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NATURE NOTES. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
English Plant Names. — The English Dialect Society is anxious to 
include the Supplement to the Dictionary of English Plant Names among its 
issues for 1894. Those who have any additions to make, or any notes upon names 
already recorded, are invited to send them as soon as possible to Mr. Britten, 18, 
AVest Square, Southwark, S.E. 
The Dove and the Olive-leaf. — “And the dove came to him in the 
evening, and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off ” (Genesis viii.). Is it 
not a common thought on reading about this, that Noah’s dove was in some 
special way heaven-directed, to serve a special purpose ? Yet the dove of our 
own day acts in precisely the same manner, and does the same kind of thing. 
Doves have doubtless done so year after year, for love-seasons immemorial. That 
sweet bird of old, innocent of the deep import of her simple act, plucks the olive 
leaf in obedience to the self-same instinct that to this day guides her kind. This 
at least it seems to be, from observations made during last month on the ways of 
a tame dove, who with his mate are family pets in a house I know, here in the 
north of Scotland. The pair fly about and roam at will through the house and 
garden, their cage door being always open. While their second brood was 
hatching, the male bird would often pluck a flower from the glasses on the dining- 
room table — a pink sweet pea was always a favourite — and carrj'ing it to the cage 
would lay it tenderly across his wife’s neck as she sat on the nest. Sometimes he 
would choose a long green stalk with leaves and tendrils wherewith to decorate 
her. Primroses would be carried off in the same way while the nest was building, 
and placed within it. Certainly “ it looks natural,” as country-folk say, when a 
dove is seen carrying something green in its bill. This dove has a history. Three 
years ago, one cold October morning, it appeared outside the door and crept to 
our feet. No one knew whence it came ; it was starved, wounded, shivering with 
cold. The wound (on the right side) was a strange one ; it was square, and as if 
cut by some sharp instrument down to the bone. The poor bird was at once 
received into the house and most carefully and kindly nourished and nursed, until 
gradually its dreadful wound was healed. The feathers grew again, and covered 
up the place, although the hole in the flesh has never been completely filled. 
“ Cushie doo ’ * soon became quite tame and utterly devoted to the master who 
had cured it by his care. It would come to his call, and perch on his shoulder or 
sit on his knee with the most touching confidence. Only since a few months has 
the dove’s affections been divided with a rather commonplace little wife, who 
shows no interest at all in flowers or leaves, and who forced upon him rather more 
than was fair of the business of hatching. She would absent herself for long 
hours of a summer day, while he would coo and call in vain. 
E. V. B. 
Sandpipers and Cat. — pair of sandpipers who had nested near the 
brook below our house, brought their two young ones to feed daily in the garden, 
and early one morning I heard them near the dining-room window making an 
unusually loud noise. On looking out I saw, to my surprise, the two parent 
birds walking in an angry manner within two feet of the cat, who, evidently 
frightened, was going towards the front door ; they did not seem at all afraid of 
the cat, and were, I presume, protecting the young birds from her. 
Belmont, Bolton-le- Moors. Grace Deakin. 
Late Singing of Blackbirds and Thrushes. — The blackbirds and 
thrushes have been singing much later than usual this year in our neighbourhood. 
I heard one so late as July 28. Can any of your readers say if this has been the 
case everywhere ? 
Belmont, Bolton-le- Moors. Grace Deakin. 
A Lark Query. — I am anxious to discover exactly how far larks are u.seful 
in destroying the insects that are destructive to crops, and in order to do this cor- 
Cushat is Scotch for wood-pigeon or dove. 
