NATURE NOTES. 
1 86 
narrow canal, hoping to swiftl)’ reach the ocean. Down comes 
the bundle of reeds at the fresh-water end, thereby shutting off 
the stream ; the water in the canal itself disappears in the sand, 
and the stranded eel, left high and dry, is pounced upon by the 
second native and secured. By this method I have seen hun- 
dreds caught in a single night. Eels travel and feed by night, 
the young are brought forth in tidal rivers, and afterwards again 
go up into the fresh-water streams. 
During this month I have noticed that the young trout turned 
out by me in October or November have very much increased 
in size. At present they live amicably with a native species five 
or six inches long ; at least, as they seem quite fearless of these 
larger inhabitants of the pools, I presume the}' are let alone. 
When bigger, no doubt, the trout will destroy the natives. I 
think I have already mentioned that the destruction of grass- 
hoppers by starlings has spoilt the trouting in some of the 
southern rivers. English worms, however, are now spreading 
very fast. Probably they first arrived in soil of plant cases. 
There, left in the nursery gardens, they increased and multiplied, 
and with rooted specimens of trees, shrubs and flowers have 
been distributed through the colony. Experiments seem to 
prove that worms are very much more numerous in New 
Zealand than in England. At the same time the worms are 
smaller out here. During a damp month such as January they 
have been especially noticeable in the garden or where the grass 
is short and cropped. 
Tutira Lake, Napier, H. Guthrie-Smith. 
New Zealand. 
MY CANARY. 
EVERAL years ago a friend of mine gave me a young 
canary which had been reared in a cage containing 
sixteen or seventeen others of a similar age. A feeling 
of respect for the lower animals prevents my teaching 
them tricks, but I delight in carefully watching the untaught 
habits they acquire and the characteristics they invariably 
display. 
Dick soon began to exhibit confidence in me and pleasure in 
my company. At an early date J found it was safe to let him 
out of his cage in any room it happened to be placed in, and, 
generally speaking, whatever room I was likely to occupy for 
half-an-hour or more he was brought into, and no difficulty was 
experienced in getting him back into his cage. He would run 
about the breakfast table and help himself off my plate ; and it 
driven away he would quickly return and repeat the offence. A 
glass bowl was set apart for his bath, and nothing would induce 
