NATURE NOTES 
196 
556 . White Swallow. — There is a white swallow in this village which 
is condemned to be shot and stuffed, but net by me. If this albino escapes the 
gun its chances of living are very small. The other swallows chase and hunt it, 
and to its enemies it is only too conspicuous. Beyond being a curiosity, unnatural 
albinism in our British birds does not appeal to me, and is often hideous. A cock 
pheasant, disfigured by patches of white here and there, is frequently put into a 
glass case instead of into the pot. However, “ de gusiibus non esl disputanduni." 
Man often perpetuates and develops freaks : Nature ruthlessly destroys them. 
South-acre, Swaffham. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
557 . A Piebald Nest. — There is rather a curious house-martin’s nest 
built into the support of an iron shoot over my coach-house door. It is con- 
structed of five perpendicular sections of mud, which are alternately white and 
brown. To produce this effect the birds reversed the ordinary plan of construc- 
tion. Instead of beginning at the bottom and putting their work in horizontal 
layers, they commenced at the side and built round from one side to the other ; 
using ordinary mud at one time and then varying it with pellets of chalk. The 
different coloured .sections are almost as regular as the seams in a football. 
South-acre, Swaffham. ED^tUND TllOS. Daubeny. 
558 . Pythons. — “A Python’s meals,” No. 540, tells us the weight of 
animals actually swallowed by the largest snakes, and agrees with what one has 
often read. No authentic case has been recorded of their making a meal off 
larger animals than goats and small kinds of deer. I have stuck out all along 
that full-grown tigers are too large and dangerous for them to tackle and swallow. 
When it can be proved they have performed such a feat, standard works on the 
matter will have to be re-written. 
South-acre, Swaffham. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
559 . Shark in Sandown Bay. — On August 26 a shark, measuring 5 
feet long and weighing nearly a hundredweight, got entangled in a fisherman’s 
net about two miles off one of the points here. It was duly captured and 
exhibited. The shark, it is surmised, was attracted by the shoals of mackerel 
about. Last year a larger specimen was caught within 300 to 400 yards of the 
same spot. 
ShajtUin, Isle of Wight, Cecil Clarke. 
September 7, 1907. 
560 . Swarming of Ants. — I observed great numbers of winged ants 
on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 27, and they were similarly prevalent in 
other parts of this city. The nests of these insects appeared to be all bustle, life 
and activity, as the winged members of each community took their departure for 
other scenes. 
Last year the swarming occurred on August 6, about three weeks eailier than 
on the recent occasion. These insects always select a very warm day in which to 
effect their migrations. 
Bishopston, Bristol, W. F. Denning. 
September 9, 1907. 
NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES. 
130. Tea Roses. — Why are tea roses so called, and how are tea roses 
distinguished from any other varieties? 
[Tea roses are so called from their perfume, which is supposed to resemble 
that of tea. They are in the main descended from Rosa indica, probably a 
Chinese species, among the distinctive characters of which are an obovate, 
scarlet fruit, a stout habit, brown prickles, and large leaves of three to five 
leaflets, dark above and glaucous beneath. — El). A^.W.] 
131. Date of Flowering of Catalpa in London. — I was somewhat 
surprised (and pleased) to find a Catalpa in full flower on Se^ttember 7, in 
