718 EXTRACTS. — NATURAL HISTORY. 
The Red or Guernsey Partridge, (Perdrix Rufa, Ray.)— This bird has 
been just introduced into the principality of Wales. The Rev. Mr. Lewes, of 
Dyffryn, having bred this year eight brace, under a bantam fowl, adopting the 
same system of feeding them as that of the pheasant, and chopped eggs. They 
much resemble ours in colour and size, with the exception of the legs and bill, 
which are of a vermilliou red. They rim much like the land-rail, (Ortygometra 
crex,) and are very reluctant to take wing. " Mr. Daniel says, they are plentiful 
near Oxford. The Marquis of Hertford, having imported many thousand eggs 
which were hatched imder hens, and liberated; and so early as 1777, he says he 
saw a covey, consisting of fourteen of these birds, several of which he shot; ma- 
ny coveys may be found in the neighbourhood of Ipswich, or preserved manors 
where they seem to prefer the waste healthy ground to corn fields, the favourite 
haunts of the common species." — Mont. Ornlth. Diet. 
Serpents. — M. Duvernoy, who has devoted much time to the study of the 
organization of venomous serpents, has ascertained that, besides the venomous ■ 
teeth in front, the existence of which has long been known, they have in the hin- 
der part of the jaw longer and stronger teeth, of as great malignity. He is also 
inclined to think, that the secretions of the lachrymal glands in some descrip- 
tions of venomous serpents, do not go to moisten the eye-balls, but enter the 
mouth, and assist in commnnicating saliva to the food. 
Tincture of Roses. — Take the petals of the common rose (centifolioe,) place 
them, without pressing them, in a bottle, pour some good spirits of wine upon 
them, close the bottle and let it stand until it is required for use. This will keep 
for years, and yield a perfume little inferior to Otto of roses; a few drops will 
suffice to impregnate the atmosphere of a room with a delicious odour. Com- 
mon vinegar is greatly improved by a very small quantity being added to it. 
Skinless Oats. — At the meeting of the Warwickshire Agricultural Society, a 
specimen of the Avenacea Farina, or Skinless Oat, was produced by the Rev. 
Mr. Knott, which had been plucked that morning out of a piece of ground be- 
longing to that gentleman, at Wormleighton. It was produced from seed fiur- 
nished to him by Mr. Tucker, of Heanton, Punchardon, near Barnstaple, Devon- 
shire, and grown in the season of 1830^ for the first time it was ever produced in 
Great Britain, by Thomas Derenzy, Esq. of Clobemon Hall, who obtained the 
seed through a friend of his at Rotterdam, whither it was imported from Shantag, 
a remote district in China, and was quite unknown to Europeans till within 
these three years. The advantages which this extraordinary and valuable grain 
possesses over all other kinds of oats, are numerous, viz. : — When thrashed from 
the sheaf, it is exactly like oatmeal, and is fit for immediate use for culinary pur- 
poses, and every other sort which oatmeal is consumed, the grain being quite free 
from every particle of rind or husk. The flavour is delicious, and it contains 
much more farinaceous matter. There is, of course, -a considerable saving of 
oats, and expense of kiln drying, grinding, sifting, &c. &c. ; and one peck of it 
contains more nutrious food for a horse than three pecks of common oats. The 
produce is most astonishing, the average being twenty-six barrels, of fourteen 
stone to the Irish acre — the exact quantity grown by Mr. Derenzy on one acre. 
It was not sown till the 4th of May, 1830, and was reaped early in August the 
s^Qie year. It is remarkably hardy, and well adapted for this climate." 
■U. . •■ ■ 
