i6 
THE NATURALISTS’ JOURNAL. 
nest of the hedge sparrow has a pale blue ground, whilst the 
other has a nearly white ground, showing that the cuckoo has 
the power to a certain extent of colouring its eggs at will. 
June 2 ist : some beautiful clutches of the eggs of the tree 
sparrow were brought in this morning. June 22nd : sparrows 
engaged in catching midsummer daws (Melolontha vulgaris ), 
they were very busy up to 8.30 p.m., they appear also to be 
fond of grasshoppers, and I am sorry to say they will kill bees. 
June 30th : up to the present time I have not seen a wasp, 
neither have I heard of a wasps’ nest. The butterflies have 
about disappeared, and the common blue are exceedingly pale 
in colour. 
July ist : this morning some humble bees empaled on thorns 
by the red-backed shrikes—butcher birds—and also part of the 
skin of a field vole which was hung on a thorn were brought to 
me. I have often read of young birds being empaled, but I 
never heard of humble bees and voles being treated in the 
same way. I am told that very many young tame pigeons die 
in the nests. I fail to understand the reason, unless this 
dreadful drought affects them as it does nearly everything else. 
July 10th : the birds are still nesting. I have in the past few 
days met with the nests of the whinchat, tree pipit, bunting, 
yellow bunting, linnet, hedgesparrow, and wren. July 13th : 
at last we have had some rain, but too late for the corn. 
Hundreds of acres of barley and oats in this locality are a total 
failure. July 15th : the wasps are just begining to appear, 
although I hear in many places they are very numerous. 
Rambler. 
THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE AND ITS 
RELATIONS TO LIFE. 
On Monday, July 3rd, at 8 p.m., Mr. O. F. Bloch delivered 
before the members of the Lambeth Field Club and Scientific 
Society, at their rooms, St. Mary’s Newington Schools, New¬ 
ington Butts, S.E., an extremely interesting lecture under the 
above title. 
The lecture commenced with allusions to the commercial 
spirit of the age, which at present tended to arrest its proper 
scientific development. There were still many important 
problems unsolved, one of the principle ones being the economic 
production of energy and its application to work. It was 
impossible to say from what scource this energy was to be 
produced, but probably from the winds, the tides, or electricity. 
Photography was making vast strides and aerial navigation was 
