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NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.

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NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. [FROM THE "FIELD."] HERON IN LONDON. After the thunderstorm on Saturday last (July 18) a heron ilew over Wimpole-street, going due south.—R. E. B. CHICKS CHIRPING WITHIN THE EGG. With regard to Mr. J. H. Sayce's remarks on the chirping of chicks within the egg, I would say, three days before hatching, a friend of mine (Mr. Dye) assures me he has distinctly heard the young chick of the ringed plover faintly whistling when held at nearly arm's length.—Arthur H. Patterson (Great Yarmouth). PUFFIN INLAND. I was shown, a few days ago, a puffin which was caught on the high road about three miles from Avlsham and about seven miles from the sea as the crow flies. Is not this a rather rare occurrence t Would it be a wanderer from the salt marshes, or from Breydon. or where?—Talbot H. Bond. [The puffin is a cliff haunting bird as a rule, but in islands where the soil is sandy enough, or sufficiently soft to be excavated, it burrows like a rabbit and lavs its eggs underground. Many instances have been reported of wandering puffins being found inland at some distance from the sea, presumably blown out of their course by adverse winds.—Ed.] BIRDg AT gEA I have for the past three or four years taken a note of position, etc., of birds which we often get on board. For instance, June, 1901, 200 miles from the West Coast of Africa, about opposite Cape Verde, we had five tired bitterns on board. Of course I would not let them be harmed. I have several times seen quail, woodcock, small birds, nightjars, etc., on board a long way from land.— H. L. Lucas (H.M.S. Speedwell, Shcerness). [The record of land birds captured far at sea is interest- ing, and the fact that five bitterns were on board at°once implies that they were migrating in com- pany, and not singly, which is unusual. The only instance of the kind which we can call to mind is recorded in "The Zoologist" for 1883, p. 223.-Ed.] CUCKOOS AND CATERPILLARS. For two or three weeks past a cuckoo, and some- ,times two, have been constantly on or about the gooseberry bushes in my garden. The bushes are infested with a small green caterpillar and no ,doubt these attract the cuckoos. If a bush is tapped smartly with a stick a number of the caterpillars fall to the ground. I have seen a cuckoo shake a bush by fluttering it wings rapidly, but I could not -be certain whether it was at the time sitting on the bush or poised immediately above it. The fluttering might have been for the purpose only of maintaining the bird's balance, but it appeared as if it were done with the intention of shaking, the bush. At any rate, the cuckoo directly afterwards dropped on the ground and picked up the cater- pillars which had fallen owing to the shaking of the bush.—Edward Tristram (Poynton, Cheshire). THE YELLOW WAGTAIL. I noticed in your columns a few weeks ago some remarks as to the scarcity of the yellow wagtail in some parts of Entrland this summer. I have seen several pairs in this district this year. One pair settled in mv garden, and I hoped were about to nest in a Virginia creeper on the house where thev frequently perched. Unfortunately a pied wagtail (one or two pair of which generally nest in the garden), no doubt the male bird, furiously attacked and pursued the male yellow wagtail when- ever it appeared on the lawn. After experiencing this unpleasant treatment for a few days the yellow wagtails deserted the garden, but I think have nested in some trees a little distance away. Possibly a similar reception has driven the yellow wagtails from other gardens.—Edward Tristram (Povnton, Cheshire). [The yellow wagtail in- variably nestr, on the ground.—Ed.] SUPERSTITION ABOUT BEES. You are doubtless aware of the superstition respecting bees dying on the death of their wi er. I have been this afternoon (July 16) to the sale of effects of a gentleman who died about a fortnight since. In the catalogue three stocks of bees were entered for sale, but when the man went to i: c.ve them out they were all dead. This is the (Hrd time I have personally known of such UJI occi.i- rf,-nc(,Jo:;c,)h Allen (Ampthill). [A similar cr,c is noticed in Chambers's "Book of Day, ('-ol n 7C2) except that the bees were not dcvrl but ailing o;, the, death of the owner. Several com- munications on this subject have appeared at intervals in "Notes and Oucrics, n, I'i,- ]at, Canon Atkinson, in his entertaining volume Forty Years in a Moorland Parish," has an interesting chapter on Bee Customs and Notions. wmch may be read with advantage by those WH,) :t sire to pursue the subject further.Ed.] DRUMMING OF THE SNIPE. I have no wish to enter into controversy en ti.is subject: but perhaps I may ask those who noid tl at the wonderful sound is produced by the wir,,s of the bird whether they have made any experiments with the wing feathers similar to those which Herr Meves made with the tail feathers, and if so what was the result? If their attempts with the wing feathers have been successful, well and good: if not, I do not see why they should question the accuracy of Herr Meves's proof, which satisfied one by no means easily convinced of anything, Mr. John Wolley, who wrote ("Proceedings of the Zoo- logical Society," 1858, p. 291) that, in his presence. "the mysterious noise of the wilderness was repro- duced in a little room in the middle of Stockholm. First, the deep bleat now shewn to proceed from the male snijjo, and then the fainter bleat of the female, both most strikingly true to nature, neither producabie with any other feathers than the outer ones of the tail."—Alfred Newton. I am much interested in the correspondence which has appeared on this subject, and as I have frequent opportunity of seeing snipe hero in their nesting season. I may say that after very careful watching I am firmly convinced that the sound comes from the bird's throat. I have observed that the drumming takes place as frequently when the bird is on the ground as when in the air. G. L. Palmes (Capt.) (Bere Regis. Wareham. Dorset.) [Mr. Abel Chapman, writing on this subject in Bird Life on the Borders," 1889, p. 29, says, "the sound is clearly attributable to the wings, not the voice, for the key changes with the alteration in the bird's course in the air."—Ed.] THE FOOD OF FLOUNDERS AND EELS. I opened several flounders on the 11th inst., and found them packed with small shore crabs (Carcinus moenas) about the size of Barcelona nuts. Eels also are now found repleted with them. I saw a Alb. eel, 18in. in length, early in the month, that was taken on a pick. It was distended with food, and on dissection six small crabs and two of its own fellows—each as thick as one's little finger -were turned out of its maw. I do not think the eel is usually accounted a cannibal. On the same day (July 11) I saw an immature common gull (Larua canus) seize a small live eel. about a foot in length, and swallow it, the writhings of the fish being quite visible as the distended neck of its almost equally wondering captor assumed some queer con- tortions. For five minutes the gull seemed very It-) e rn It uneasy, but ut the cud of that time, like an avine Oliver Twist, it was seeking for more. I threw a few smaii eels to some tame ducks. It was amusing to see one, after pouncing upon an eel, jump back on discovering by its sudden squirm that it was not a worm. and then, in astonishment, walk round it. But a dead eel or two having been sampled, the ducks speedily learned that eels were harmless, and, moreover, good eating. Contrary to the opinion of expert naturalists. I am convinced that some eels, besides the fry of the year, ascend our rivers from the sea in the spring and early summer. Recently some sandlaunces, an exclusively marine species, were taken out. of an eel caught in Brey- don Harbour, where I hnve not yet discovered Ammodvtes, although at this season on hot days herring "yle bv myriads are to be seen disporting near the surfact. In pursuit of these young her- rings I have known eels to rise high in the water, quite to the surface, in fact.—Arthur H. Patterson (Great Yarmouth).

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