into it like a stone, it seldom failed to secure a fish, which it bore in its talons to land. It was first shot at while sitting in a tall ash tree, but not being much the worse, the bird flew off, dropping however a barbel of about half a pound weight. On another occasion it was shot at while on the wing, and let fall the tail part of a large trout; and while walking under a tree from which it had been disturbed, I found a perch with the back and head torn, as if by the claws of the bird. These observations tend to show that the osprey is no unskilful fisherman. The one in question, after remaining in the neighbourhood for above a month, and being constantly fired at, was killed by a gamekeeper on the 20th of June. Another bird of the same species was observed about five years ago, but not obtained. A fine cormorant was shot at the Red hills, under which the river flows, on the 18th of October, and is now in my possession. It is very rarely met with so far inland, this place being about thirty miles from the sea. Two little stints were seen in August, and one of them was shot; also three or four greenshanks. The latter are very regular visitors, generally arriving, together with the green sandpiper, about the end of July.- Mark Booth; Killerby, Yorkshire, Dec. 22, 1843. Note on the occurrence of the Grey Shrike at Lynn. A specimen of the great grey or ash-coloured shrike was caught alive here on the 30th of last month. - Daniel C. Burlingham; Lynn, 1st of 11th Mo. 1843. Note on the occurrence of the Red-breasted Tanager, near Cheltenham. When in Oxford during the month of September, I enjoyed the opportunity of examining an adult male specimen of the red-breasted tanager (Ramphopis purpureus, Viellot) which had been recently shot near Cheltenham. Whether the transatlantic straggler will be entertained as an honest visitor, it is not presumed to determine, seeing that it is here for the first time treated as one of the British list. Charles Buckler; 15, Rockingham Row. Anecdote of a hen Song Thrush nursing a young Missel Thrush. A few years ago having had a young song thrush (Turdus musicus) given to me, I succeeded in rearing it until it was able to feed itself with the food supplied to it. About this time a young member of our family, during one of his holiday rambles, having met with the nest of a missel thrush (Turdus viscivorus), containing two half-fledged young ones, brought one of them home, and introduced it into the same cage with the song thrush. The latter (a hen bird) immediately undertook the part of nursing mother to her helpless fellow-prisoner, feeding it regularly at the stated hours when food was supplied them, before she partook of any herself. Under her affectionate care the missel thrush grew and throve wonderfully, till it had attained to nearly its full growth, and during all this time the affection displayed by the song-thrush for her elève could not have been surpassed, had she been really its parent. But one luckless morning, their cage, as was usual in fine weather, was placed on a gravel walk in the garden at a few paces distance from the window where I sat, and the song-thrush having by some means contrived to escape from the cage, had perched in a currant-bush hard by. Here she was cleaning her feathers, when a cat, lurking near, suddenly pounced on the unfortunate bird, and inflicted such injuries on her before I could come to the rescue, as caused her death. From this time the missel lost all its animation, though previously remarkable for its lively manners, neglected its food, pined and died within the week, not unwept by its youthful master, nor unregretted by the rest of the family, who had observed, not without admiration, the singular attachment which subsisted between these two birds from the first.-F. Owston; Driffield; December 2, 1843. Note on the occurrence of the Ring Ouzel near Farnham. At Aldershot, a village near here, the ring ouzels appeared in some abundance on the 8th of September last, they remained about the neighbourhood until the 19th, after which none were seen. In a few specimens that were shot, the white was much more observable than in those birds which were killed when they passed this place in their spring migration. — T. Mansell, Naturalist; Farnham, November 3, 1843. Note on the Goatsucker or Night-hawk. In the month of July I had brought to me a pair of "night-hawks," as goaisuckers are provincially termed in Kent. They were quite young, and had been found at the foot of a tree, with an egg, which was also brought to me. It is generally supposed that the goatsucker lays only two eggs; this however was an instance to the contrary. Being desirous of rearing them, I fed them with flies and other insects, which at first they appeared to thrive on, but after a little, from some cause I could never quite understand, they began to droop, and finding they were gradually sinking, I killed and stuffed them. Wishing to obtain a specimen of the full-grown bird, I proceeded one evening to the wood from which the young ones had been taken, and after waiting a short time, I observed a pair of goatsuckers (probably the parent birds), hawking round an oak, close to the spot described to me as the place the young had been found in. I succeeded in shooting them both, and found they were male and female; they are now with the young ones in my cabinet. It is perhaps needless to remark that this bird derived its name from the ancient and ignorant idea, that it sucked goats, which is in the same degree probable as that hedgehogs performed the same kind office for cows! Although not a rare bird, yet from its habit of flying only in the evening and at daybreak, it is not very generally observed. There is something very peculiar in the appearance of the goatsucker when sleeping in the day. I recollect once shooting at what appeared to be a rat, crouching on the large arm of a high cherry-tree, but which, upon its falling to the ground, proved to be a goatsucker! It is a constant habit of these birds to perch lengthways, with their head lowest, that is, inwards to the tree. They are not unfrequently found squatting on stone-heaps, when they look not unlike a lump of old wood or bark covered with lichens. There is a peculiarity about the foot of the goatsucker, the middle claw being serrated, the exact use of which has not, I believe, been accurately determined. White thought it was to assist the bird in taking its prey, he having observed it take beetles with its claws and convey them to its mouth. Wilson, on the other hand, supposed this claw was used as a comb, to keep in order the bristles which grow on either side of the upper mandible. While others imagine it to be used for the same purpose as the pectinated claw of the night-heron (Nycticorax europæus), namely, to free the bird from vermin in those parts which it is unable to reach with its bill. Is it improbable that it may be used for all these purposes? Goatsuckers arrive in this part of Kent about the second week in May, and generally take their departure by the beginning of September. Their common note is somewhat between hissing and buzzing, which has been said to be in imitation of the low notes of beetles. As I was returning home between 11 and 12 o'clock one brilliant moon-light night in August last, my attention was attracted to a bird, which flew up before me from the road. I soon discovered it was a goatsucker. It several times settled at no great distance, and I observed that it lay almost flat in the road. I at first supposed the cause of its settling to be that it might the more easily dissect some large beetle; but upon watching it I found it was evidently dusting itself, after the manner of domestic fowls. I am not aware if this trait in the character of this bird has been noted. So far from the goatsucker deserving the bad character which was so long attached to it, I cannot but look upon it as a bird which renders more service to man than at first sight it appears to do, as it must not be forgotten that the larvæ of the majority of the insects on which it subsists, are very destructive to the roots and buds of many plants and trees. I have found its eggs -nest it has none: these are generally placed in a wood or shaw, at the foot of a tree or bush, on a few dried leaves or grass, whichever may happen to be on the spot. — J. Pemberton Bartlett; Kingston Rectory, December 4, 1843. Note on the Nesting-places of the Swallow. "The chimney-haunting swallow, too, my eye How suddenly he skims the glassy pool, His morning song, twittered to young-eyed day."-HURDIS. From the remarks of two of your correspondents-the Rev. J. C. Atkinson (Zool. 354) and Mr. Hepburn (Zool. 147), on the places chosen for nidification by the Hirundo rustica, it appears that in the localities they mention, these "Welcome guests of settled spring" but rarely build in chimneys. Now in Kent it is quite the reverse: — building in chimneys with them here, is the rule, and in outhouses and barns the exception. As far as my own observations have gone, I should say decidedly that the greater majority choose chimneys to rear their young in. Where we have one building in a barn or out-house, we certainly have an average of four or five who build in chimneys. I recollect one year five chimneys in our house were occupied by swallows, three of which have been regularly tenanted by them for many years. There is hardly a cottage which has not its pair of swallows, which annually return to their favourite chimney and I know of nothing (unless indeed it be shooting their favourite cat) which sooner excites the ire of the village dames than destroying their swallows. The following curious instance of the perseverance of these little birds came under my own observation. Three years since a pair of swallows, after reconnoitering the place for some days previously, very assiduously commenced building their nest against the interior wall of the porch of Kingston church, thus literally affording an example of the same fact recorded by the inspired poet, nearly three thousand years ago! When the nest was about half finished, it was discovered by the person who swept the church, and the consequence was, it was cleared away. But the industrious little architects, undaunted by this calamity, again set to work, and the following week the nest was rebuilt. This also was destroyed; but no sooner was it removed than a third was commenced, but this, alas, soon shared the fate of the others-being removed by the churchwarden. After meeting with such continued and decided opposition, the birds at length left their favourite spot, and repaired, no doubt, to some less public haunt. But the most remarkable thing is, that they have every year since repaired to the porch and commenced their nest! and although they have not been permitted to hatch their young, yet their love for the spot seems unshaken. The cause of the hostility to this luckless pair of swallows, on the part of the sexton, was that they kept the porch in a constant litter with the straws and mud which fell from the nest; and on that of the churchwarden, that their twittering and chattering disturbed the congregation! Swallows generally arrive here about the 10th of April, and the majority leave us about the first week in October: occasional stragglers may be seen throughout that month. Among the numerous fables in connexion with swallows, was one which assigned to the flesh of this bird when burned to ashes, the power of healing distempers of the eyes. wild celandine (Chelidonium majus), or, as it is frequently called, "swallow-wort," with which plant, it was formerly believed, the swallow opened the eyes of her young! Id. Note on the Swallow. It is now some weeks since the swallows assembled on the house-tops in great congregations. They met apparently for the purpose of departing in company to other lands than ours. I have seen none since these meetings took place until yesterday, October 15, when about a dozen chimney-swallows were observed, hawking for flies over our garden. The previous days had been frosty, so much so that the Ochil hills were white with snow. To all appearance the ground here will also be covered, to the depth of a few inches, ere tomorrow dawn. The hour when the swallows were seen was a little after noon. The sun was shining warmly at the time, although the frost, during the preceding night had formed ice, in some places, I am told, about a quarter of an inch in thickness. While the birds were flying, I observed a nettle tortoiseshell butterfly also on the wing. - Robert Dick Duncan; Vale of Almond, Mid Calder, Edinburghshire, October 16, 1843. Singular locality for the Nest of the Greater Titmouse. An account given of a singular locality for a redstart's nest under a garden pot (Zool. 355), reminds me that a few years ago, in a friend's garden at Chelmsford, I met with a nest of the greater tit (Parus major) in a precisely similar situation, but I believe the parent bird was too much disturbed to allow of her rearing her young in her odd retreat. I remember once seeing a robin's nest in a small watering-pot which was hanging against a wall. —Alfred Greenwood; Penzance, December 21, 1843. Note on Anthus petrosus (Montagu). About a fortnight ago I observed a small flight of these birds on the banks of our reservoir. I think it is generally believed to confine itself to the coast. I was much surprised to observe that they refused to associate with the common meadow pipits (Anthus pratensis) which were abundant, but associated with two or three pied wagtails (Motacilla Yarrellii, Gould); indeed its habits were precisely similar to that bird's, keeping to the soft mud and chasing insects in the same manner, so that any one might readily have taken it for a wagtail, except for its colour.-F. Bond; Kingsbury, Middlesex, November 10, 1843. Microscopical Society of London. November 15, 1843.-J. S. Bowerbank, Esq., F.R.S., &c., in the chair. Read, a paper by J. S. Bowerbank, Esq., F.R.S., entitled "Additional observations on the structure of the Shells of Molluscous and Conchiferous Animals." The paper, of which this is a continuation, was read before the Society on the 18th of January last, and the present observations relate to the mode in which wounds in the periostracum are repaired, which differs in many respects from the analogous operation in the shelly structures. A shell (Solen vagina) in Mr. Bowerbank's possession, having had this organ pierced in a great number of places, afforded upon examination the means of ascertaining the manner in which Nature operates in making up deficiencies in that important membrane. In this case the wounded organ is so situated as to preclude the possibility of the ordinary mode, namely, the exudation of a layer of coagulable lymph, being followed, and consequently another course is pursued. The inner layer of the periostracum gradually advances from all sides over the wounded surface, until 448 Microscopical Society. it unites in the centre of its area. This new membrane is at first clear and pellucid, but after a short time minute vesicles, molecules and cytoblasts appear in various parts of the surface, together with small patches of minute vascular tissue. These spherical cells gradually increase in size, assuming the form of collapsed vesicles. As their number increases, their outlines become indistinct, until at length they form an even pav. ing of closely compressed tessellated cells. Layer after layer of this tissue follow each other, one above the other, until the whole space of the wound is completely filled up. The progress of the minute primary vessels also affords an exceedingly interesting study of the origin of vascular tissue, whether simple, branched or anastomosing, not only in animals of a low degree of organization, but also in the higher warm-blooded animals, as the author had also observed similar appearances amid the cartilaginous fibres of the prepared fœtal skull of an infant, and also in the somewhat similar cartilaginous structure of bone in a case of mollities osseum, described by Mr. S. Solly, of St. Thomas's hospital. The remaining part of the paper was devoted to a minute description of the appearance of this primary vascular tissue in various stages of its development in the periostracum of the shell. December 20, 1843.-Edwin J. Quekett, Esq., F.L.S., in the chair. Read, a communication from Mr. Tulk, upon certain parasites in the dog. These parasites were found by Mr. Topping, on examining microscopically the contents of the pustules in a mangy dog. They belong to the genus Demodea (Owen), first discovered, figured and described by Dr. Lemon of Berlin, as inhabiting the sebaceous sacs and hair-follicles of the human skin. The insects now described as existing in the dog, were found in such abundance that thirty or forty were frequently seen in a single drop of pus. They differ very slightly from the human parasites before referred to, but analogy would lead to the conclusion that they are of a different species. The discovery of this parasite may throw some light upon the causes of the disease called mange, a distemper by no means confined to one class of animals; while, at the same time, it is far from being certain, whether this insect is the exciting cause, or is merely developed during the progress of that disorder. The chairman made some observations upon Tettigonia septemdecim, a NorthAmerican insect sent by Professor Bailey, the ovipositor of which, he stated, forms a curious microscopical object. He exhibited specimens of the male and female insect, and also some wood, illustrating the injury done by it. The chairman also laid before the Society some earth from Petersburg, in Virginia, described by Professor Rogers, containing fossil animalcules, and noticed several new forms found in it. Mr. Ross communicated an interesting observation relative to the Daguerreotype process, first noticed by R. H. Solly, Esq. If an ordinary Daguerreotype portrait he examined with a power of about 200 linear, the surface in the parts upon which the light has acted, instead of being perfectly smooth, is found to be covered with a series of minute dots or globules, arranged in a hexagonal form. Mr. Ross exhibited this curious appearance in the course of the evening. A fluid for cleaning glass was also laid before the Society. It consists of a strong solution of nut-galls; glass wiped with this fluid is effectually freed from all greasiness. Mr. Busk exhibited the achromatic object-glass of a telescope, having a minute Conferva growing between the lenses composing it. Some discussion took place as to whether this appearance was really the effect of vegetation, or produced by a species of crystallization on the surface of the glass.-J. W |