C ()HRE S PONDE NCE. 
141 
Prolific Rat. —I learn that in the nest of a rat, killed at the Ben 
Nevis Distillery, Fort William, on the 22nd instant, were found fifteen 
young ones. Is it not usual for the rat to have but nine at a birth ? — 
Clement L. Wragge, May 28th, 1883. 
Blue Cars. —What is the plant spoken of by Clare, the flowers of 
which he calls blue caps?— 
“ Blue caps so divinely blue, 
And poppies of bright scarlet hue.” 
MS. Poems. 
— R. Rogers, Hampton-in-Arden. 
The Blackheadek Gull. —There is scarcely a held between Barnetby 
and the Trent and Humber which is not the feeding ground, at this 
time of year, of the Blackheaded Gull {Larus ridibundus). They 
assemble by hundreds at the end of March to breed at the Gullerj', at 
Twigmore, near Brigg, and also in fewer numbers on a rabbit warren 
near Frodingham, and leave again at the end of June. The eggs are 
laid on the ground, sometimes in a slight nest of rushes, sometimes on 
the bare earth ; they vary very much in colour and markings. The 
nests are so near together that caution is necessary to avoid stepping 
on the eggs or young birds, and visitors can scarcely hear each other 
speak for the noise of the old birds screaming overhead. A keeper is 
employed to watch them as carefully as game, lest the eggs should be 
stolen and sold as being those of the plover. They are frequently seen 
in small flocks all the Avinter as far as thirty miles inland, feeding in 
wet ploughed fields.—A. E. J. 
Pen Pits. —I have been reading the paper by Mr. Woodward, in the 
May number of the “ Midland Naturalist,” on the Pen Pits. I had never 
heard of these pits till a month or two ago, when I met with a book 
called “ A Tour in Quest of Genealogy,” by a Barrister (Mr. Fenton), 
published in 1811. The Avriter and a friend visited the pits under the 
guidance of an old inhabitant of Stourton, and from his account it ap¬ 
pears there was the same difference of opinion then as to their use and 
origin as there is now, some supposing them to be quarries, and others 
habitations. I see the Committee report “ an entire absence of pottery or 
any other trace of human occupation,” while Mr. Fenton states “ that 
at the bottom of several of the pits querns had been found; ” but this 
is only Avhat he was told, and, if true, does not prove the pits Avere 
dwellings—they might have been merely manufactories. If, however, 
the querns were worn by use it would be a different matter, and this 
point is worth paying attention to should further investigations be made 
by the Committee and querns be found. As to the question of pits 
generally, I suppose the safest conclusion to come to is, that some are 
and some are not dwellings. I cannot think that such pits as those on 
the top of Ingleborough, Yorkshire (where I have been), could be mere 
quarries. The top of the hill has been surrounded by a wall of rough 
stones, and the pits Avithin the enclosure have margins of the same 
kind. They certainly give the idea of huts, or perhaps sheds (Pens ?) 
for small cattle which must have been kept in the camp when an 
enemy was at hand.—G. H. Nevinson, Leicester. 
Wild Ducks at Barnetby Junction. —On April 3rd, having to wait 
at the above station in the north of Lincolnshire for about an hour and 
a half, I made my Avay, with a friend, to the large ballast pit which lies 
parallel to the line. I had seen from the window, as we passed in the 
train, a coot on the shore, and Avas anxious to get a nearer view of it 
if possible. The pond can be no great depth, as it is intersected in all 
directions by beds of reeds and rushes, except towards its southern end. 
