THE ROOK.-Letter XV., page 60.

The common rook, (corvus frugilegus,) seems to be more subject to a white variation than its other British congeners. Species entirely white are not often seen, but individuals, with parts of the wings and tail pure white, occur in almost every rookery. A pair of magpies entirely of a cream colour were hatched at a farm-steading in Eskdale, Dumfriesshire, and being much thought of by the tenant, were strictly preserved, and continued near the spot for many years.

STONE CURLEW.-Letter XVI., page 61.

Mr. White's remarks, passim, in his Correspondence in regard to this species are very interesting, and it was evidently a favourite with him. Has it been driven from its haunts, or does it still frequent the locality? It is by this group that we trace the alliance of the bustards. Mr. Yarrell does not trace it beyond Yorkshire. We have no record of its being killed in Scotland. Mr. Thompson notes it as a rare visitant to Ireland. It ranges to the plains between the Black and Caspian Seas, Asia Minor and Madeira.

Mr. Herbert, in one of his notes inserted in Bennet's edition, refers to a curious circumstance, that in his observations the bird is never found to breed except on "the chalk;" this will, however, require confirmation.

NUTHATCH.-Letter XVI., page 65, note.

In this note I stated that our common species is the only one inhabiting Europe. In the latest European ornithology, by M. Degland, Sitta uralensis is given as an occasional visitant: another, Sitta syriaca, more frequently occurs, and is common also in Greece and Syria. According to the authority quoted, it is also found in Dalmatia, the Levant, and Syria, and I have lately received a specimen from my son, of H.M.S. Caledonia, shot when the fleet was in the vicinity of Athens. The species of this group from Alpine India amount to five or six, and are remarkable in the alliance of form and colour to those of Europe.

TOADS.-Letter XVII., page 67, text and note †.

We

To this note we would only add, that toads deposit their spawn, or ova, in long strings, instead of in a mass as the common frog does; and the beautiful spotted chains that are often seen in pools in spring, as if looped over each other, is their ova newly deposited. The "venom of toads" has been discarded as a fable; still, the excretion from the skin possesses some properties, perhaps fitted for protection. possessed a large Labrador dog, very fond of carrying anything, dead or alive, which took a fancy to seek out toads from among the strawberry beds. When taken in his mouth, the secretion of saliva was immediately increased, and his jaws became covered with foam; he evidently felt pain and annoyance, at the same time would not discontinue his practice of carrying them. Mr. Herbert, in a note to Bennet's edition, page 323, says :-" If a hungry pike seizes one, (a toad,) he disgorges

it again in disgust, though he eats a frog greedily." What is the cause of disgust ?-the same acrid secretion. We have kept several toads in the stove upon the tan pits, to catch insects. They have become quite tame, and will come to watch at the edge of a flower pot, until it is lifted, darting instantaneously with the tongue upon anything exhibiting motion that is under it.

THE SANDPIPER.-Letter XX., page 77, text and notes.

We stated in our "British Birds "_" Although this species extends to the northernmost parts of the main land of Scotland, it does not appear to visit the islands." We, however, find it mentioned in Mr. Heddle's Birds of Orkneys, as visiting Hoy and Sanday; Iceland, Greenland and Faroe Islands are given by Mr. Yarrell, and southward, India and its islands, Japan, Southern Africa; in America it is represented by T. macularius, or spotted sandpiper, so similar in its young plumage, that the geographical distribution has on this account been confounded.

EAGLE OWL.-Letter XXVIII., page 103, text and note.

Montague stated that the eagle owl had been killed in Yorkshire, Sussex and Kent. Mr. Selby records a specimen killed on the muirs in the county of Durham. In Ireland, a single record is given by Mr. Thompson, on authority of Mr. Stuart, that a pair bred on Tory Island, on the coast of Donegal.

PARASITIC HATCHING OF EGGS.-Letter XXX., page 107, text and note, and XXXIII., page 114, text and note.

There is no economical habit more remarkable in ornithology, than that of the parasitic hatching of eggs, which first was thought to be confined to the common cuckoo of Europe; but more extensive -researches discovered that it was common to various genera of the cuckoos, and that members of a few other groups also pursued the same instinct. Various causes have been assigned for this anomalous habit, but without sufficient reason; and researches and comparisons in the structure of the parasitic species are still wanting, and would, without doubt, repay the inquirer. A large black species of Indian cuckoo, Eudynamys orientalis, invariably deposits its eggs in the nests of crows; and it is suspected that, in this instance, the cuckoo sometimes destroys the eggs of the crow, its eggs being frequently found alone. The young crows are also expelled. It is a very remarkable instance of design in the case of this bird, that, except in size, (the cuckoo's egg being slightly smaller,) the colour and markings are similar to those of the crow. (See Contributions to Ornithology for 1850, page 71.)

HEDGEHOGS.-Letter XXXI., page 109.

In our previous note we mentioned the eating of eggs by hedgehogs. There is no doubt of the fact, and that therefore they are obnoxious to gamekeepers. They are also so from another cause; they emit a very strong scent, and on the grassy muirs, those most favourable for

black game, pointers will set them, if in the way, and stand very steadily. We have frequently witnessed disappointment from this cause. The ordinary and general food is insectivorous or moluscous ; when observed in the evening, they are rooting through the herbage like little pigs, every now and then picking out something which is not vegetable; and although animal food, such as dead animals, eggs, and the young of various animals and birds, may be seized and fed upon when met with, it is not their ordinary, or sought for food. There is a curious note in the Zoological Journal, supplied by Professor Buckland, on the food of Hedgehogs, who, suspecting that hedgehogs eat snakes, tried the experiment, which proved his suspicion to be correct. He had been experimenting upon different kinds of food, and concludes, "Here we have evidence that the hedgehog feeds on roots, fruits, insects, and snakes; in fact, that it is an omnivorous animal."

SOFT-BILLED BIRDS.-Letter XXXVI., page 120, note.

The observation in this note is quite correct; there are many members of the family muscicapidae in America, though none of the OldWorld form of fly-catchers; and the Old-World form of Sylvia, or warblers, of White, is taken up by the Sylvicolince of the American forests. In America, again, we have no true motacilla; but in Guinea, and West Africa, we have both a motacilla and numerous species of drymoicu, &c. In this latter country, nevertheless, the ploceine, or weaver forms, are very abundant, and being mostly of somewhat gay colours, would, as Mr. White observes, form the bulk of the collection.

THE SWALLOW.-Letter XXXIX., page 128.

The original letter concludes:-"I am pleased to see that your (Pennant's) description of the noose corresponds so well with mine." The swallow was H. rupestris, a species found, according to Degland, besides France and Switzerland, also in Sicily, Sardinia, North of Africa, and Eastern Asia.

THE FLY.-Letter XLIII., page 140, note.

There is no doubt that both the species might come under White's observation, though we have, in our former note, stated that it "probably" was H. nemorum. These small coleopterous insects are widely distributed, and common almost every year; but it is chiefly when the young plant is weak from want of proper manure, or great drought, that it is very injurious. This insect has got the name of "the fly," and is the one commonly known by that appellation. But by far the most destructive insect is the larva of a tenthredinous, or saw-fly, allied to the "gooseberry caterpillar," which appears at intervals, without apparent cause, disappearing as unexplainably, and sweeping whole fields, even after they have obtained considerable size, with a locust rapidity. It has been made out to be the larva of athalia centifolic, and is well described by Mr. Yarrell, and more lately by Mr. Curtis in the

Journal of the Agricultural Society of England. It has only come once under our own observation, disappearing, except in very limited numbers, the year following.

JARDINE HALL.-Letter LII., page 157, note.

This note refers to the old mansion-house of Jardine-hall, pulled down about 1812.

BANK-SWALLOW.-Letter LVII., page 175, text.

Our observation in Scotland and the North of England has always noted the H. riparia, or bank-swallow, to be the first in arriving.

IRISH FAUNA.-Letter LXIV., page 201, note.

I forget the authority on which this note regarding Ledum palustre and Papaver nudicale was inserted. Neither are given in either Mackay's "Flora Hibernica" or in Babington's Manual; and, on writing to Mr. Mackay for information, he states that Sir Charles Gièséké had been mistaken in the plants-having seen only an imperfect specimen of Andromeda polifolia in a hut in Ennis, while the P. cambricum was found both by Mr. Mackay and Dr. Graham in the habitat given for the latter.

White's hopes have been fulfilled, and we have now a host of naturalists working out the natural history of Ireland, among whom William Thompson has long taken the lead, and in his valuable zoological papers in the annals of natural history has worked out, minutely and successfully, many of the departments. These have again assumed the form of a regular Irish Fauna in the work alluded to by the Editor. The third volume, the completion of the Birds, being finished. For the Botany, Mr. Mackay has given us a complete Flora.

FOSTER-DAMS.-Letter LXXVI., page 223, text and notes.

In White's observation we have the account of a cat having suckled young squirrels. In the "Zoological Journal," Mr. Broderip relates that he saw a cat give suck to seven young rats. In these cases the animal does not seem to be able to discriminate; and we would be almost tempted to consider that it is the relief alone to be afforded that allows the intrusion of almost any young animal. In the case of a cow, or ewe, on the contrary, it is with extreme difficulty that a strange calf or lamb can be substituted for the real offspring; and the common practice among shepherds, in the case of a dead lamb, is to apply the skin around the stranger before introduction, smell being apparently the guide to recognition or detection.

THE VULTURE.-Letter LXXXVI., page 243, notes.

Vultur (cathartes) Aura is an American species, not found in Africa. The superstition mentioned in the note continues, but there seems no foundation for it.

HONEY-BUZZARD.-Letter XCIII., page 265.

An interesting account of the capture of a specimen of this rare bird is given by Mr. Selby in the "Transactions" of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club it had attacked a ground wasp's nest, and had scratched out the comb, with which, as a bait, it was afterwards trapped.

DOGS.-Letter CII.. page 284, note*.

See also Colonel Hamilton Smith, article, " Dog," in Griffith's Cuvier, and the same gentleman's "Dogs" in "Naturalist's Library."

THE PORTUGAL LAUREL.-Letter CVII., page 296, note.

We have never known the Portugal laurel cut by severe frost, even when accompanied with a gale. During the last thirty years, plants of from three or four years of age to thirty have been several times subjected to a cold at and below 0°, and to frosts of long duration. They have invariably stood well, and with the common rhododendron, are among our most valuable evergreens. Dryness or moisture of the climate or situation may have an influence.

HYBERNATION OF SWALLOWS, page 37 et passim.

Mr. White evidently experienced great pleasure at sight of the first swallow in spring Indeed every lover of nature must do so. As for myself, I love the swallow and its congeners and would (supposing I had the choice) give up any other bird we have rather than this. Independent of its wonderful intelligence, its plumage, as will be found on minute inspection, is very beautiful; its song interesting and melodious; its form graceful; and its utility in clearing the air of insects beyond, perhaps, any estimate we can form. And then who can witness the building of a martin's nest, and hear the notes of exulting satisfaction which the loving little artists utter reciprocally as the work progresses, without entering into Mr. White's feelings?