MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
237 
piece of wood, weighing about 14lbs., flew in, struck a man on the 
chest, and then rebounded on to a little boy about 7 or 8 years old, 
breaking one of his thighs and dislocating his knee. A tree 16 
inches in diameter was broken off by the roots and fell with such 
violence on a brick tenement that it nearly demolished it, only one 
room being left standing, and a large aperture being conspicuous in 
the walls of that. In the opposite corner was the woman of the 
house with her two children, all of whom were mercifully pre¬ 
served from bodily harm. The husband was from home, but near 
enough to witness the destruction of his cottage and to meet his 
wife running from the spot with her two children under her arms. 
In the neighbouring meadow two trees of large dimensions were 
blown down, and about 30 others were much injured. The most 
extraordinary occurrence observable in the meadow was that of a 
large oak tree, nine feet round the trunk, with a beautiful spread¬ 
ing top, 1 as round,’ said our guide, * as an apple ; ’ the wind took 
this tree and lifted it perpendicularly out of the ground to the height 
of several feet, whirling it round repeatedly before it fell, after 
which it was again raised and thrown over in an opposite direction. 
The weight of earth that was attached to the roots is estimated at 
from three to four tons, and the pieces of branches that flew about 
were compared by our guide, from their rotatory motion, to the 
wheeling flight of a multitude of swallows. One field distant was a 
farm and small orchard in which nearly all the fruit trees were 
blown down ; adjoining the orchard was a barn, and a shed contain¬ 
ing a barley stack and some wheat in sheaf : some of the sheaves 
of wheat were picked up next morning at a distance of two miles 
from the shed ; they were threshed out as completely as by machine 
or flail. The top of an elm tree, a foot in diameter where broken 
off, was carried at least 60 feet, and penetrated the barley stack 
about 5 feet, driving before it a sheaf of wheat which it had 
arrested in its flight. Apples, that must have been carried half a 
mile, were found in the wheat stack; two coal carts were overturned, 
the wheels of one of them continuing to spin round with astonish¬ 
ing rapidity; the chapel was much injured; a double tenement just 
erected, but not quite finished, was so broken that it had to be 
taken down ; and lastly about 600 panes of glass and many window- 
frames were broken. The damage is estimated at £1000.” 
I distinctly remember that the track of the whirlwind was readily 
distinguishable for a considerable distance across country by the 
debris that was left behind it. The meadows over which it passed 
were plentifully strewn with hay, straw, and the broken branches 
of trees, the thorn hedges that divided the meadows being com¬ 
pletely smothered with similar material .—John E. Littlehoy , Uunton 
Bridge , Watford. 
Ornithology. 
Curious Habit op the 'Wagtail. —-It is possible that the follow¬ 
ing observation may be of some interest to the ornithological 
members of the Society. For the last nine or ten months a pair of 
