THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
143 
eating vermin. Both the white and brown owls should therefore be 
encouraged about a farm, and not molested and hunted away, as they 
always are by thoughtless boys. Even the small birds take delight in 
teasing the owl. If discovered crouching in some dark nook of a thick 
or ivy-covered tree, by a wren or chaffinch, they immediately give a note 
of alarm that “ the schoolmaster is abroad.” The alarmists are joined by 
blackbirds, thrushes, and all the smaller birds in the neighbourhood, and 
unite in upbraiding the poor owl, but without disturbing his composure, 
he contenting himself with only staring them out of countenance. The 
S. passerina is the smallest British owl, and is most plentiful in Yorkshire: 
it is not much bigger than a song-thrush. 
The next genus in English ornithology is the Lanius, of which there 
are three species, viz. L. excubitor , L. collurio, and L. sylvanus. The 
first is the greater Butcher-bird ; the second is the Elusher ; and the last 
is the "Wood-chat Flusher. They prey on small birds, and they are called 
butchers , because when they have caught a small bird they impale it upon 
a thorn of the hedge while they strip and devour it. They are rather 
rare birds, and migrate. They are known by having a notch on the 
upper mandible. 
REVIEWS. 
The Botanical Magazine for March contains— 
Cycnoches Loddigesii , var. leucochilum (t. 3855). An orchideous plant, 
a native of Guiana, differing from the species in having a white lip. 
Sterna trachelioides (t. 3856). A pretty greenhouse plant, belonging 
to the Composite, with reddish purple flowers. 
Helichrysum niveum (t. 3857)* A beautiful kind of Everlasting, 
raised by Mr. Lowe, of Clapton, from Swan River seeds. The flowers 
are cream-coloured, with a yellow centre. 
Anchusa petiolata (t. 3858). A half-hardy Anchusa from Nepaul, 
with bluish purple flowers. 
Tojieldia pubens (t. 3859). A greenish flower, of no beauty, from 
North America. 
Gardoquia Betonicoides (t. 3860). The common species of Gardoquia 
is sometimes called the Scarlet Thyme; but the present species is of a 
pale crimson, with blue anthers. It is a greenhouse plant. 
All the plants in this No., with the exception of the Tofieldia, are 
now figured for the first time. 
