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I NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.j…

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I NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.j ♦ I A HALE MYSTERY S6 far back aa the beginning ot Juno LIHiJ j inhabitant* of Hale, or at any rate of one por- tion of Bale, were disturbed by strange uoowrnal nouses. No doubt the niajo-rity wh, hoard the sound, which could be h-card on a aliii night at H..ale Station and at the "Bleeding iWolf," were batisfied that it was only the croaking of a particularly lively frog or frogs; indeed, when the noiae was described to me, that was what I was sure it. was. However. as the month went on and even until the middle] of July, the nightly song continued; I began to wonder what it all meant; why were frogs call- log so late and in such a loud vOlOe? People who had never hoard btill-frogo suggested that %o.y wero the singers, while othero thought that the iioitio Was nutdo by a bird; uumbers located ifos singer in a small pond, but, however quietly they approached the margin, failed to see it. Up to thia time I had never taken the trouble to visit the spot myself, but when I did so I was quite satisfied that it was no ordinary frog: therefore next, evening I went again armed with an acetylene lamp and waited until the "noiee began. I readied the pond, waded into N-kc uhallow water and turned the lamp upon the ~toot from which I thought the sound arœe. STho remembrance of certain pretty little (7? tivert and their sonorous votooe had suggested an idea to me, and directly the rays of my lamp fell upon the half-submerged grass I found that my suspicions were correct; below me, with khroat inflated, was a male green tree frog. The green tree frog is not a native of England, but it ie frequently kept in greenhouses or aquaria, 'ttie object of mv search eluded me and ttwam into deeper water, and having satis- fied myaolf about it. I troubled no more: I Can- Skot, therefore, be tire which species it wan. for there are many, but. I expect it was the common European Hvla arborea, which is found so far north an Germany but is moat abundant round the Mod iferranean. The tree frog frequents leatar when it is oourting. at other times it livfts chiefly in vegetation, where irs beautiful r«a dr<M? giv<M itsplendid protect ion. Nodoubt < was itA green colour which had pr?v?nted its many visitors from discovering it.. Thi, little batrachian, for in ?ptte of it? voice it is amall, exp&nde its throat when it is croaking to &twh an oxtent that it is at times a sac as Large as its body. The gu'ar sac of the Hale example waa quite aa big as its head and shoulders. and very funny tlie little creature looked. I failed to find its owner, but I learnt that ten years kgo a friend of mine brought a number of those hogs home from the South of France and rc- leased them in Hale Barns;, it is hardly likely ■Sjiat this wa<t a survivor or was descended from frogs which had established themselves in the neighbourbood; "lJcil noisy little aliens would havo been discovered manv tiniec, in ten vcars. If this should m-cct the eyes of the owner of this lost property. I can direct iiitn to the fiond no doubt it is still ulcere, unions it. has gIven up the unproductive task of shouting for a mate and has taken to the trees. mG TROUT. In Cheshire we cannot often brag about, trout, as big as salmon, like they do in Ireland, but rocootW rioio-e very nice fish have been secured by members of the Boiling Angling Association. One of and was considered a very good fLsh, but it was nothing to one of 5Jib. which was successfully landed by another member. Th;ó. too. was not an old fish, and fchoro )8 no telling to what it mig-ht have risen had it not been foolish enough to allow itself to be struck. Probably it. had been reducing the number of trout, in tho stream—the Hirkin- for these big- fish are dreadfully carnirwottz. I did not see the fish myself, hut I saw its photo- flpr&ph; it was a thick-shouldered, well-formed fish, and it. gave ite captor plenty of fun for his moJiev before ho got it into hiri net. AUGUST SILENCE How few birdtt there aro lterg. is a rvinark wh .ch had been made toO me on several occasions lately. But there arc plenty of birds really, only it is August. When will people under- stand that very few birds sing all the year roiukil La-4 month was perhaps tho mcwfc silent time. t.liough t¡ vcllowhamm"'I'8 did their best to make up for the shortcomings of other bird- and now tiie willow wrens, letter whitethroats and cliitfchaffs are beginning again and vlie young I brushes and blackbirds are making weird noises which are no doubt their juveniie attempts I at a song. By the way. the robin is always desoribed as a bird which sings all the year round: how many robins do we hear per day now? Certainly there is hardly a day without one or two, but, considering the number of j robirio which live among us. there are very few in song: in a few days perhaps many will have bei jun Uwt autwon song, which, if v»>u will list-en to it with attention, is very differeni from the love song of ripring. THE BLUE PIMPERNEL. The common little pimpernel—the "poor mart's wea-hbor p-e w in t.he sun. is a wood of eH:tiV[t,ion whi{"'h ha; tike the th istlo. or the pii-rrow among birds. followed luan in his ramblinga over tltt-, globe; it is such « fainlililti- little flower that we pull it up and destroy it ruthlessly when it appears in our gar- dons. If I ask thon, what colour Is the wild pimpernel, f sliall get for an9We.r-s.cl'¡; or brig-lat. wd; but is it tlwtvg" I iiave ixx«?ntly been examining a number of pimpsrnels. :).<! collected wild in Anglesey and all flourishing j in a local garden. and I am very much struck • with the variation. Otio of them i.s a pele J brick red, whidi is perhaps not a very strange freak, another is a delicate paJ-o pink. but the third is a bright blue. This little blue flowe-r- bluo as a Veionica—occurs wild in a few plaoee tiii'oughout, our isla-ndf). and some l>ota.ni.ste oall it a distinct, speoies; however, speoios or form or varioty is uneroly an expression wlien the only difference in the plant is the colour of t' Fo flower. (Tall it what VOtt like, bowover, tJho p'ant.3 which spring from the siee d s of blue pirnp.ii tiK>Ls a1 ways have blue flowers: tJiov do oot r -vort to tho rod-flowC'Cd form t.h0,y 00.11- uot he oal'tid sports. What a beautiful LtiKi in- torcKt.ing garden we can produ'K* by merely stocking it with wild flowois. but it is i-ather a troubietonw one: those flowers which settle flown ar<? usually sppoadcrs. and tl¡,¡.re is a. fear- ful lot of cutting down and pulling up to be done in a wild garden. For all !hat. I like my wi'd garjetiv botiter than any great show of f cultivated frweigners or invented varieties with nasty nan»es—Rubus john-sraithus or Rosa inary janoa liov.ev<'r. I do not think these aro K-ally muoh worse than sonK of tlie real iiiunxw given to wild plants; I always feel the oix-^ps over Ch«nopodium lk>tins-Henricu« for iivstauce. Of course, scientific names are neces- oary. but it do as seem a pity to saddle a plttit with a name it ryttia he a«iham<cd of. A SHEEP IN WOLF'S CLOTHING I I use this trrutspo^ition in pivferciKse to an j "ass in lion's skin" U»oauae I think it exprnsees bt.*ter the ()Wl.t1ic:,¡'r of a L*et ? which a^rrived thQ 0; h:\r day It wa.s not a Oheahirc* beetle; it cunv* from Surrey. It was a nm'e stag beetle, th"- !arg<wt of our British beetles and porhaps | tho most fcrocious looking. But the:*e we must stop, for tib. be-c-tit, is a mild, imiooent insect,, for his huge antler-tilco jaws. Ho carries tlsesp fm- txsrratod pincers in a throa- uiDiiig attitude. ready to pinch whenever he thinks Ite is in danger, but his lady, who has quiUi diminutive jaws, can giw. a. much seve^Ter squc<e/e than her lordly master. Wlian I touohotl my btetle. lie ral&M lt!iahpolf on his first pai r of logs, opened wide his jaws, and said as painty as post»ib e, "Touch me if you ck%rol" Howover, when 1 gave him i-rv littile fingor ho soeined quito put, about; gave it a feeble little pinch, and Uxm moved slowly away to attend to other business. I sooa soothed him by giv- ing him a little hooev; h i jaws c'osed and he uv.nf. IMful fommost into that lioney, slwking it up and sprawling about in it- until he was a nasty sticky rnces all over. Yes; this big beetle is a very baby for sweets; in fact it is doubtful if in tfto porfeot state it. does more than sip I hore-v or nibble a few loaves; the. larva, whioh has II long life, oats the wood of trees a.nd 00- casionally do?s some damage to timber. AUTUMN MIGRATION I livery year I feel the same. W-hen August I comes and I note that there a no not so many swifta about as in the middle of -Ally, I suffer a slight shook but it is true ..n the same; th? birds have begun tlioir return journey to the south. Now the return journey means the ftutuMii imgiarion. tlK-rcftue we must fac? the iact that in this way, ar any rate, autumn lka.s IN^UII. swifts are the first to yo, ;vud then ibu cuo koue follow, and before Uhis laoath is entlod rnajiy biixls, though probably not all of a-'iy specics, will have quietly slipped away in the night, and wo shall not sae them again until next spring Look, too, at the "flocks of lapwings in the fields; they are many times bigger than fcust month. In July, and some- times in Jiint-. the lapwing families join foroce, but now the small partH-H have formed large flocks, whioh no ciottbt NVIll cl-pirt towards tlie south at just about the time that the gieat immigration of over-soa lapwings, accompanied often by golden plovers. s?4» in. In that way we are never wholly without lapwing-s, and as I have tried to explain before, the same thing happens with many of our more familiar birds which we usually call residents. The birds whioh nested liere go south, and others whioh have nested north and east of England oomo in to fill 1I.p the gaps. T A. C.

IHAWARDEN GUARDIANS. ,»

CHRISTLETON.

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I CORRESPONDENCE. ! &-, I

! FLINTSHIRE FOOTBALL LKAGUH.…

|THE IRISH MAiL.I

[No title]

.COUNTY POLICE COURT. -—»

MARRIAGE OF MR. J. D. MAYHEW.

- -_-___._. - -MIDDIJEWICH.

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j YEOMANRY SHOOTING, j l YEOl\lANRY.…

|MR. EDMUND LtOYDS. I

LOCAL -WILLS.I

IHAWARDEN.

DISTRICT COUNCILS.I t

NO " RATE-AID " POLICY.I

AGRICULTURAL CO OPERATION.

- - - - - - - -ANOTHER SUCCESS…

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