198 
NATURE NOTES. 
and hair mixed ; the length is exactly one inch, the greater breadth nearly half an 
inch, and the lesser not quite a quarter of an inch, the thing being somewhat flat- 
tened. The waxy substance resembles the secretion of the human ear when it has 
formed a lump the size of a pea and produced almost complete deafness, to be 
removed by careful syringing with hot water, as I know by personal experience. 
The wax in the tear-pit of the deer has a pungent smell, and has been supposed 
by some to be intended to attract the opposite sex, but must be, I think, an 
abnormal accumulation of the secretion of the cavity intended by nature to protect 
the delicate lining of the organ. The tear-pit has been noticed by ancient writers, 
but I am not sure that even to this day its use has been determined with any 
degree of certainty ; in some cases it has an opening into the nose, and then it has 
been thought by some that its use is to allow of breathing when the nasal orifices 
are submerged in water, but this theory has not met with favour, and I think it is 
now more generally believed that the proper name of the organ should be tear- 
duct — providing for the escape from the eye, without inconvenience, of excessive 
tears that arise in the eye of the deer when chased in cold weather, and one can 
readily imagine how the increased breathing of the animal would dry up the tears 
as they flowed into the nasal cavity. In man we know there is such a tear-duct, 
but imperfectly developed as some of us know when our eyes “ water ” when we 
face the north-east winds. I should be glad if this subject were discussed, for 
those of my fiiends to whom I have mentioned it, like me, want enlightenment. 
Behtone, Okehimpton. Giles A. Daubeny. 
The Chiff-Chaflf (p. 139). — I have observed that the chilT-chaff prefers an 
elevated perch. I have frequently seen one this summer, perched on the topmost 
twig of a lofty deodar, uttering his incessant chee, chee, chee, chee chee ; it is 
amazing how this little bird can keep up this ceaseless repetition all day long. I 
have sometimes mocked it, when it would stop to listen and look at me, and then 
resume. It is not at all a shy bird. £ Price Sayer 
The G-low-Worm (p. 159). — Rye, in his British Beetles, says that small 
mollusca (snails, &c.) form the food of the glow-worm, both in the larva and 
states. W. II. Warner. 
Fyjield, Abtngdon. 
The late Rev. J. G. Wood, in his useful little book on Common British 
Beetles, says: “The larva of this insect feeds upon snails, forcing its way into 
the shell, and devouring the wretched inmate by slow degrees.” The same 
naturalist says that he cannot give his adhesion to the theory that the light is 
intended as a beacon to attract the male ; but, although I do not wish to appear 
to disagree with so high an authority, I may mention that, while staying in the 
Ne\v Forest this year, I noticed that the males flew into my sitting-room at 
Lyndhurst when lighted up in the evening, showing that, in common with many 
other insects, they are attracted by light ; which circumstance, coupled with the 
fact that the female is unable to fly, and that her light is so much more powerful 
than that of the male, seems rather to uphold the theory. 
W. Hawker Smith. 
Musical Mice. — Is it a fact that mice have a fondness for music? One 
evening last winter, when all was still, I was somewhat startled at hearing my 
piano suddenly “ giving forth sweet sounds,” apparently of its own accord. A 
mouse, so it proved, had got inside the instrument, and was “ making music” on 
the wires. Whether this was intentional on mousie’s part or not I cannot say ; 
perhaps he was trying to make a nest for himself there. Some years ago, how- 
ever, while a piano was being played in the dining-room of my old home, several 
mice came out upon the hearthrug, and began to jump about, apparently with 
delight at the sound of the music, and one was either so absorbed or overcome by 
it that he allowed himself to be carried away in a tongs by the housemaid. 
Thinking that this particular mouse of which I speak might do some injury to the 
piano, I endeavoured to catch him with a small penny trap. But he was not to 
be so easily caught. Might after night he would take the bits of loose cheese 
placed inside the trap, but would not touch that on the hook which held the 
spring. At last one night he managed to knock down the spring by some means, 
