HERBERT ON BIRDS. 



91 



tica, Fabricius) deserts houses infested with the cockroach (Blatta 

 Germanica,* Linnaeus.) Last year a gentleman of this town found 

 that his kitchen was tenanted by a numerous colony of the latter in 

 company with the former. In order to expel them he took down every 

 piece of board from the walls, and even the mantle piece, behind which 

 they had assembled in hoards, and, for any thing he could discover to 

 the contrary, living together in perfect friendship. — L. W. Clarke, 

 Secretary to the Entomological Society of Birmingham. 



On the spawning of fish. — A fish in the egg or spawn, gains 

 its oxygen from the air dissolved in water, and those fishes that spawn 

 in spring and summer in still water, such as the pike, carp, perch, and 

 bream, deposit their eggs upon subaquatic vegetables, the leaves of 

 which, in performing their healthy functions, supply oxygen to the 

 water. The fish that spawn in winter, such as the salmon and trout, 

 seek spots where there is a constant supply of fresh water as near the 

 sources of streams as possible, and in the most rapid currents, where 

 all stagnation is prevented, and where the water is saturated with air 

 for which it has been exposed during its deposition from clouds. It is 

 the instinct leading these fish to find a supply of air for their eggs, 

 which carries them from seas or lakes into the mountain country ; 

 which induces them to move against the stream, and to endeavour to 

 overleap weirs, mill-dams, and cataracts. — Sir Humphry Davy. 



THE HON. AND REV. W. HERBERTS NOTES ON BRITISH 



BIRDS, f 



Amongst the numerous notes contributed to the octavo edition of 

 White's Selborne, the most remarkable for interest and originality are 

 by the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert, the brother of the present Earl of 

 Carnarvon. These notes display great enthusiasm, patience in tracing 

 causes, shrewdness, ingenuity, and accuracy, and are at the same time 

 written with all the simplicity and elegance which mark refined taste 

 and superior scholarship. We have no hesitation in saying indeed, 

 that, if the author were so inclined, he might soon attain the highest 



* B Orientalis does not appear to be British, as stated by mistake in " Insect Mis- 

 cellany." — Editor. 



t The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne; by the late Rev. G. White 

 New edition with notes. 8vo. London. No date [1832.] 



