain those of a few insects 

 and the smaller mammals, and as the great 

 heat of the past summer aff"orded extra 

 facilities for so doing, I kept up a sharp 

 look-out round S. Neots, in the part of 

 Huntingdonshire where I resided. I suc- 

 ceeded in finding a very pretty specimen 

 of the habitation of a wasp, which I be- 

 lieve to be Ves2Ja Brittanica, but unfortu- 

 nately could not secure the owners. It is 

 about the size of a small apple, and of a 

 substance like grey paper. I also met with 

 a fine colony of hornets, Vesjpa crahro, 

 situated in a thatch, in the deserted hole 

 of a sparrow and numerously tenanted. 

 The insects had fallen upon a crop of 

 grapes in the vicinity, and worked with 

 such zeal as to have damaged it to a consi- 

 derable degree. [Though I did not suppose 

 hornets to be crepuscular in their habits, 



yet our men assured me these were on the 

 grapes when they left the garden at night, 

 and on their return to mow in the morning 

 again, they were also to be found. At first 

 I was a good deal at a loss to know how to 

 deal with them, fire could not be the agent 

 of destruction, obviously ; after a time 

 however, 'when some Ihad'^been killed by 

 the ordinary plan of placing one hand 

 glass upon another, — and so many insects 

 had entered the trap, that the floor had 

 been covered in a few weeks, with an ento- 

 mological collection of several inches deep, 

 and great variety, — I inserted a wad of 

 cotton, soaked in Benzine into the hole ; 

 this had a partial eff'ect, but a portion of 

 the smell escaped through the thatch, and 

 the attempt was not completely successful. 

 The difficulty was not lessened by the mode 

 of approach being up a ladder, when the 

 returning hornets might take the besieger 

 in rear, without his knowledge, and inflict 

 a vengeance of great severity. (Query, how 

 many hornets' stings would kill a man ? 

 the popular idea is strong on the subject I 

 know. ) A frost proved my best friend, 

 and on November 1, after two ignominious 

 retreats, I managed to carry off" the nest in 

 a plate with the remaining insects alive, 

 but torpid, and placed it in the hall for the 

 night, when things appeared quiet enough. 

 Next day, however, the sun put my new 

 lodgers into the most unpleasant activity, 

 their appearance was decidedly ''a cau- 

 tion," there was no fear of any one appro- 

 priating my prize ; the distance preserved 

 by spectators was most respectful, and I 

 had smart work to kill each individual 

 with a pair of tongs, my chief consolation 

 being a bottle of soda in case of mishap. 

 All things have however an end, and so 

 had these Vespidce to my "great content," 

 as old Pepys would say. The nest now 

 placed in a glass case rewards my trouble, 

 while the slain were picked up by a friend 

 who extracted their stings as microscopic 

 objects. The dimensions I find to be about 

 nine inches square, but I have seen much 

 larger. — Geokge Dawson Kowley, M.A. 

 5, Peel Terrace, Brighton. 



