NATURE NOTES. 
1 16 
aimlessly, and not as others of the kind. We were not long in discovering the 
cause — it was blind. The mother and brother were quite alive to the fact, and 
watched the little one with tender and unwearied care, one or other, as they saw 
it getting into danger, rushing forward to the rescue, and with a sharp but kindly 
“butt” turning the little blind one out of danger and into a safer path. Was not 
something more than instinct developed here ? 
C. Nelson. 
Early Ladybirds. — On Easter Day at this place I noticed a great number 
of fine and brilliant ladybirds on the soil among the shrubs of the cliff gardens. 
Is not their appearance on March 25 unusually early? 
IFesf^ale-on-Sea. I. B. S. THOMPSON. 
Blackcaps in Winter. — During this winter I have been putting out seed 
on the window sill for the birds, and among those which have come to eat them I 
have noticed blackcaps, which, I believe, usually migrate in the winter. 
Si. IVenn, Cornwall. B. S. 
Do Snails Squeak? (pp. 17, 57, 98). — For several years I have made 
it ray hobby to collect and study specimens of land and fresh water shells, and I 
think I may answer “ no.” Your correspondent, Mr. Courthope (p. 98) does 
not mention the name of the species to which he alludes ; I conclude that it must 
be Helix aspersa. I have examined several hundred specimens of Helix aspersa 
but have never yet had the pleasure of hearing one squeak. I think, however, 
that I can account for the mistake being made. 
A snail, when it is touched, usually retires as quickly as possible into its shell, 
and consequently in its haste carries in a quantity of dirt adhering to the pros- 
tima. This dirt can be hardly comfortable for the animal, and nature has pro- 
vided it with the power of removing the objection without emerging again from 
the shell. A quantity of mucus is immediately ejected, and the flow is continued 
until the animal is ridded of the nuisance. The hasty ejection of this mucus is 
the cause of what your correspondents call a squeak, but it is nothing more than 
a light hiss. Then, too, your last correspondent on this subject speaks of their 
squeaking with pain when immersed in boiling water. This notion is most absurd. 
I have proved on several occasions that if the temperature of the water is at boil- 
ing point, death is instantaneous. I have frequently heard the wail that Mr. 
Towndrow (p. 57) mentions, caused by a snail crawling up a wet window, an<l 
have as frequently been surprised at the clear rich note produced. 
J. R. LONGHURSr. 
Eastcotc, Hampton Wick. 
[Mr. Edward Hawes writes to the same effect : we do not propose to insert 
further letters on this subject. — Ed. N.N.'\ 
Birds Chasing Hawk and Owls.- — Some years ago we witnessed an 
exciting chase of a large hawk — we supposed a falcon — by rooks. The bird was 
larger than the rooks, and at first rose from the ground so heavily that we thought 
it must be an owl ; but as it rose, and was buffeted by a flock of rooks, it seemed 
rather to enjoy leading them to a great height, until only two of its enemies 
persevered, and when they were tired out, it rose still higher and soared away 
into the distance. We have been much entertained lately by two large brown 
owls, which come almost every evening about dusk and sit together on the same 
branch of an acacia tree, very much exciting all the small birds in the neighbour- 
hood, which, however, never attack the owls, but only chatter at them. These 
owls have, I think, their home in the next orchard, and we hear them hooting 
at all hours of the day and night, often between 10 and ii a. in. Is not this a 
very uncommon occurrence ? 
M. S. Y. 
Teesdalia nudicaulis. — I shall be glad to know if Teesdalia is becoming 
a more common plant than the books on botany assert. In Bentham’s Botany 
it is marked as “not a very common plant,” and in Johns’ Flowers of the 
Field, “ not common.” I hailed it as a great treasure when I first found it in 
South Devon, but since that time I have seen it in many places, and here in 
Surrey it is nearly as abundant as the common Thale Cress. Some of the 
