dark brown; crown, from the forepart of the eye backwards, black, crossed by three narrow bands of brownish white; cheeks, marked, with a bar of black, variegated with light brown; edges of the back, and of the scapulars, pale bluish white; back and scapulars, deep black, each feather tipped or marbled with light brown and bright ferruginous, with numerous fine zigzag lines of black cros sing the lighter parts; quills, plain dusky brown; tail, black, each feather marked along the outer edge with small spots of pale brown and ending in narrow tips, of a pale drab color above, and silvery white below; lining of the wing, bright rust; legs and feet, a pale reddish flesh color; eye, very full and black, seated high and very far back in the head; weight, five ounces and a-half, sometimes six.

The female is twelve inches long, and eighteen in extent, weighs eight ounces, and differs also in having the bill very near three inches in length; the black on the back is not quite so intense; and the sides under the wings are slightly barred with dusky.

The young Woodcocks of a week or ten days old are covered with down of a brownish white color, and are marked from the bill along the crown to the hind head, with a broad stripe of deep brown; another line of the same passes through the eyes to the hind head, curving under the eye; from the back to the rudiments of the tail, runs another of the same tint, and also on the sides under the wings; the throat and breast are considerably tinged with rufous; and the quills at this age are just bursting from their light blue sheaths, and appear marbled, as in the old birds; the legs and bill are of a pale purplish ash colour, the latter about an inch long. When taken, they utter a long, clear, but feeble peep, not louder than that of a mouse. They are far inferior to young Partridges in running and skulking; and, should the female unfortunately be killed, may easily be taken on the spot."

Audubon says that when the Woodcocks are travelling from the south towards all parts of the United States, on their way to their breeding places, they migrate singly, and follow each other with such rapidity that they might be said to arrive in flocks, the one coming directly in the wake of the other. This is particularly observable by a person standing on the eastern banks of the Mississippi or the Ohio, in the evening at dusk, from the middle of March to that of April, when almost every instant there whizzes past him a Woodcock with a velocity equalling that of our swiftest birds. He states also that he has seen them in New Brunswick returning southward in equal numbers late in the evening, and in

the same continuous manner within a few feet of the ground on the roads or through the woods. When the young birds are six weeks old, it requires nearly as much skill to shoot them as if they were much older.

The Woodcock is a particular favorite of the sportsman, and although the pursuit is laborious on account of the difficult nature of the ground in which the bird is found, yet no other shooting appears to be more fascinating. In Lewis' American Sportsman, from which work we have taken the figure of the bird, it is stated, with reference to finding Woodcocks, that "these birds, as before observed, delight in a wet loamy soil, and are seldom or never found in the upland districts, but most frequently locate themselves along the marshy willow and elder borders and extensive flats of our rivers. They also secrete themselves in the dense thickets of underbrush along the margins of smaller streams, or hide themselves in the rank grass and luxuriant fern of our wet meadow lands. In fact, wherever there is a good boring-ground, and a certain degree of seclusion, there will be found Woodcocks in the month of July, many or few, according to the nature of the ground and the favorable or unfavorable state of the breeding season.

When there has been a succession of dry weather, it is quite useless to examine light and open coverts, or sparse woods, in quest of Cocks, as at such times they will be found either on the open wet bottoms, if such spots can then be come across, or more likely in the deep, impermeable thickets and entangled brakes, where the ground seldom or never entirely loses its moisture. On the other hand, when the weather has been extremely wet for some days, Woodcocks will partake themselves to the hill-sides or elevated grounds, as they are not by any means partial to too much water, although a certain degree of moisture is absolutely necessary for their very existence. When the weather begins to get cool, they may also be found in the open woody glens or clearings, enjoying, as it were, the mild warmth of the autumn's sun, as the feeble rays from time to time pierce the sparse foliage of the overhanging trees, or actively engaged boring in the mossy banks of the warm rills, which so often spring up from such sheltered situations. In sections of the country where these birds resort, we can scarcely visit a spot of this kind early in October without finding a couple or so of Cocks, provided the ground is not too often overrun with shooters.

Still later in the season they may be met with in the more deep and sheltered wood swamps, where the insects, larvæ, and earth-worms, protected, in a measure, from the biting frosts of the more exposed situations, are enabled to remain near the surface during the severest weather; here it is that the sportsman will discover the perforations or borings of this lonely bird.

The warm and almost impenetrable cedar swamps are also favorite resorts for such Woodcocks as remain in the north during the cold weather, as the springs in such situations seldom freeze, and there is always to be found a scanty supply of suitable food even in the depth of winter. These birds, however, like the snipe, are very uncertain in their movements, being governed a good deal by the state of the weather, and other similar causes.

Woodcocks are very abundant in Jersey and Delaware, particularly after a dry spell of weather, as they congregate there from the interior of the country, and spread themselves over the wide extent of meadow lands and marshy cripples so congenial to their habits, and which are so general in the lower portions of these States. Cock-shooting in these districts is equally if not more laborious than Snipe-shooting, more particularly if pursued, as is, we may say, universally the custom, during the oppressively hot weather of July and August. In wandering over these extensive marshes, or, as they are vulgarly called, mashes, it is necessary for the sportsman to exercise considerable dexterity in stepping from tussock to tussock; otherwise he will often be doomed to a sudden plunge into the filthy oozes that surround him on every side. The excessive heat of the weather is anothor strong objection to the shooting of Woodcocks in the month of July, as the heat is often so oppressive that the birds will spoil in the course of a few hours after being shot, and, in some instances, even before leaving the field for the day. As for hoping to keep the birds over a day or two, to carry home, such a thing is quite impossible, and the sportsman, consequently, is forced to throw them away sometimes when only a day old, if he cannot procure ice to pack them in, which article, by the by, is not always to be had in the country.

The Woodcocks and Snipes are very closely related, and are classified under the genus Scolopax by some authors, while others think a separation necessary. The generic name is from the Greek "micropteryx," ""that has small wings."

E

ARTICLE XLV.—On the Insects injurious to the Wheat crop.

The recent appearance of the Fly, in Upper Canada, having occasioned a good deal of anxiety, we have thought proper to publish the following article, in order to give as wide a circulation as possible to the Natural History of this destroyer of the staff of life. The Wheat Midge, Cecidomya tritici, appears to be the species which threatens our crops with the greatest amount of damage. Its history has been known to Naturalists during the last fifty years, but no effectual method has been discovered of guarding against its ravages. There is but one way of arriving at this much desired knowledge. It is by increasing the number of qualified observers throughout the country. Were any argument necessary to establish the expediency of introducing the study of Natural History into all the common schools throughout the civilized world, the best would be that a creature barely visible to the naked eye may, under circumstances favourable to its multiplication, scourge the nations with famine. We do not know how to protect ourselves, and we never shall know until we arrive at a more perfect insight into those laws of life which regulate the introduction, increase and extermination of species. Geology teaches us that there is a power in nature which destroys not only individuals but even whole races. No doubt there is a power which, could man discover it, would enable him to slay the Wheat Midge, as it has in by-gone ages silenced for ever the Ichthyosaurus, the Mastodon, or any other of the buried thousands of the old lost worlds. It is not enough that a few men know at what season the Wheat Midge lays her egg, the time when that egg produces the worm-like larva, or when the pupa bursts to liberate the perfected insect, the parent of new swarms: all this has been for the last half century but a small item in the journal of the Entomologist; our only hope is to have thousands of observers of nature where there are now scarcely half a dozen; and surely when the vast interests depending upon the wheat crop are at stake, there is a sufficient reason to encourage the only science through which the means of saving it can be approached.

We regret that not having duly apportioned our space, much that we had prepared on this subject, together with some engravings already executed, must be excluded from the present number.

The following is from the Report of the Commissioner of Patents at Washington for the year 1854; Department of Agriculture.

THE HESSIAN FLY.

"The following account of the Hessian Fly, (Cecidomyia destructor,) see plate, is condensed from Dr. Harris' Treatise on the Insects of New England, injurious to Vegetation. This insect was first observed in the year 1776, in the neighbourhood of Sir William Howe's debarkation on Staten Island, and at Flatbush on the west end of Long Island, New York. It is properly a small, twowinged gnat, which lays its eggs in winter or fall in wheat, when the grain has sprouted and begins to show leaves.

66 According to the account of Mr. Edward Tilghman, of Queen Ann County, Maryland, the eggs are deposited in October, in the longitudinal cavities between the little ridges of the blade, from which, in about fifteen days, very small worms or maggots appear. They make way down the blades with considerable activity until hidden between them and the stems of the plants. Mr. Herrick, in the "Connecticut Farmer," says: "I have repeatedly, both in autumn and spring, seen the Hessian Fly in the act of depositing eggs on wheat. The number on a single leaf is often twenty or thirty, and sometimes much greater." The eggs are extremely minute, and of a pale red color; and if the weather prove favorable they will hatch in four days. The maggots, when they first come out of their shells, are also of a pale red color. Forthwith they crawl down the leaves and work their way between them and the main stalk, passing downwards till they come to a joint, just above which they remain, a little below the surface of the ground, with the head towards the root of the plant. Having thus fixed themselves upon the stalk, they become stationary, and never move from the place before their transformations are completed. They do not eat the stalk, neither do they penetrate within it, as some persons have supposed, but lie lengthwise on its surface, covered by the lower part of the leaves, and are wholly nourished by the sap, which they appear to take by suction. They soon lose their reddish color, turn pale, and will be found to be clouded with whitish spots, and through their transparent skins a greenish stripe may be seen in the middle of their bodies. As they increase in size and grow plump and firm, they become imbedded in the side of the stem by the pressure of their bodies upon the growing plant. One maggot thus placed seldom destroys the plant; but when two or three are fixed in this manner around the stem, they weaken and impoverish it, and cause it to fall down, or wither and die. They usually come to their full size in five or six weeks, and then measure about three-twentieths of an inch in length. Their skins now, gradually harden, become brownish, and soon change to a bright chestnut color, which change usually happens about the first of December. The insect, in this form, has been commonly likened to flax-seed; hence many observers speak of this as the "flax-seed state." In two or three weeks after this change of color, the insect within becomes entirely detached from the old larva skin, and lies within it a motionless grub. The