FOR THE PEOPLE
FOR EDVCATION
FOR SCIENCE
LIBRARY
OF
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
OF
NATURAL HISTORY
(fji i'/i/- Ppr*
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lire
THE
Selborne Society’s /Iftagasme
VOL. i.
Edited by
The Rev. PERCY MYLES, B.A., F.L.S.
AND
JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S.
lonOon :
H. SOTHERAN & Co.,
136, STRAND, W.C. and 36, PICCADILLY, \V.
1890.
❖ ^
INDEX.
Access to Mountains Bill, 67.
Annual Meeting of the Selborne Society,
65.
Arnold, Matthew, Plant Allusions in the
Poems of, Sir Mountstuart Grant
Duff, 81, 104.
Beauties of Epping Forest in Danger,
G. S. Boulger, 37.
Bird Names, English, 156.
Birds and Bonnets, a Ladies’ Sympo-
sium, 160, 177.
Birds in Art, Miss I. Julien Armstrong,
72.
Birds of Prey in the Hebrides, Destruc-
tion of, Dr. James Clark, 50.
Black-Headed Gull, Miss W. M. E.
Fowler, 140.
Books for Holiday Makers, 126.
Books for Nature Lovers. — About
Robins, by Lady Lindsay, 43. Bird
Books, Some, 92. Days and Hours
in a Garden, by E. V. B., 57.
English Idyls, by Dr. Emerson, 44.
Haunts of Nature, by Mr. Worsley
Benison, 45. Idyls of the Field, by
Mr. F. A. Knight, 45. In Tenny-
son Land, by Mr. J. C. Walters,
44. Irish Lore, Contributions to,
by Lady Wilde, 44. Science and
Scientists, by Rev. John Gerard, 58.
Sylvamcs Iiedivivus, by Mrs. Hous-
toun, 44. Wayside Sketches, by
Prof. F. E. Iiulme, 75. Wild Na-
ture -won by Kindness, by Mrs.
Bright wen, 159.
Books Received, 31, 128.
Books, Short Notices of, 59, 76, 92, in,
143-
Botanic Gardens at Chelsea, the future
of, Archibald L. Clarke, 124.
Branches of Selborne Society, Work of,
31, 48, 98, 115, 168, 183.
British Plants, Disappearance of, James
Britten, 7,
Cats, Two Books about, 142.
Cheddar Pink, F. N. Williams, 107.
Children’s Column. — Chat Fidele,
Un,27. Chink the Chaffinch, 27. Mu-
sical Cat, A, 196. Natural History
for Children, 195. Switzerland,
Letter from, 129. Windfall, A,
Miss P. A. Fry, 56.
Correspondence. — Notice to Corres-
pondents, 48, 100. Hawk and a
Heron, 15. Sudbrook Park, Preser-
vation of, 1 5.
Curious Experience with a Slug, Miss
A. M. Buckton, 9.
Daffodil, The, an Anthology, 42.
Editorial Note, 32.
Educational Influence of the Selborne
Society, Miss Isabel Fry, 154.
Environment, Influence of, upon Plants,
Professor George Henslow, 169.
Feather Painting, George A. Musgrave,
121.
Feathers, Books of, Mrs. Brightwen, 135.
Field Paths Sixty Years Ago, Selections
from William Howitt, by Mrs. Hill,
138.
Hampshire Local Names, Miss W. M.
E. Fowler, 23.
Herrick, Plant Allusions in the Poems of,
Sir James Sawyer, 122.
Insects as Ornaments of the Garden, W.
F. Kirby, F.L.S., 109.
Introduction of Foreign Weeds, George
Nicholson, 4, 21.
Jefferies, Richard, The Books of, 194.
Lakeland , a Visit to, W. G. Wheatcroft, 1 91 .
Mavis and the Merle, A Sonnet, Rev.
H. D. Rawnsley, 49.
Migration of Birds, Rev. A. Rawson, 20.
Migration of the Woodcock, the Rev.
H. D. Gordon, 34.
Mummy Wheat, Prof. G. Henslow, 119.
Naturalist’s Whitsuntide Holiday, R. J.
Harvey Gibson, 85.
North, Miss Marianne, 176.
Northumbrian Plant Names, D. D.
Dixon, no.
October, Professor F. E. Hulme, 149.
Ostrich Farming, W. Tyndale and Miss
A. M. Buckton, 39.
Plant allusions in the Poems of Matthew
Arnold, Sir Mount Stuart Grant
Duff, 81, 104.
IV.
INDEX.
Plant allusions in the Poems of Robert
Herrick, Sir James Sawyer, 122.
Plant Names, English, 141.
Preservation and Enjoyment of Open
Spaces, Robert Hunter, 101, 172, 188.
Programme of Nature Notes, i.
Protection of Birds on the Continent, by
a Vice-President, 6, 25.
Protection of Plants in Switzerland,
James Britten, 133.
Pugnacity of Male Birds, Aubrey Ed-
wards, 193.
Recording of Local Names and Folk-
lore, 18.
Right of Way Asserted at Glen Doll,
George Murray, 33.
“Restoration,” Thackeray Turner, 152.
Sea Birds’ Rock, The, and its Brutal
Visitors, 87, II 7.
Selborne Society, Annual Meeting of,
65; Educational Influence of, 154;
Official Notices of, 16, 32, 48, 64,
80, 100, 1 1 5, 132, 148, 166, 183,
199 ; Work of the Branches of, 31,
48, 98, 1 15, 168, 183. 199.
Selborniana. — Albino Birds, 96. Ani-
mal and Plant Names, So. Answers
to Queries, 132. Appearance of
Birds, Flowers, &c., 47. Associa-
tion pour la Protection des Plantes,
132. Bad Example, A, 30. Bees
or Flies ? 198. Bellicose Duck, A,
1 3 1 . Bird list from Torquay, 78.
Bird Pictures of H. Stacy Marks,
R.A., 180. Bird Protection Act
Farce, 77. Birds and Bonnets, 94,
146. Birds Singing as they Fly,
97, 1 13. Black-bird Story, A, 30.
Birds, Wanton destruction of, 197.
Books of Feathers, 163. Brave
Comrade, A, 98. Browning as a
Nature Painter, 12. Browning
Query, 28,46, 166. Cheddar Cliffs,
Devastation at, 164, 182. Cheddar
Pink, 130, 146. “ Chevisaunce,”
46. Children as Collectors, 115.
Collectors, by Mr. T. F. Wake-
field, 13. Continental Selborniana,
1 14. Cruelty to Kelts, 14. Cuckoo,
The Earliest, 95, 112. Cuckoo,
Note of the, 29, 47, 79. Daisy in De-
cember, 12. Destruction of Beauti-
ful Derbyshire Scenery, 77. De-
struction of Birds of Prey in the
Hebrides, 79. Fashion-Books, the
Ethics and Literature of, 14. Ferns,
Destruction of, 196. Flowers in
Hospitals, 60. Footpaths, Preserva-
tion of, 98. Frogs and Toads, 198.
Grassholm Outrage, 144. “Gravyes,”
61. Guinea Pigs Rampant, 181.
Hampshire Local Names, 47. Hayes
Common, Annexation of, 78. Holly
Berries, 30. Home Reading Union,
97. Imitations of the Notes of Birds,
147, 165. Insects as Ornaments of
the Garden, 130, 147. Jackdaws to
their Kind, Unkindness of, 165.
Kent, Sussex and Doncaster Local
Names, 60. Keswick Notes, 79.
Kingfisher, A Sociable, 198,
King Horny, 46. Ladybird, 61.
Local Names, 47, 60. London
Oasis disappearing (Another), 131.
Memorial to Richard Jefferies, 131.
Migration of Birds, 63. Mildness
of the Season, 30. Milliner’s
Scheme of Creation, 29. Musical
Mice, 1 14. Nightingale in the
Thames Valley, 94. Outrages in
Ireland, 95. Papyrophagous Slugs,
1 3 1, 145. Peculiar Blackbirds, 46.
Pheasants as Fowl Rearers, 130.
Plague of Rats, 30, 61. “ Porri-
wiggles,” 92, 1 12. Primrose, The,
79. Primrose, A Plea for the, 45.
Rare Birds, the Shooting of, 62.
Righteous Indignation, 93. Sea
and Sky Signs, 182. Sea-Birds'
Rock and its Brutal Visitors. 112.
Sea-blue Bird of March, 60, 93.
Selbornian Propaganda, Mr. G. A.
Musgrave on, 179. Sense of Time
in Birds, Mrs. Haweis, 93. Sing-
ing Mouse, 97. Sky-Signs, 144,
164. Sluggish Gymnastics, 145.
Snail, A New British, 199. Songs
of Birds, 95. Sparrows, 79. Spar-
rows and Mice, 112. Spicer, Miss
Mitford’s, 61, 80. Strange Instance
of Nest Building, 130. Tame Birds
and Beasts, 113. Tennyson, The
New Poems of, 11. Tom-Tits, 166.
Voracious Voles, 62. White, Gil-
bert, Bibliography of, 166. Wild
Birds and Maize, 98. Wild Flowers
in Winter, 13. Yellow Hammer,
Spelling of, 28.
Starling, a Sonnet, Rev. H. D. Rawnsley,
72- ...
Sympathy of Birds with their Kind,
Miss A. M. Buckton, 174.
Thoreau, J. L. Otter, 185.
Toothwort, The, Rev. H. D. Gordon, 74.
Vandalism at Hampstead, 17.
Village Naturalist, a Sonnet, by the Rev.
H. D. Rawnsley, 188.
Wood, Rev. J. G., James Britten, 68.
Woodland Scenery of the Northern
Heights in Danger, Archibald L.
Clarke, 90.
Yorkshire Names, Miss W. M. E. Fowler,
52.
No. i.
JANUARY, 1890.
Vol. I.
OUR PROGRAMME.
By the EDITORS.
ATURE NOTES, the Selborne Society’s Magazine, is
intended to be a record of progress — progress in the
love of Nature, in the knowledge of natural objects,
and in the war to be waged in defence of the beauties
of Nature against their more or less avowed exterminators.
One main object of the Magazine (which will be kept steadily
in view by the Editors) is to establish a connecting link between
uninstructed love of Nature and accurate scientific knowledge.
Those who know most are not always those who love most ; but
additional knowledge will certainly increase the pleasure of those
who are already Nature-lovers, i.e., Selbornians. Accordingly,
the articles in the Magazine will not be of a technically scientific
nature, but the writers will seek to combine accuracy of state-
ment with a popular style. Such topics will be chosen as are
likely to interest the ordinary reader, who is not a trained
botanist or zoologist, but wishes to learn more about the Flowers,
Birds, and Insects, wrhich attract his attention in his daily
walks, if he lives in the country, or which have caught his eye
in his holiday rambles, if he is one who passes most of his time
“ in populous city pent.”
It is believed that a large number of interesting observations,
made by those who use their eyes for the purpose of Nature-
study, are lost, because the observers do not think what they
have noticed is of sufficient value to be worthy of record in any
scientific Journal. We may hope that Nature Notes will do much
to utilise such observations and to collate the experience of
various observers.
Records of the Earliest Leafing and Flowering of Plants , and
the time when the last flowers are seen, will be inserted. A
useful little Handbook for those who wish to compile such a
calendar is “ The Naturalists’ Diary,” by Mr. Roberts.
2
NATURE NOTES.
Careful observations on the Migrations and other Habits of
Birds will be given, and authentic records of such habits are
invited.
The question of the injurious and beneficial agency of Insects
in Field and Garden will be dealt with, and an attempt will be
made to discriminate carefully and justly between the friends
and foes of mankind.
Not only are animals and plants disappearing from various
parts of our land, but the quaint old legends concerning them, the
ancient superstitions which throw so much light on Comparative
Mythology, the fanciful, and often poetical Local Names — all
these, valuable almost as the subjects they commemorate, are
rapidly dying out. We shall endeavour to secure what still
lingers of this mass of old-world tradition, and shall receive with
gratitude communications from those who will note down provin-
cial names of birds and plants and the folk-lore, perpetually vary-
ing, and yet essentially the same, which has clustered round the
animal and vegetable kingdom. In this connection we shall be
led occasionally to refer to the work done by the Folk-lore
Society and by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient
Monuments. These Societies are in spirit closely akin to our
own. We have the same foes to contend with, and many tastes
in common. The man who loves every stone of the old abbey,
beautiful even in its ruins, and reverently garners the legends of
its ancient fame, will strive to preserve also the trees and flowers
that gather round its walls, and the birds that have found in its
desecrated altars “ a nest where they may lay their young.”
Not only will local English names be examined and their
etymology discussed, but articles on the Derivation and Pronuncia-
tion of Scientific Names, will be occasionally given. There are few
subjects which yield a more abundant crop of popular errors to
be eradicated and replaced by correct information.
Biographies of Naturalists will be introduced now and again,
and it is not unlikely that some of our members may supply
valuable information concerning the lives of half-forgotten
worthies of time past.
At the suggestion of Prof. Flower (Director of the Natural
Histoty Department, British Museum), a series of short papers
is projected on “ How to use the Natural History Museum for Nature-
Study.” In these papers there will be a full description of the
various type collections and of several other additions recently
made to the Museum for the purpose of facilitating elementary
study. Similar aids to the use of the Museums at Kew are
hoped for, from Air. J. R. Jackson, the Curator of the Museums.
The Allusions to Plants and Flowers which occur in our great
Poets will be noticed ; and a series of articles is planned dealing
with some of those masters of song who have found their highest
inspiration in the reverent study of natural beauty, “ knowing
that Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”
“Young Selborne” will certainly not be forgotten, and a
OUR PROGRAMME.
Children's Column will be devoted to the instruction of juvenile
Selbornians. Their queries will obtain special attention, and
plain directions will be given by which they may gather know-
ledge, as well as amusement, from every hedgerow and wayside
pond.
Reviews of Books which bear on the various branches of
Natural History will appear, and the Editors will always be
glad to give information as to books suitable for any particular
study.
If funds permit, suitable Illustrations will occasionally be
given. In this matter we have been promised the advice and
assistance of Mr. G. C. Haite, the well-known artist, and author
of “ Plant-studies,” to whom we owe the appropriate design on
the cover of the magazine.
In addition to the various departments enumerated above,
Nature Notes, as the Official Organ of the Selborne Society,
will give authentic accounts of the proceedings of the Central
Council, as well as reports of any meetings of the Branches to
which exceptional interest is attached.
Notices of Work done and work which requires to be done —
of destruction threatened to some beautiful spot, of destruction
happily averted by energetic Selbornians, or devastation most
unhappily effected by ruthless evictors of Nature from her
ancient seats — all these things will be recorded for the en-
couragement or admonition of those who have the interests of
the Society at heart.
Abstracts of Scientific Reports bearing on the destruction of the
fauna or flora of certain districts, or on the ravages wrought by
too fertile foreign weeds, will find a place in our pages.
It will be part of our duty to keep an eye on Legislative
Measures which affect the objects that we are pledged to support.
Nature Notes will be a medium by which supporters may be
rallied for the advancement of good measures and stout resis-
tance offered to bad ones.
Correspondence on all matters which lie within the scope of the
Selborne Society’s Programme will be inserted. A free expres-
sion of opinion is invited, but it is hardly necessary to remind
our readers that no personalities or remarks reflecting upon
individuals can be admitted.
If funds are available, Prizes will be offered for the best
Coloured Sketches of Plants or Birds in situ, and also to the
winners in other competitions which may be arranged by the
Council.
Answers to Queries on all subjects which can fairly be con-
sidered to come within our province will be given, and practical
suggestions afforded to those who are desirous of engaging in the
pursuit of any branch of Natural History.
In the accomplishment of the various objects which have
been detailed, the Editors have been promised the assistance
of writers of eminence in every department of Natural History,
4
NATURE NOTES.
including some of the best authorities on the Botany, Entomo-
logy and Ornithology of the British Isles. The gentlemen who
are connected with the Natural History Department of the
British Museum, and with the Royal Gardens, Kew, have been
especially kind in their readiness to help. Communications
are expected in early numbers from some of the following: —
Edmund J. Baillie, F.L.S. ; Rev. D. W. Barrett, M.A. ;
Anthony Belt ; Hon. Mrs. R. C. Boyle ; Miss A. M. Buckton ;
G. B. Buckton, F.R.S., F.L.S. ; Sir Mounstuart E. Grant
Duff, G.C.S.I., F.R.S, ; Alfred East, R.I. ; Prof. Flower,
C.B., F.R.S., LL.D. ; Rev. H. D. Gordon, M.A. ; G. C. Haiti:,
F.L.S.; G. Harley, M.D., F.R.S. ; Francis George Heath;
W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S., A.L.S. ; Walter E. P. Hogg ; Prof. F.
F. Hulme, F.L.S., F.S.A.; Robert Hunter; J. R. Jackson,
A.L.S. ; Edward King ; W. F. Kirby, F.Z.S. ; Rev. C. T.
Millard, M.A. ; G. R. M. Murray, F.L.S.; G. A. Musgrave,
F.Z.S., F R.G.S. ; Geo. Nicholson, A.L.S. ; J. L. Otter; Rev.
H. Rawnsley, M.A. ; R. Bowdler Sharpe, F.L.S. ; H. J.
Slack, F.R.M.S. ; Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S. ; Henry
Smith; G. B. Sowerby, F.L.S.; Prof. Trail, M.A., M.D.,
F.L.S.; T. F. Wakefield; Miss Annie Wallis; Rev. H. C.
White, B.A. ; F. N. Williams, F.L.S.
Enough has been said to show that much thought has been
taken how best to meet the wants and wishes of Selbornians.
But after all, it is upon the Members of the Society that the
success of the undertaking depends ; and to them we confidently
appeal to give every aid in their power to secure a wide circula-
tion and high position for Nature Notes, the Selborne Society’s
Magazine.
THE INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN WEEDS.
By GEORGE NICHOLSON, A.L.S.
Curator of the Royal Gardens , Kew.
HE paragraph from Herschell, which Mr. Hewett Cottrell
Watson chose as the motto for his famous “ Cybele
Britannica,” indicates, with characteristic clearness,
the spirit in which he himself worked, and might well
be taken as a guiding principle by those who wish to follow in
the footsteps of that eminent observer of nature. “ There is
scarcely any well-informed person who, if he has but the will,
has not also the power, to add something essential to the general
stock of knowledge, if he will only observe regularly and
methodically some particular class of facts which may excite
his attention or which his situation may best enable him to
study with effect.” Another writer, a well-known local bota-
nist, Mr. T. R. Archer Briggs, of Plymouth, in a paper entitled
INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN WEEDS. 5
“ Queries in Local Topographical Botany,” published in the
‘ Transactions of the Plymouth Institution and Devon and
Cornwall Natural History Society,’ writes : “ I have en-
deavoured to show that the investigation of local phenomena
may be undertaken with a view to the solution of scientific ques-
tions of the utmost importance and greatest magnitude ; that
evidence supplied by local facts may be used to support or
weaken — possibly to prove or disprove— some of the startling
theories of the age.”
These two quotations afford much guidance and encourage-
ment for the Members of the Selborne Society, who, without any
very prolonged special training, are endeavouring to substitute
systematic study of natural objects for mere haphazard ob-
servations without any connecting link. The special subject
which I would suggest in this present paper, as a means by
which those principles may be applied, is the systematic obser-
vation of the establishment and subsequent increase or de-
crease of aliens in the shape of foreign weeds. When it is
remembered that a very large number of exotic plants from
similar climates to our own are continually being introduced into
this country, and when one remembers also that our own “ ne’er-
do-weels ” have often spread with tremendous rapidity after
transportation to foreign climes, one might be inclined to dread
lest the foreign element might in many instances overcome and
supplant our own natives. These patriotic fears may be safely
set aside ; the instances in which the immigrants eradicate the
home-dwellers are comparatively few in number.
Kew Gardens, perhaps, afford the best means of deciding this
question. Did the immense number of plants introduced there,
from places with similar climatic conditions to our own, establish
themselves in the neighbourhood with the audacity which is
sometimes ascribed to them, Kew would be a sort of centre of
contagion from which would be disseminated all manner of
foreign weeds, supplanting and disturbing our native flora. But
hardly anything of the sort ever occurs. Few, very few, of the
exotics in the vicinity have held their own against the rightful
owners of the soil for many successive years. Most of them —
some prolific enough and apparently well-fitted to survive —
scarcely appear a second season. It is very interesting to watch
the more or less rapid crowding-out of these strangers by the
hardier and more persistent natives. Probably the whole of the
thoroughly-naturalised foreigners in the flora of the neighbour-
hood could be counted on the fingers. One plant — a Composite
( Galinsoga parviflora), introduced to Kew from Peru some forty
years ago — has, however, proved its ability to hold its own in
cultivated ground, and even to oust, to a great extent, our native
ubiquitous groundsel. In Germany, too, particularly in some of
the great seed-growing districts, it has become such a perfect pest
that laws have been made to prevent its further spread, and if
possible to destroy it. The magistrates of Hanover, in 1865,
6
NATURE NOTES.
issued a series of regulations, and appointed commissions to visit
waste and cultivated lands in their respective districts. The
dates of the various visits were to be made known eight days
beforehand, and those on whose land the objectionable weed
was found were ordered to remove and destroy it at once. If
this was found undone at a succeeding visit, the commission had
power to fine the offender, and to have the weed destroyed at his
expense. The name Franzosenkraut, or French weed, by which
this troublesome annual is known in Germany, would seem to
point the inference that it had found its way first to Germany
by wa}- of France; but I believe there is no evidence to back
this view.
(To be continued.)
PROTECTION OF BIRDS ON THE CONTINENT.
By A VICE-PRESIDENT.
HE belief that nothing is done on the Continent for the
preservation of wild birds is so generally entertained
that it may be useful at the commencement of the
year to place before our readers the opinions of M.
Oustalet, Doctor of Science and Assistant Naturalist to the
Museum of Paris, submitted to the Agricultural Department of
the French Republic after his return from Vienna in 1884.
The Agricultural Department sent M. Oustalet as delegate
to the Ornithological Congress and Exhibition, requesting him
to present a succinct report of the discussions, resolutions and
measures proposed for the protection of wild birds, and improve-
ments in the methods of raising poultry.
The Report, which is not sold to the public, was issued in the
year 1885, and contains an account of the origin of the Ornitho-
logical Union of Vienna, through whose instrumentality the
Congress was convoked ; also a list of the representatives of the
chief nations of the world and delegates of scientific societies,
and a carefully written precis of the business of the Congress,
which was opened with an address by the Archduke Rudolf.
The Congress was divided into three sections, open to all
members, for the consideration of the following subjects: — (1)
The protection of birds by an international law. (2) An exam-
ination into the origin of the domestic fowl and the means to be
taken with a view to an improvement in the method of raising
poultr)'. (3) The establishment of a system of stations for or-
nithological observations all over the inhabited globe. Priority
was unanimously given to the question concerning the protec-
tion of birds as being of international interest, and on account
of the position already occupied b}r it in the measures taken by
PROTECTION OF BIRDS ON THE CONTINENT. 7
most governments. Everybody sees that it is high time to stop
the mania for destruction raging at various parts of the globe
and threatening to completely annihilate some species. As for
indigenous birds their condition has latterly become more critical,
as the demands of fashion made on them raises them almost to
the same value as the birds of paradise, glossy starlings, hum-
ming birds and other exotic species of brilliant piumage.
To protect all these birds by an international law appeared
to be most desirable, but in the course of a very long discussion
many difficulties presented themselves.
Approaching the subject of protection from various aspects,
the members of the assembly, although in favour of protecting
useful birds, were more or less influenced by laws and customs
already existing in various countries.
“ I know well enough,” said M. Fatio, the representative of the Swiss
Confederation, “ that the authorities in northern countries would not hesitate
about preventing destruction and illegal trade in birds, if it were an easy matter.
“ In the name of agriculture, as well as forestry, in the name of justice and
humanity, on behalf of Switzerland, of the ‘ Societe des Chasseurs,’ and in the
name of the Swiss Society for the Protection of Animals, I ask various governing
bodies to do their utmost to obtain : — (i) The prevention, during the second part
of winter and in spring, of all pursuit of migratory and useful birds and of all
gibicr de passage. (2) The prohibition of all trade during the same seasons in
such birds, dead or alive and their eggs. (3) The prohibition of the use of all
engines, at all times, for taking birds en masse. (4) The prevention of all trade,
except for stated reasons, in birds generally admitted to be useful.
“ Lastly, a second proposal which, whilst affecting private property in different
countries, cannot fail, by reciprocity, to be efficacious in checking poaching, always
encouraged by the increasing facilities for international commerce. This proposal
would consist in the prohibition of all dealing in game during the close season
without special permission.
“Abuses cannot be removed at the first attempt, but with lime and decision I
think that a general and legal protection of birds, so desirable in every respect,
may be obtained.
“ Of course, every state would reserve to itself the right of destroying rapacious
birds, and birds becoming temporarily injurious from their too great abundance.
“ As it is not possible in a numerous assembly such as this Congress is to
draft a law for the international protection of birds, therefore, I propose that a
committee be appointed for obtaining as quickly and as completely as possible
the opinions of various European States with regard to the best ways and means
for arriving at a general understanding. All questions of detail or exceptional
bye-laws may be left to the consideration of the chief authorities in each country.”
(To be continued.)
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF BRITISH PLANTS.
By JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S.
N interesting report on this subject was presented to the
British Association last year, and was reprinted in the
Journal of Botany for December. It may be well to call
the attention of Selbornians to the conclusions arrived
at, which are in themselves of interest.
8
NATURE NOTES.
As might be supposed, such showy plants as attract the
attention of dealers are in especial danger. One such person
had removed and sold almost all the plants of White Water-lily
from the lochs of the Dumfries district ; but he was at last
discovered, and is now forbidden access to any estate in the
district. The Thames and its tributaries are almost stripped
of the blossoms of this beautiful plant during the early summer,
but the roots are less frequently interfered with. Ferns are, of
course, in special danger ; and the Report gives a long list of
places from which the rarer Aspleniums, the Cetrach, Hart’s
tongue, Holly Fern, Osmunda, Limestone Polypody and others,
have nearly or quite disappeared, owing to the rapacity of
dealers and collectors. Tourists should not encourage these
men by buying from them ; if there were no demand the supply
would cease, and the ferns would be left alone. In the Killarney
district, the rare Killarney Fern owes its safety in some measure
to the ignorance of tourists, who buy the Hymenophyllum Wilsoni
which is offered them under the former name, under the im-
pression that they are obtaining the genuine article.
The especial rarities of the Highlands — such as the two
species of Oxytropis, Latliyrus niger, Phyllodoce tcixifolia and others
— are always in more or less danger, and botanical collectors are
occasionally wanting in discretion in their zeal for obtaining
these rare plants. The Phyllodoce might easily be protected, if
the Duke of Athol, who owns the Sow of Athol — the only
British locality for the plant — would give orders to that effect,
as “ the habitat is within sight of a gamekeeper’s house.” “ An
appeal to the proprietor ” of the Pass of Killiecrankie might
save Latliyrus niger from extirpation.
A large number of extinctions are due to the grazing of
cattle, drainage, cultivation of various kinds, building and
similar unavoidable contingencies. In the first of these cases,
the plant destroyed is likely to reappear under more favourable
circumstances. The little Musk Orchis ( Herminiim ) has more
than once almost entirely disappeared from Keep Hill near
High Wycombe, which is, I think, its only Buckinghamshire
locality; but it has asserted itself when the sheep which
cropped it have been removed.
The interesting but insignificant Scheuchzeria has been lost
from Methven bog, “ probably from the settlement there of a
large colony of about three thousand black-headed gulls, the
result being the destruction of all but the rankest vegetation.”
Certain plants named in the Report are well-known to be
erratic in their appearance, such as Henbane ; others can
hardly owe their disappearance to the rapacity of collectors,
or to the causes above-named ; of these the Agrimony, which is
becoming very scarce in its Inverness-shire station, is a type.
Coming nearer home, a word of warning may be addressed
to the enthusiastic supporters of a certain well-known political
organisation, and more especially to the “ Dames,” to whom
CURIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH A SLUG. 9
it owes so much of its power. A little sketch just issued of the
Flora of Maidstone contains this warning : “ If the sale of the
roots of the Primrose is carried on to the extent it is now, in
about twenty years it will have become comparatively scarce.”
The literary style is open to criticism, but the meaning of the
writer is only too plain. Not only Primrose Leaguers, but
church decorators, are doing their best to banish the Primrose
from our woods and hedge-rows. In each case ladies are the
chief offenders — a fact which, however sad, ceases to be sur-
prising, when we see how deaf many of them are to the en-
treaties of those who beg them to spare the little birds, sacrificed
by thousands to their insane desire for personal decoration, how-
ever inappropriate and at whatever cost.
It may be well to add a note of caution to those who find
the Limestone Polypody in a new and isolated locality. This
pretty fern is in many districts extremely rare, and collectors
should abstain from seizing the first specimens found until they
have assured themselves of the existence of others. More than
twenty years ago, a friend, a true Selbornian in spirit, found
two specimens of Limestone Polypody in a wood near High
Wycombe. Not doubting but that there were plenty more,
he collected them ; but a most careful and diligent search on
numerous after occasions failed to detect another example.
The existence of the fern as a Buckinghamshire plant rests
upon the evidence of the two specimens still preserved in his
herbarium.
CURIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH A SLUG.
By Miss A. M. BUCKTON.
|ATE one evening last summer, walking up and down
I a drive covered by larches and firs, I noticed a fine
l( specimen of Avion atev (or land-sole, as some call him)
come forth from a crevice among the stones and pro-
ceed to cross the road. Wishing to test the focus of the small
eyes at the end of the black tentacles, and discover the distance
at which they could appreciate objects, I drew my forefinger,
that looked white and ghost-like in the dusk, along the road
about half an inch before him. His attention was immediately
attracted, and he began following my movements implicitly
along the fantastic path I traced for about the space of two
feet.
At length I paused and allowed him to overtake me. The
cold slimy touch sent an involuntary shiver up my arm, but not
to be daunted in the cause of science, I restrained the impulse
IO
NATURE NOTES.
to shrink from my new acquaintance. He reconnoitred the
finger from side to side, and at length discovered a suitable
place to commence his ascent. At the root of the nail he
paused ; I felt a sharp prick repeated in the same spot once or
twice. 1 then guessed what was about to happen, and stoop-
ing as I was in a most irksome position, I awaited the issue.
I did not disturb him at his feast till quite a small trickle of
blood was running down the side of the nail. I then carried
him into the house on a laurel leaf and put him into a glass
tumbler. He measured more than four inches in length. He
crawled to the edge of the glass and we fed him from a penknife
with milk, which he sucked down with great relish through the
small triangular opening of the lips, within which lay concealed
the sharp teeth that had done the mischief. Having fed at our
board we could not straightway deliver him to the executioner,
in the shape of a gardener, so the next morning we restored him
to his native wilds, far from the haunts of man, with the parting
hope that his path and mine should not cross again. It was
some days before the sore place in my finger quite healed, a
small piece of flesh and skin having been bitten out.
I related the occurrence to several scientific friends, who ex-
pressed themselves ignorant of this leech-like propensity in
the slug. I can find also no reference to it in Turton’s “ British
Shells,” or in Woodward’s “ Mollusca.” Land-soles are all
vegetable feeders, though they have been known to devour dead
worms and injured individuals of their own species. There
is a single exception — the carnivorous habits of the Testacelle,
which pursues and feeds on live earth worms, are well known.
This voracity for warm blood shown by cold-blooded animals
is very curious, especially so when we consider how few indi-
viduals can ever have a chance of indulging it. It can scarcely
be called an acquired taste : it seems instinctive. Yet as Prof.
Ryrner Jones points out in his admirable and comprehensive
popular work ( “ A General Outline of the Animal Kingdom ” ),
the blood gorged by the leech is not by any means suited to its
nourishment, and often causes its death.
The lingual teeth of Avion make a beautiful and interesting
microscopic slide ; they are of flinty substance, serrated and
tricuspid as in Limax. Avion empiricorum has 160 rows with ioi
teeth in each. The shell is oval and concave, or represented by
irregular calcareous granules. The breathing orifice is near the
front of the mantle on the right side ; the tail ends in a mucous
gland which secretes the glistening trail the animal leaves be-
hind it.
Some slugs climb trees and lower themselves to the ground
by a mucous thread drawn from this gland. The eggs, which
are from seventy to a hundred in number are laid in the ground
between May and September: they hatch in from twenty-four
to a hundred days, and the young attain maturity in less than
SELBORNIANA, &c.
n
a year. The eggs of one species ( Avion hovtensis), are phos-
phorescent for the first fifteen days.
Land snails and slugs have many enemies beside man ; they
afford food for birds, especially for the thrush tribe, and also for
insects, as the predacious beetle and the luminous larva of the
glow-worm that lies like a living green spark on our lawns of a
dark summer night.
Too wholesale a destruction of slugs would destroy the
beautifully adjusted balance of nature, interference with which
we have lived to regret too often as the result of man’s selfish,
thoughtless abuse of his power over the lower animals.
[Mr. Anthony Belt, of Ealing, tells us that he has been the
recipient of similar attentions from Avion ater, but that the pro-
cess was one of biting or rasping, rather than sucking. We are
inclined to refer it to the ordinary saw-like action of the odonto-
phore exercised upon the soft flesh of the finger, rather than
to any sanguinary propensities on the part of the slug ; but
should be glad to learn the experience of malacologists on the
interesting subject to which Miss Buckton has drawn attention.]
SELBORNIANA, DOINGS OF THE MONTH, &c.
The New Poems of Lord Tennyson, President of the Selborne
Society. — The latest volume of our President, Demeter , and other Poems,
proves that there is not the slightest falling off in his powers or in his love of
Nature. In “ Owd Ro'a ” (Old Rover), he tells of a clog’s saving a child from
death by fire. Maimed and blind the brave brute lives on, and years after his
master says of the loyal servant, in words which might bring some shame to those
who speak with scorn of what they are pleased to call the “ inferior ” animals : —
“ Sarved me sa well when ’e lived, that Dick, when ’e cooms to be dead,
I thinks as I’d like fur to hev soom soort of a sarvice read,
‘ Faaithful an’ True ’ — them words be i’ Scripture— an’ Faaithful an’ True
Ull be fun’ upo’ four short legs ten times fur one upo’ two.”
The admirable fidelity with which Tennyson has always depicted the details
of Nature is shown in the following lines from the ‘'Progress of Spring” : —
“ The groundflame of the crocus breaks the mould,
Fair Spring slides hither o’er the Southern sea,
"Wavers on her thin stem the snowdrop cold
That trembles not to kisses of the bee :
Come, Spring ! for now from all the dripping eaves
The spear of ice has wept itself away,
And hour by hour unfolding woodbine leaves
O’er his uncertain shadow droops the day.
She comes ! The loosen’d rivulets run ;
The frost-bead melts upon her golden hair ;
Her mantle, slowly greening in the Sun,
Now wraps her close, now arching leaves her bare
To breaths of balmier air ;
Up leaps the lark, gone wild to welcome her,
About her glance the tits, and shriek the jays,
Before her skims the jubilant woodpecker,
12
NATURE NOTES.
The linnet’s bosom blushes at her gaze,
While round her brows a woodland culver flits,
Watching her large light eyes and gracious looks,
And in her open palm a halcyon sits
Patient — the secret splendour of the brooks.
Come, Spring ! She comes on waste and wood,
On farm and field : but enter also here,
Diffuse thyself at will thro’ all my blood,
And, tho’ thy violet sicken into sere,
Lodge with me all the year ! ”
Robert Browning as a Nature Painter. — At this moment when
“ Dumb is he who waked the world to speak
And voiceless hangs the world beside his bier,”
one instinctively turns to the works of the great master that has gone from us,
to find what he too says on this same topic of spring. See what he puts in the
mouth of “An Italian Person of Quality,” surely crediting that person with a
power of word-painting quite beyond such a being : —
“ Is it better in May, I ask you ? you’ve summer all at once ;
In a day he leaps complete with a few strong April suns !
’Mid the sharp short emerald wheat, scarce risen three fingers well,
The wild tulip, at end of its tube, blows out its great red bell
Like a thin clear bubble of blood, for the children to pick and sell.”
And here is an English spring, so different from the Italian, just at those best
days of the year, when showery April meets with sunny May,
“ And after April, when May follows,
And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows,
Hark ! where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters to the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops — at the bent spray’s edge —
That’s the wise thrush ; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture ! ”
“ Having in mind Shakespeare and Shelley, I nevertheless think the last
three lines the finest ever written touching the song of a bird.” So says
Edmund Clarence Stedman in his Victorian Poets. Some of us will be ready
to admit that the praise, high as it is, is none too high.
Robert Browning, as well as Alfred Tennyson, was one of the earliest patrons
of the Selborne Society.
A Daisy in December. — The poetry of Nature once more : the following
beautiful lines by Mr. Paget Toynbee are (by permission) extracted from the
Academy of 23rd December, 1889.
“ Sad, solitary daisy, did some dream
Of unknown life and long-desired delight
Flash on thy wintry slumbers like the gleam
Of silent lightning in the summer night?
“ What sudden promptings pierced thy tender core,
And thrilled the quivering fibres of thy root?
What secret longing never felt before
Impelled thy leaves thus ere their day to shoot?
“ Did’st seem to hear the lark’s light love song run
Adown the sky, and fall extinct to earth ?
Did’st feel the glow of summer’s golden sun
P'lush thy pale petals at its rosy birth ?
“ Wast wooed with whispers by the warm west wind
To dash the .trembling dewdrop from thine eye?
Did’st taste the kiss of one of thine own kind,
And, faint with new life, feel content to die ?
SELBORNIA N A , fir.
13
“ How sad to wake and find ’twas but a dream !
To feel the blasts of winter’s icy breath,
And shiver ’neath the pale sun’s cheerless beam,
To hear no lark, to die a lonely death.”
Wild Flowers in Winter. — Daisies in December are not quite so rare as
would appear from the verses just quoted, and it is certainly to be hoped that
each one does not go through the mournful process of disillusionment described by
the poet. Miss C. R. Little, of Twickenham, and some other young ladies whose
enthusiasm for botany leads them to cultivate the study in all seasons, send us
the following list of December flowers found in Middlesex — which has probably the
poorest flora of any county in England — daisy, wild pansy, primrose, dandelion, red
campion, gray procumbent speedwell, field speedwell, shepherd’s purse, groundsel,
chickweed, ivy, white dead-nettle, red dead-nettle, common ragwort, wild straw-
berry', meadow buttercup, white clover, mouse-ear chickweed, ivy-leaved toad-
flax, furze, wood-sage, common mayweed, pimpernel, all-heal, yarrow, wild
camomile, tormentil, bramble, cut-leaved geranium, annual meadow-grass (thirty-
in all). Gilbert White, in the Naturalists’ Calendar, only notes about half-a-dozen
plants found in bloom in December.
Mr. T. F. Wakefield on Collectors. — The following is an extract from
an interesting paper read at a recent meeting of the Lower Thames Valley-
Branch of the Selborne Society, held at the Star and Garter Hotel, Rich-
mond. Prizes were distributed by Sir Edward Hertslet for some excellent
collections of dried plants ; and subsequently that genial and enthusiastic Selbor-
nian, Mr. T. F. Wakefield, made the following strictures upon collectors.
We shall be glad to hear what those wicked persons, the “scientific botanists,”
think of the grave charges made against them ! “ It seems to me that two of the
chief objects of the Selborne Society are (1) to foster the love of the beautiful in
nature with a view to its preservation, and (2) to teach a reverence for life, whether
it be of animals, birds, insects or plants. You can take life, but you cannot give
it. Life is a mystery which neither the man of science nor the metaphysician can
explain. Familiarity, it is said, breeds contempt, and we are so hedged about with
the traditional and commonplace in ordinary life that we are actually hindered from
thinking for ourselves, and we are content to call things common and pass them
by as unworthy of regard when they are really objects of the most transcendent
beauty. The daisy and the buttercup are common in the sense of being plentiful,
but in no other sense, for they are flowers of exquisite grace, both of form and
colour. In Nature nothing is common. We must open our minds and ey-es, and
we shall then recognise, as Carlyle says, ‘ how every object has a divine beauty in
it ; how every object verily is a window through which we may look into infinitude
itself. He that can discern the loveliness of things we call him poet, painter, man
of genius, gifted, lovable.’ This capacity for discernment is latent in most of us,
and can be developed. Let it be our work to develop it, especially in the young.
And when we remember that ‘ all things whatsoever that we look upon are
emblems to us of their great Creator,’ this work will become not only a pleasure
but almost a religious duty-. After what I have said we members of the committee
will not be expected to apologise for having brought you here merely to see a
collection of wild flowers and plants. By your presence here you are rendering a
service to the cause of true education. To make a collection of wild flowers, to
form an herbarium, is an education in itself ; it calls forth the powers of perception
and observation, it disciplines the eye to distinguish varieties of form and grada-
tions of shade and colour, it trains the mind to have a due regard for order and
arrangement, and above all provides a never-failing source of amusement and in-
struction, and, I may say, a life-long occupation. But here I would add a word
of warning. The Selborne Society has no sympathy with mere collectors, whose
object seems to be to catch or pluck up everything that comes in their way and
transfer it to their collection. I am not sure, but I speak with trembling
lips, that it is at one with the scientific botanist, who does not care about
prettiness and neatness in his specimens, but digs up the root of the plant and
transfers all of it bodily to his herbarium. Man may be the lord of the creation, but
I deny his right to destroy anything unnecessarily- ; he is only the last link in the
14
NATURE NOTES.
chain of existence, and it is quite certain that it is not for him alone the birds sing
and the flowers bloom, for many of them he has never seen ; they have the same
inherent right to live and enjoy their brief span of existence that he has ; the
purpose of his life is to increase the amount of happiness and to lessen the amount
of misery in the world ; his God-like reason is given him to control and subdue
Nature, to work with her, to study her, and wrest from her her secrets, and to
keep under that proclivity for destruction which shows in him the instinct of the
primeval savage, cave man or ape, from which, on the physical plane, he is said
by the disciples of Darwin to be descended. Man has a nobler origin, mentally
and spiritually, and we vindicate that belief by the sentiments which animate us
as good members of the Selborne Society. We plead for the life of things ; we
say, let them live, let them grow ; there is a soul in Nature which will speak to
your soul if you only have ears to hear.”
The Ethics and Literature of Fashion-Books. — Lady Fry writes as
follows, from i, Palace Houses, Bayswater Hill, W. : — “Would it be possible to
rouse in the minds of those who write such paragraphs as the one I enclose, for
fashion books and reviews, any sense of shame at thus treating the beauties of
creation and the marvellous glory of beauty and song as mere adjuncts to a tawdry
hat, or reliefs to some novelty of colouring ? It is difficult to imagine the woman
who does not see the grotesqueness, as well as the cruelty and thoughtlessness of
such an idea, but if those writers do not see it one would be glad that their vision
should be helped in some way. Could you not write an article on ‘ The Milliner’s
View of Creation ’ ? Perhaps some of your readers may be inclined to take this
up.” The following is the enclosed extract from fashion book for December,
1SS9 : — “ Birds of all colours are used as garnitures, but the blackbird is voted the
leader. The Brazilian humming-bird, clad in a coat of warm-brown plumage,
save at the throat, which shows now golden, now emerald, is also a favourite, and
the tuneful canary is highly esteemed for the warmth and tone of his colouring.
A small white bird known as the Java wren is very beautiful in its purity, and is
said, by-the-bye, to be the only all-white bird known, except the pigeon. This
little bird looks well on gray, on mauve and on the electric shade that in Paris has
lately been known as ‘ Edison.’ A gray cloth toque has a draped brim of velvet
the same shade ; and in front, where the folds are most intricate, are placed three
Java wrens, the velvet separating them so that each is seen to advantage. Of
course, a gray-and-white toque can only be assumed by a woman with dark hair,
for on a blonde it would have a chilling effect. The low-crowned felt hats with
straight, broad brims are generally lined with velvet, for the brims are always
turned up either at the back or at the side so that the underfacing shows and
exercises a softening influence on the face.” We consider Lady Fry's suggestion
a very valuable one, and shall be pleased if some lady members of the Selborne
Society, who understand the mysteries of fashion books, will discuss their con-
tents from the ethical as well as the oesthetical point of view. To ourselves they
have been hitherto “ sealed books but if the above extract is a fair sample of
their usual style, we consider them most saddening literature. In all serious-
ness, we can hardly believe it possible that any English girl or woman can be so
steeped in cynical cruelty as to enjoy the elaborate description of the “tuneful
note ” of the canary, of the “ warm-brown plumage of the humming-bird, with its
beautiful breast, now golden, now emerald,” and of the little white Java wren
“beautiful in its purity” (certainly not typical of its wearer) ; and at the same
time to doom to death the little creatures whose beauties are so dwelt upon. We
should certainly have supposed that such deliberate heartlessness would have
“ exercised ” a brutalising, not “ a softening influence on the face.”
Cruelty to Kelts. — This title does not imply “Another injustice to Ire-
land,” but indicates a form of reckless and unsportsman-like barbarity, which is
occasionally practised towards unclean salmon or kelts. A reviewer of Major
Traherne’s book on “ The Habits of the Salmon,” in the Academy, thus alludes to
it : “ We are wholly with him .... above all, in his merciful plea for
the kelts, when hooked instead of clean salmon.” They are often gaffed without
a thought as to whether they are clean fish or kelts, the hook is ruthlessly torn, or
cut out of their mouths, or from whatever part of the body it may be fixed in, and
CORRESPONDENCE.
15
the poor things, bleeding and mutilated, thrown into the river with a kick and a
flourish of adjectives. “ Fishermen who behave with such wanton cruelty justify
the diatribes which those who are not anglers often heap upon the gentle craft.”
CORRESPONDENCE.
A Hawk and a Heron — Psha!
TO THE EDITOR OF “NATURE NOTES,” THE SELBORNE SOCIETY’S MAGAZINE.
Sir, —I extract the following letter from that excellent provincial journal, the
Western Morning News, as an illustration of the way in which the Selborne
Society is regarded by a gentleman who is not, we trust, a member of the famed
Devon and Cornwall Philosophical Society, whose Transactions form such a valu-
able addition to our scientific literature : —
“ THE SHOOTING OF RARE BIRDS.
“ Sir, — I very much fear that in the eyes of the sentimentalists who weep over
the capture of rare birds and beasts and fishes, I shall appear as ‘ indeed little
better than one of the wicked.’ Since I wrote you last on this subject I have com-
passed the death of a heron, and have eaten it. I have found its flesh dark, better
in taste than pheasant or partridge, on a level with woodcock and snipe, but
inferior to grouse or harvest curlew ; but I judged from an old receipt-book that
it was a dry bird, and I had it cooked w'ith one of the old and somewhat expen-
sive wine sauces. This sauce will probably prove the most effectual means of pre-
serving the bird. I have also compassed the death of a common buzzard, a hawk
perfectly well known (as indeed its name imports) in England, and which breeds
freely in Cornwall as far west as the cliffs of Tintagel, but of which a specimen
has not been procured in this neighbourhood for the last thirty years.
“ Yours truly,
“ Thos. Cornish.
“ Penzance, 15 Ih December, 1889.”
What useful purpose has Mr. Cornish achieved by eating a stuffy heron and
stuffing a common buzzard ? Dyspepsia, no doubt, produced by not having pre-
viously buried the heron in wood ashes, has made him ready to sneer at those who
have long known “ a hawk from a hernshaw ” and who without “ sentimentality,”
but with honest sentiment, think that science gains more by the preservation of a
vermin-killing bird such as the buzzard, which has not appeared in the neighbour-
hood of Penzance for the last thirty years, than by compassing its death.
As there is an admirable museum in Penzance, surely this rare visitant to the
neighbourhood was not wanted for scientific purposes ? But could it have been
with a view to self-preservation in the cause of science that this ardent naturalist
stuffed himself — with heron and “ old expensive wine sauce ”? I believe that any
good taxidermist would assure him that to recommend this method of stuffing,
even for that common and valueless bird, Ajiser ineptus, was “ all stuff.”
Yours truly,
Cornubiensis Indignans.
The Preservation of Sud brook Park.
TO THE EDITOR OF “ NATURE NOTES,” THE SELBORNE SOCIETY’S MAGAZINE.
Sir, — Sudbrook Park is a piece of Crown land, beautifully situated in the
Vale of Petersham, immediately adjoining Richmond Park. The Lower Thames
Valley Branch of the Selborne Society, on finding that this spot was likely to be
built over, called a meeting, which was held at the “Star and Garter” Hotel, and
i6
NATURE NOTES.
a General Committee was appointed to watch over the matter, and to organise a
deputation to wait upon the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to protest
against their vandalism, and to advocate that Sudbrook Park should be thrown
open to the public and added on to Petersham Park, to which the school children
of London, in the summer time, come in shoals, and are allowed to play games
and enjoy the beauties of nature. His Grace the Duke of Fife, who has a seat in
the neighbourhood, and other noblemen and gentlemen, have joined the Com-
mittee : the Kyrle Society, the Commons Preservation Society, and the Metropolitan
Gardens Association, have seconded the efforts being made to preserve the park
from destruction, and it is hoped that our united efforts will meet with success
and will show to other neighbourhoods the value of having an organisation like a
branch of the Selborne Society ready at hand to watch over their interests.
T. F. Wakefield,
Hon. Sec. to Committee.
P.S. — We feel that should Sudbrook Park be built over, we should soon lose
many of the wild birds which are now to be met with in Richmond Park, close at
hand. We have there herons, hawks, night-jars, owls, woodpeckers, wild water
fowl, kingfishers, woodpigeons, rooks, nuthatches, &c., &c.
On the same subject the following weighty and interesting letter has been
received by the Editor of the Richmond and Twickenham Times , from Sir Frede-
rick Leighton, P. R.A., one of the vice-presidents of the Lower Thames Valley
Branch of the Selborne Society
“ Dear Mr. King, — I have to acknowledge your letter of the 6th instant,
informing me that the Lower Thames Valley Branch of the Selborne Society is
energetically at work to save Sudbrook Park from the encroachments of the builder.
I earnestly wish you success in so good a cause, and one of importance to so many.
Your lovely park, with its wide wild spaces, and its sweet fresh air, is— and is
daily more and more becoming — a priceless possession to the inhabitants of this
black and monstrous metropolis ; and it is so in its most frequented part perhaps
in great measure from the fact that Sudbrook Park shields it as a bulwark against
smoke and bricks and mortar. I sincerely trust it may never lose that protection,
for I feel that the breaking down of this barrier would have most mischievous
results in many ways. I think public opinion will be warmly in your favour, and
will strengthen your hands. Certainly my very best wishes follow you in your
present endeavours.
“ I am, yours faithfully,
“ Fred. Leighton.
“ 2, Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.,
“ 8 th January, 1890.”
OFFICIAL NOTICES.
At a meeting of the Central Council, held on Wednesday, the 8th instant, Mr.
J. L. Otter, the honorary treasurer, presented a statement of accounts, showing
that, after all liabilities to the 31st of December, 1889, had been met, there was a
small balance in hand. It was estimated that when the accounts were fully made
up before the general meeting on the 1st of May, there would be a considerable
surplus.
Some reports of meetings and several other communications sent in have been
unavoidably postponed through lack of space. Names of new members and
subscriptions paid will appear in this column in future numbers.
Communications on the general business of the Society ought to be sent to
the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C. ; Edi-
torial communications to the Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
IRature IRotes,
'ftbe Selborne Society’s dbaoasuie.
No. 2. FEBRUARY 15, 1890. Vol. I.
VANDALISM AT HAMPSTEAD.
ISS AGNES MARTELLI, Hon. Sec. of our Northern
Heights Branch, calls our attention to an important
letter by Miss Octavia Hill, published in the Daily
Graphic of January 31, which we had already marked
for reference. Miss Hill would herself have communicated with
us on the subject, but for a regrettable illness, from which we trust
she will speedily recover. She has done as much as any man
or woman living to render the objects of the Selborne Society
attainable to those living in London. There is not a move-
ment for the preservation and securing of open spaces and
public parks for the people which has not been largely indebted
to Miss Octavia Hill for its success, and it would ill become us
to refuse any support which we may be able to give her in her
unselfish and arduous labours.
On the present occasion our sympathy is more than usually
hearty; for Miss Hill’s object is not to obtain an open space
where none at present exists, but to preserve the natural
features of ground already secured — features which, once taken
away, can never be restored. The 265 acres of land lying
between Hampstead and Highgate have been recently secured
for the people, and, to a large extent, by the people.
“ The land was well-known to hundreds. It was the walk
on Saturday afternoons and fine Sundays, and on Bank holidays,
of numerous groups of happy pedestrians. There you might see
the father leading two little children by the hand, the boys
fishing for tadpoles in marsh or pond, the children filling their
little hands with buttercups or sorrel. There the overworked
professional man would find his quietest walk at sunset ; there
one might climb the hill — far from the dust of road and noise of
wheels — the great city, with all its traffic and noise, lying in the
distance below. Certainly the hopes of most of the donors were
iS
NATURE NOTES.
that they were preserving a space which should be kept in its
rural beauty for those who were least able to get far away into
the real country, and who wished for something more uncon-
ventional and quieter than the London Park.”
A portion of the land, known as East Heath Park, has come
into the possession of the London County Council. Before it
became public property a wide road had been begun by the
proprietor, when he was contemplating the letting of the land
for building : but it was never completed, and was covered with
grass. “ What was the amazement of those who knew the spot
to find that the first act of the London County Council was to
give orders for carrying this wide road to either extremity of the
new land, to prolong it at both ends over the heath, and to
widen a small agricultural road — practically little more than a
footpath. This road is now daily being continued ; it leads to
no populous district, it connects not even one group of houses
with the Heath. Yet the devastation it is causing is pitiable to
see. The wild beaut}' of nature is destroyed by a formal black,
wide road; the soft slopes of turf are cut away — a formal foot-
path runs parallel to it. Stakes are to be seen across the
Heath, marking out where it is proposed to carry even further
the ghastly length of desolate road.”
It is to be hoped that the strong local protest which is
being made may avert what is nothing less than a catastrophe,
and certainly the very reverse of what those who subscribed to
purchase the ground had in view. We heartily support Miss
Octavia Hill in her protest, and only regret that our space will
not allow us to reproduce this in full. The following are its
concluding sentences.
“ At much sacrifice this land has been rescued from building.
Let us do what we can to preserve it in its full beauty. It is a
mistake to think that rural scenery is enjoyed only by the artist
and literary man. Many working people have a keen appre-
ciation of it, even some who would find it hard to put the
impression into words. There are plenty of places for those
who love broad roads. This land was purchased mainly for the
pedestrians of all classes. It is too small to be traversed by
roads, which would cut it into fragments.”
THE RECORDING OF LOCAL NAMES AND
FOLK-LORE.
T only are animals and plants disappearing in various
parts of our land, but the quaint old legends concern-
ing them, the ancient superstitions which throw so
much light on Comparative Mythology, the fanciful
and often poetical Local Names — all these, valuable almost as
the subjects they commemorate, are rapidly dying out. We
RECORDING OF LOCAL NAMES.
19
shall endeavour to secure what still lingers of this mass of old-
world tradition, and shall receive with gratitude communications
from those who will note down Provincial Names of Birds and
Plants and the Folk-lore, perpetually varying, and yet essen-
tially the same, which has clustered round the animal and vege-
table kingdom.”
We reproduce this paragraph from “Our Programme”
because we feel that the work which it recommends is one
of the most useful which the Selborne Society can take up.
Every dweller in the country can take part in it, and the results
cannot fail to be interesting as well as useful.
In order to make the collection of local names — of animals,
birds, insects, plants, fossils, or any natural object — as simple
and useful as possible, it may be well to say a word or two as to
the way in which it should be carried out. The limited space at
our disposal, as compared with the extent of the subject, renders
brevity essential ; and this will be secured if our contributors
will record only such names and folk-lore as have been collected
by themselves, with, of course, any local information tending to
the explanation of either, but with a careful avoidance of specu-
lative derivations.*
What is wanted — whether for names or folk-lore — is an actual
record of these as they exist. Take an intelligent country child
for a walk, and ask it the names of the common birds, flowers,
and insects which cross your path ; note these down and send
them to the Editors, adding place and date. If any name strikes
you as especially odd, ask why the object is so called. The usual
answer will be, “ I don’t know ; ” but occasionally interesting
information will be elicited. If you obtain confirmation of the
names from others, note this, especially when a name seems to
be in general use locally. Spring and early summer are the best
times for collecting names ; the revival of natural objects after
their winter sleep attracts more attention than the appearance
of those which come later.
Do not trouble to quote books, unless they should be of
special value as bearing on local dialects. “ Dear old Gerard,”
who is usually cited at second or third hand, must be avoided ;
and, above all, the well-known and often inexact quotations, of
which many volumes of plant and animal lore mainly consist,
must be entirely boycotted. In our limited space it is important
to publish only what is worthy of permanent record ; and if the
work indicated is taken up properly by Selbornians, our pages
will soon be insufficient to contain the useful information which
will be sent in.
* An excellent illustration of the kind of information required is afforded by
the paper printed on p. 23, which was forwarded after these lines were in type.
20
THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS.
By the Rev. A. RAWSON, M.A.
READ with much interest Mr. Gordon’s article on the
“ Departure of Birds ” in the October number of the
Selborne Magazine, and his suggestion that notes
should be taken as carefully of the departures as of the
arrivals of our migrants. This is no doubt practicable, but I
think there is a difficulty, not in compiling the record, but in
drawing any conclusions from it. There is a great mystery
about the migration of birds. Manj^ theories have been put
forth as to its causes and its regularity, but I think there can
be no doubt that “ food ” has much to do with it— at least, with
the emigration, if not with the immigration, of our summer birds
of passage.
With regard to arrivals in spring, these consist entirely of
old birds, which are hardier and more able to take care of them-
selves than their progeny in autumn. It is doubtful Avhether
these spring migrants are impelled to seek our shores through
lack of food in the countries from which they come ; but the
migratory fever seizes them, and off they set, whatever the
cause may be. It is well known thac if the early arrivals
find it cold here, and therefore insect life is kept back, they (the
swallow tribe, certainly) disappear again for a time ; still they
have arrived with regularity, been seen, and noted. With the
autumnal departures things are different. Here we have both
old and young birds, many of the latter quite incapable of a long
flight ; and so long as a genial temperature keeps insects from
hibernating, the food supply is kept up, and these few remain,
though the main body may have gone. The consequence is
that the departures extend over a considerable interval, and an
observer must be constantly On the watch for a month or more
for the “ last seen ” of any particular bird.
I may instance this in the Swallow tribe. Here they begin
to congregate on my house in the last week in August, and have
practically gone by the middle of September; but in 1886, I
saw one single Swallow on October 22nd, and in 1887, a remark-
able year, many were flying about Furness Abbey on October
7th. In 1885, at Bromley, in Kent, I saw Martins as late as
November 16th. In the same year, at the same place, the Swift
was seen September 8th — a late occurrence, and in the last week
of September, 1878, my son shot the Alpine Swift on the north
coast of Devon, several of the common species being in company
with it.
I have taken the Hirundines as being birds easy of observa-
tion, but no doubt the same is true of other migrants ; they must
have food, and owing to some peculiarity in the season, it was
there for them, so they remained late. My opinion as to this is
confirmed, because, in regard to my note of the very late swal-
INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN WEEDS. 21
lows in 1875, I find I have appended, as a memorandum to the
entry : “ The weather has been most remarkably mild, and very
wet. Wind variable.”
Now, to take the other side — the arrivals of the spring
migrants. Here are a few observations, kept at Bromley
Common for fifteen years, of two or three of the ordinary mi-
grants, from which will be seen how extremely regular they are
in their appearance. If it was possible for any one observer to
catch the first arrival, no doubt the regularity would be found
more remarkable ; but an observer may see, for instance, a
nightingale hopping on his lawn, and not see another for a
week or ten days. Had he not, by mere accident, seen it then,
his entry for arrival would be, for that year, ten days later ; but,
in spite of this, the list will show how regular these arrivals
really are, while the same observer can testify how irregular is
the autumnal departure.
I think, therefore, that though any one may jot down in his
note-book the date of “ the last bird seen,” no practical conclu-
sions can be drawn from such observations as to any average date
for the departure of our summer migrants.
List of Arrivals — 1856-1870.
Bromley Common, Kent.
Cuckoo...
Earliest.
April 3
Latest.
April 25
Martin ...
April 19
April 28
Nightingale
April 9
April 24
Swallow
April 9
April 25
Whitethroat ...
April 16
April 28
Wryneck
April 3
April 18
THE INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN WEEDS.
By GEORGE NICHOLSON, A.L.S.,
Curator of the Royal Gardens , Kew.
{Concluded from page 6.)
KjPE^S'RIGERON CANADENSE, the Horse-weed or Butter-
S firtfa weed of the Northern United States, is quite at home
in the neighbourhood of Kew, and in many parts of
England, and is not at all likely to disappear. This
weed is, at the present time, spread over a considerable portion
of the earth’s surface. It is said- that it first found its way to
Europe in the middle of the seventeenth century ; a single seed
discovered in a stuffed bird was sown, and the descendants
of this solitary stranger soon distributed themselves throughout
Europe, and took possession of places to which they had never
been conveyed by man. Another North American plant — a
much handsomer one than that which I have just mentioned, and
22
NATURE NOTES.
a more recent arrival (having been first noticed less than half a
century ago) — is spreading rapidly along the banks of many of
our rivers. This is one of the Balsams, the Spotted Touch-me-
not (Impatiens fulva).
Probably the most familiar of all the strangers which, in our
own portion of the Eastern Hemisphere, have made themselves so
thoroughly at home, is the “ American Water-weed,” Anacharis
canadensis. Introduced into Ireland about 1836, and first noticed
in this country in 1841, this plant rapidly took almost entire pos-
session of thousands of acres of water, choking up slow streams
and ponds, and increasing to such an extent in canals as to render
necessary the outlay of considerable sums for labour in cutting
and removing the dense massy growths. In the neighbour-
hood of Kew this plant is not nearly so abundant as it was some
years ago ; and in some places it has — after holding undisputed
sway for a long time— almost disappeared. Whether this is due
to the exhaustion in the soil of the specific nutriment required
b}r the plant, or to the purely vegetative reproduction which has
taken place — the male plant never having been discovered in
this country until within the last few years in Edinburgh — it is
impossible to say. The piece of ornamental water between the
Palm House and the Museum No. 1, at Kew, was, less than
twenty years ago, one mass of this weed, and much expense was
incurred in the attempt to keep it under. Water fowl were kept
there then as they are now, and the late curator, Mr. Smith, did
not attribute the total disappearance of the Anacharis to the
agency of the birds.
If, however, we can charge America with having sent us
several unwelcome visitors, that continent, as well as most other
temperate parts of the world, can turn the tables on us very suc-
cessfully. A goodly number of British plants have made them-
selves thoroughly at home in far distant lands. Some of our
thistles have taken possession of immense tracts of land in South
America, where they assume proportions unknown in our island
home. I quote the following remarks from a lecture on “ The
Distribution of the North American Flora,” delivered at the
Royal Institution of Great Britain by Sir Joseph Hooker some
years ago.
“ Whatever countries beyond the seas we may visit, in the
temperate regions of the globe, we find that their vegetation has
been invaded, and in many places profoundly modified, by insig-
nificant plants from other countries; and these are, in almost all
cases, natives of North-Western Europe. Nearly forty years
ago I arrived at night at the Falkland Islands, when a boat was
sent ashore to communicate the ship’s arrival to the Governor.
Being eager to know something of the vegetation of the Islands,
I asked the officer in charge of the boat to pluck me any plants
he could feel for, as it was too dark to see anything ; and the
armful he brought to me consisted of nothing but the English
Shepherd’s Purse. On another occasion, landing on a small un-
HAMPSHIRE LOCAL NAMES.
23
inhabited island nearly at the Antipodes — Lord Auckland’s
Island, south of New Zealand— the first evidence I met with of
its having been previously visited by man was the English
Chickweed. This I traced to a mound which marked the
grave of a British sailor, which was covered with the plant,
doubtless the offspring of seed that had adhered to the spade or
mattock with which the grave had been dug. It was hence no
surprise to me to find myself, on landing at Boston, U.S.A.,
greeted by Western European plants, that had established
themselves as colonists in New England. Of these, the first
was the wild Chicory, growing far more luxuriantly than I ever
saw it elsewhere, forming a tangled mass of stem and branches,
studded with turquoise blue blossoms, and covering acres of
ground ; the very next plants that attracted my attention were
the Ox-eye Daisy and the May-weed, which together whitened
the banks in some places, and which I subsequently traced more
than half-way across the Continent. These and more than two
hundred and fifty other old English plants, which are now
peopling New England, were for the most part fellow-emigrants
and fellow-colonists with the Anglo-Saxon, having (as seeds)
accompanied him across the Atlantic, and having, like him,
asserted their supremacy over, and displaced, a certain number
of natives of the soil.”
HAMPSHIRE LOCAL NAMES.
By W. M. E. FOWLER.
AKING an interest in local names, I tried during the
past year to find out what the children here (Liphook)
call the commoner plants, but have not succeeded very
well. The following, however are from my list : —
Bread-and-cheese
Shiver grass
* Bee-flower
Hedge lilies or lilies
Hurts
Ladies’ shoes ...
Penny-winkles . . .
Cats’ tails
Lords-and-Ladies 1
Bloody fingers J
Cuckoo-sorrow (sorrel)
Shirt-button ...
^Smell-smock
*Sailor-button
’;:Yellow-spit...
^Morning-star
Malva sylvestris
Briza media
Seabiosa arvensis
Convolvulus sepium
Vaccinium Vitis I dee a
Lotus corniculatus
Vinca minor
Typha latifolia
Arum maculatum
Rumex Acetosa
Stellaria Holostea
Oxalis Acetosella
Any of the Campions
Chelidonium majus
Ornithogalum umbellatum
2 4
NATURE NOTES.
Vern
*Black-spem
Bird’s-eye
Weather-glass ...
Cuckoo-flower ...
Bracken
Black Spleenwort
The larger Veronicas
A nagallis arvensis
Cardamine pratensis
The following are the bird, mammal and fish names
*Blood lark
*Wet-your-neck
^Fork-tail
* Brown dove
Furze-chucker ...
Bunt or *Bent lark
"Mudlark
Scutty ...
Flutter-mouse ...
Seven-sleeper 1
Sleep-mouse J
Nine-eyes
\
?
?
Swallow
p
Win-chat
?
Skylark
Wren
Bat
Dormouse
Leach
Lampern
Centipede
Stone-rocker
Cheebby-head J
Quid-worm
With regard to “ larks,” the Mudlark is the Skylark, so
called from its nest being lined with mud. The “ Blood-lark” is
a puzzle. The boys say : “ He builds a nest on the ground, he
do, and lays eggs most like a Yellow-hammer.” Is it a Meadow-
pipit ? The “ Wet-your-neck ” is so called because before wet
weather it cries, “ Wet your neck ! Wet your neck ! ” Can any
reader say what bird it is ? Can it be a Wood-pecker, which in
many parts of England is known as the Wet-bird or Wet-fowl ?
A Wren’s nest, as well as the bird itself, is known as a “scutty.”
I once asked a school boy, who is fond of natural history and
knows a good deal about the common animals and birds, why
a Quid-worm was so named. He looked much astonished, and
said : “ Why, because they gives he to cows as can’t chew the
quid ; they puts he down their throats.”
[This interesting communication contains several names, indicated by a pre-
fixed asterisk, which do not appear in our most complete catalogues of popular
nomenclature — the Rev. C. Swainson’s “ Folk-lore and Provincial Names of
British Birds,” and Messrs. Britten and Holland’s “ Dictionary of English Plant-
names,” two works which we have adopted as our standard of reference.
“Bunt Lark” is applied in Norfolk to the Corn Bunting. The Wren is
called “ Scutty ” in Sussex, and “Cutty” or “Cut” in several counties, from
Welsh nut, a short tail. The Quail is called “Weet my feet”(E. Lothian, N.
Ireland), and “ Wet my lip ” (W. Norfolk), but some other bird is no doubt in-
tended in the above list.
“ Quidworm ” is an interesting name. “ Quid ” is a form of “ cud,” and the
Cudweed was also called “ Quidwort ” two hundred years ago from its somewhat
similar use. “ They bruise [it] small, and put a quantity of fat thereunto, and
so convey it ’nto the beast’s mouth to swallow, that hath lost his quide, and so
he will amend.” — (Mascal, Government of Cattel, 1662, pp. 40, 242.) — Eds.]
25
PROTECTION OF BIRDS ON THE CONTINENT.
By A VICE-PRESIDENT.
(Continued fvom page 7.)
i||ji=gs!S a result of the discussions recorded in the previous
article, a committee was appointed, and the members
sat for four hours on the following day. M. Borggreve
proposed, firstly, to beg H.I.H. the Prince to use
his influence in obtaining through the diplomatic corps from
various governments in Europe and North Africa, a legal
protection of birds during the first half of the year, and
during the years 1886, 1887 and 1888, for species which were
not prejudicial to the interests of agriculture, preservation of
game and pisciculture. Secondly, to ask ornithologists to note
in a given district, by means of comparative tables, the number
of birds nesting in 1884, 1885, 1886 and 1887, and to forward
these tables to a second or third Congress. Professor Giglioli
(Italy) said that some of the matter submitted by MM. Fatio,
De Hayek (Austria), De Tchusi (Austria), De Pelzeln (France)
was already included in the agreement between Austria and
Italy, and that other proposals would encounter unsurmount-
able opposition in Italy. It seemed to him impossible to intro-
duce fresh obstacles to the capture of birds in certain parts of
his country, where from time immemorial people had been accus-
tomed to go in pursuit of birds.
Dr. Palacky, M. De Hayell, MM. Zeller and Kermenic,
Doctors Schier, Schiarazzi, Russ and Pollen discussed M.
Fatio’s proposal at some length, and finally the following reso-
lution was carried : —
The first Ornithological Congress of Vienna begs the Minister of Home and
Foreign Affairs at Vienna to take the necessary steps towards obtaining the
consent of various nations of the globe to the establishment of an inter-
national convention, having for its aim the publication of draft legal schemes
based on these two principles (1) During the first half of the legal year
(Kalendjahr) or during the period which corresponds to it, it is forbidden,
except to persons duly authorised, to destroy (erlagen) birds with engines
other than firearms, to capture them, take their eggs, and trade either
with the said birds or their eggs. (2) The capture of the said birds eu
masse is entirely forbidden.
With this vote the business of the first section terminated.
In concluding his report, M. Oustalet begged to draw the
attention of the Minister of Agriculture to the following points
The increasing war which is waged against birds, and
especially insectivorous birds, blackbirds, wrens, fly-catchers,
swallows, &c., seriously injures the interests of agriculture by
permitting the development of myriads of destructive insects.
The result of inquiries made by several Agricultural Societies
and by the Acclimatisation Society of Paris is that the existence
of various kinds of birds of undisputed utility is seriously
threatened, and that certain passeras, formerly very common
26
NATURE NOTES.
throughout the whole of France, have disappeared from several
departments. It is then highly important to bring forward
some remedy for a condition of affairs, the dangers of which
have been already pointed out in various documents, and espe-
cially in the report of M. de la Sicotiere, in the notes by M.
Froidefond and Millet, and in the works of M. Lescuyer.
In order to put an end to these hecatombs of birds which
cannot be justified by any economic reasons, and which only
afford in return a contemptible amount of food, various means
may be employed. The most efficacious will doubtless be that
adopted by an enormous majority at the Congress. It would
amount to the entire prevention, during the whole year, of the
capture en masse of all birds of any species whatsoever. In speci-
fying that by the capture en masse, the taking of enormous quanti-
ties of birds by means of nets, draw nets, trammel nets, snares
of various kinds and bird lime is meant, all the dodges so dear
to the poachers, who annihilate hundreds and thousands of birds
in a few hours, will be upset.
M. Oustalet in his report then referred to the resolution with
respect to the sole use of firearms as destructive engines during
the shooting season, to proper laws, and to the yearly publica-
tion of a list of birds to be legally taken during the said season,
and further pointed out to the Minister of Agriculture that the
rights given to the prefects in France, by the law of 1844,
would be curtailed, and would no longer cover the method
of capture, nor the formulation of the list of birds to be cap-
tured, but would simply empower them to fix the limits of the
close season in each department.
As a means of preserving useful birds, it was proposed to
place artificial nests in the trees, shrubs and hedges belonging to
the state property.
With respect to wild fowl M. Oustalet suggests a restric-
tion in granting shooting licenses on the coast, with the view of
giving the migratory birds and the balayeurs des grcves a better
chance of existence.
M. Oustalet attaches great importance to the advantages
to be derived by thorough instruction on important ornitho-
logical questions in the agricultural colleges, and also to the
diffusion of accurate knowledge of the habits of useful and in-
jurious animals, either by means of popular publications, or
by lectures amongst the inhabitants of towns and villages.
This brings us to believe that the establishment of an
Alphonse ‘ Karr Society on the lines of our Selborne Society,
and with the approval and support of the Ministers of Public
Instruction and of Agriculture, the authorities of the Acclima-
tisation Society, &c., would be both popular and useful in
France, where sentiment (not sentimentality) and science can
go well together hand in hand.
In a future number we hope to be able to refer to the
documents quoted by M. Oustalet and our own colonial papers
on the subject of bird preservation.
27
CHILDREN’S COLUMN.
Un Chat Fidele.
Poor pussy of old was commonly said
To be fawning and fickle, not high bred.
She would mince and strut, and would proudly purr ;
She would arch her back, and stick out her fur,
Selfishly seeking what was to be had.
Though timid, she’s sly, and all that is bad !
Thus, all her life is to cupboard-love given ;
To mend her mean w’ays men in vain have striven.
Still would I tell how our tortoise-shell cat.
When “Cyrus” languish’d alone on his mat ;
Often too weak on his legs to get up
Too poorly to bark, to romp, or to sup ;
How to his couch little dainties she brought,
For him to take of her own food she sought ;
Of a bone, or a scrap, or mouse just kill’d,
She would beg his acceptance if he will’d,
Or, best of all, a small morsel of meat :
He would touch with his tongue, but could not eat.
Then with it away she would gently steal,
And so all alone she would make her meal.
By pure instinct taught in Dame Nature’s ways
See the high culture here for noblest praise.
Oft might rough hoyden or ruthless young brat,
Learn lessons of love from this courteous cat !
30A, Wimpole Street. William White, F.S.A.
Mr. Chink, the Chaffinch. — Last Easter I was staying in a village near
Oxford, and the morning after my arrival we were sitting at breakfast when my
host suddenly said to me : “ There’s your Chaffinch ; he wants his breakfast.
Do get up and give him some.” “ My Chaffinch ! ” I said in surprise. “ What do
you mean ? ” They then reminded me that two years before, when I was spending
Christmas there, one night during a very heavy snowstorm my cousin and I were
sitting up late over the fire in my bedroom, when there was a flapping against the
window. Thinking it was the snow, we at first took no notice ; but the second
lime it came flop against the window, I got up, exclaiming, “It must be a bird
wanting to come in,” and on our opening the window in flew a very beautiful
cock chaffinch, having evidently lost his way in the storm. Quite exhausted he flew
straight on to my bed, and after some time the warmth began to revive him and he
looked about, not objecting to being gently stroked. We then began to wonder
what we should do with him, for to turn him out again that dreadful night was
quite impossible, and there were no cages in the house. At last my cousin found
a meat safe into which we put him, with some cotton wool, crumbs and water.
We were half afraid that he would die in the night, but were next morning
delighted to find him quite well and very perky — such a little beauty ! The sun
was now shining brightly and the snow melting fast, so we let him out, feeling
quite sad at parting with him. I went away that day, but now hear that Mr.
Chaffy came back regularly every day to be fed and became very tame. All
through the summer and following winter he came, and in the spring he brought
his little wife with him, and they would perch on the trees close round the
windows calling “ Chink, chink ! ” till they were fed. By this time Mr. Chink
became so tame that he would perch close to my cousins at afternoon tea in the
garden, when he was always fed. But one day when a piece of cake was given to
him he did not take it as usual, but seemed anxious to attract notice to something
in a flower border near, flying backwards and forwards and chirping. At last my
NATURE NOTES.
cousin said : ‘ ‘ He has got something to shew us : I must go and see what it is.” She
got up and followed Chink to the border, where two little baby chaffinches were
sitting sheltered by a plant. Immediately Chaffy flew back and fetched the cake,
and proceeded to feed the little ones, evidently satisfied now that his children were
noticed and admired. When I was there at Easter he was as constant as ever,
and his “Chink, Chink!” would fetch my cousin out of bed at five o’clock
to give him his early meal of biscuit from her window', w'here a box was
kept on purpose for Chaffy’s use. When I last heard he w as still a constant
visitor in the Vicarage garden, where his presence would be greatly missed.
B. E. E.
SELBORNIANA.
A Browning Query. — Can any reader tell me wffiat plant Mr. Browning
had in view in the following lines ? —
“ One plant,
Woods have in May, that starts up green
Save a sole streak which, so to speak,
Is spring’s blood, spilt the leaves between.” — May ami Death.
The arum or one of the spotted orchids suggest themselves, but neither of these
has “ a sole streak. ” G. S. R.
The Spelling of Yellow Hammer. — A youthful naturalist friend, re-
cently visiting the Natural History Museum, wras especially delighted with the
collection of British birds and their nests — a collection which well deserves the
attention of all Selbornians. But he was much exercised by what he considered
a mistake in the spelling of Yellow “ ammer,” which, he said, ought to be Yellow
Hammer. I, of course, assured him that the Museum authorities would not
make a mistake even in such a small matter ; and having thus silenced if not
convinced him, I proceeded to establish my position. To my surprise, however,
I found that Dr. Murray’s researches had not enabled him to obtain any authority
whatever for Yarrell’s introduction of this spelling in 1846 ; and moreover, on
further investigation, I found that Professor Newton, in the fourth edition of
Yarrell’s work, had pronounced against the proposed correction. The Museum
authorities, it may be hoped, will therefore see their way to restoring the usual
spelling, when the labels for the cases of birds next come under revision. I append
Professor Newton’s interesting note.
“ In former editions of this work the author strove to restore what he believed
to have been the first English name of this bird — Yellow Ammer. As might be
expected in such a case, custom, whether right or wrong, would not give way to
the proposed amendment, and Yellow Hammer, with its abbreviation Yellow Ham,
have been commonly printed from the days of Turner (1544) and Merrett (1667)
to the present time. There can indeed be no question of ‘ Hammer ’ (in this
sense) being strictly cognate with the German Ammer , but it would seem that
prefixing the letter h to the w’ord is not wholly an English peculiarity, since there
is some ground for believing that Hammer , which now survives in Hdmmerling,
was equally with Ammer, a Teutonic form. Another early spelling of this word
in both languages was * Amber,’ used in 1668 by Charleton (Onomasticon
Zooicon, p. 80), and by Ray in 1674 (Call. Engl., &c., p. 88). Perhaps the
parent form was the old German Embritz, whence comes the Latinized modifica-
tion Emberiza, spelt by some ancient authors Embriza. Mr. Skeat, in a communi-
cation kindly made on this point to the editor, remarks that the letter h is seldom
wrongly prefixed, and cites among the few examples of the practice, ‘hermit,’
‘ horde ’ and ‘ humbles ’ — the roots of which are probably eremita, ordeu and
umbilicus respectively. Mr. J. W. Cartmell has added to these words ‘ hogs-
head,’ which ought to have been ‘ oxhead,’ from the Dutch ochshood, and ‘how-
let ’ instead of ‘ owlet ’ — the last being almost an exact parallel to ‘ hammer ’
in the present bird’s name. Dr. Robert Latham’s assertion (Diet. Engl. Lang.
SELBORNIA N A , &c.
29
ii. p. 1432) that ‘ the derivation is the A. S. /;<zwa=skin, clothing, covering ’
seems to be wholly unsupported' by evidence.” (Yarrell’s Hist. Brit. Birds, ii. 43).
G. S. R.
Note of the Cuckoo. — Mrs. Linley Blathwayt records the following
interesting observations made by her at Batheaston : — Before the return of spring,
I should like to call attention to the note of the Cuckoo, which is commonly said
to be a major or a minor third, Beethoven giving it as the former in his Pastoral
Symphony. I have frequently heard it a most decided major second, and some-
times a perfect fourth.
Last May for a few days, I wrote down what I heard, taking the pitch from the
Philharmonic tuning fork. On the evening of the 13th it was a major third, F to
D flat. On the following morning, when the birds seemed to be answering each
other all round, the major thirds wrere, E to C, and F sharp to D ; the minor, E
to C sharp, F to D and G to E. Major second F to E flat. On the 16th I also
heard a second, E to D, and on the 19th a fourth F sharp to C sharp.
The Milliner’s Scheme of Creation. — We have received the follow-
ing ingenious speculations on this subject : — Having seen the hint in your
magazine suggesting a sketch of what might possibly be a milliner’s view of
creation, I venture to send you the following which I think would be a plausible
theory to account for the deeds of an Anti-Selbornian milliner : —
“ Latterly we have heard much from scientific men about a certain theory by
which they think they account for many natural phenomena : it is usually known
as the doctrine of the ‘ Survival of the Fittest.’ We milliners know a great deal
about nature, more perhaps than scientific men generally think. Do wre not every
season have fresh consignments of birds’ skins sent to us from abroad ? — do we
not know exactly which wears best, what colours last longest, and howq for
instance, to patch up a sea-gull with a few cock’s feathers, so that a far superior
bird for trimming, than any which can be found in nature, is produced ? Our
knowledge and experience ought surely to entitle us to an opinion upon these
matters.
“ Now the theory which these scientific men hold, does not tally with facts,
and must therefore be dismissed as untenable. The principle which does hold
true throughout the glorious realm of nature, is no other than this — ‘ The De-
struction of the Fittest.’ What can be a more beautiful theory than this ? Every
creature— bird, beast or butterfly — is meant for destruction, just in so far as it is
beautiful and fitting for the adornment of ladies’ dress.
“ What is the use of hundreds of birds flitting about aimlessly in some distant
forest, or rearing their young on some lonely island, far from the reach of men ?
Surely such things were never intended to be. Of course such a fate may have
been destined for some ill-formed or sadly plumaged birds, but never for the
gorgeous humming-bird who flames out so royally from among the velvet trimming,
or for the bird of paradise whose exquisite plumes can never shew to as great
advantage as when drooping from a gracefully shaped hat. Even the robin red-
breast has lately been found to have some claim to destruction, and the great law
of nature is therefore taking effect, as is shewn by the frequent appearance of one
or even two of these little songsters nestling daintily in a lady’s bonnet — a now
very' familiar natural (?) phenomenon.
“ One word more, and I think I shall have made my point clear. Darwin’s de-
finition of the term ‘ Fittest ’ is somewhat long and complicated. Roughly speaking,
he uses it as meaning those animals or plants whose organisms are best calculated
to help them in the struggle for existence. Here I must ask the reader to note the
difference between Darwin’s phraseology and mine. ‘ The Fittest,’ as I use it,
means of course — (and this meaning is surely more natural than the scientific one),
such animals and birds, more especially the latter, which ‘ fit ’ best with the hats,
bonnets, and, in fact the whole toilette, in fashion at any given time. ‘ Fitness ’
is also shewn in the facility with which a bird may be sewn on to any material —
by the way in w'hich it resists the wet — by its general wearing qualities, and by
many other smaller details which will readily occur to one who has daily experi-
ence of such things, and who . . . &c ”
NATURE NOTES.
o
Bat the reader will by this time have had nearly enough of this remarkable
argument, and I must leave the scientific naturalist to refute this novel theory as
best he may. Z. S.
A Blackbird story. — The Rev. C. S. Millard writes from Costock Rectory :
I feel sure that many of the readers of the Selborne Society’s Magazine will be
interested in the following account that has been sent me by Mrs. Symonds of
Saxelbye Rectory of the strange conduct of a blackbird last spring. “The story of
the blackbird is very striking. Two blackbirds built in a hole in the hayrick that
had been pulled out by the cows. My man constantly passed by the hen bird
while she was sitting, and he noticed that she seemed very tame. At length he
stroked her on her nest, and used continually to do so as he passed and repassed
her, she seemingly being not the least disconcerted, and once she allowed him to
lift her off the nest. Five young birds were hatched and seemed to be thriving,
but one morning, when my man was going to milk, he was surprised by the hen
blackbird flying to him, making a great noise, almost hitting him in the face,
and then flying back to her nest. He suspected something wrong and followed
her. On arriving at the nest he found a magpie (I had allowed two to build in
a spinny hard by) standing on the cock bird, which he had killed, as he had also
killed three of the young blackbirds. Having driven the magpie off, he took the
two surviving little birds and put them into the hedge, where the poor hen-bird,
who sat by watching the whole proceeding, immediately joined them. I do
think that the way in which the bird recognised in my man one who would assist
her if solicited, very touching.”
Mildness of the Season. — The Rev. W. S. H. Samler, writing from the
Vicarage, South Stoke, Bath, sends us the following list of plants in bloom
in his garden on the 31st of January: — White Arabis, Violets (purple and
white), Primrose, Christmas Rose, Snowdrop, Crocus, Hepatica (blue and pink),
Daisy, Laurustinus, Pansy, Polyanthus, Helleborus viridis, Aubrietia graeca, Scilla,
Anemone (ordinary), Anemone fulgens, Gentian acaulis, Wall Flower, Winter
Stock, Yellow Jasmine, three kinds of Berberis, Periwinkle, Pyrus Japonica,
China Rose, Hyacinth.
A Bad Example. — Mr. Marcus B. Huish writes from the New University
Club : “ The Committee has continued to purchase, whenever possible, any rare
bird shot in the district.” This extract from the Annual Report of the Cardiff
Art Library and Museum for the year 1889 is an example of the encouragement
held out to ignorant and unenlightened folk by the worshipful the Mayor, a large
body of Councillors, and I believe, the Naturalist Society of Cardiff, who form
the committee in question. Comment is needless, except that I think it would
be well if the Selborne Society would present a few of their pamphlets to the
Free Library and so endeavour to counteract the teaching now in vogue at the
most important educational establishment in South Wales.
Marcus B. Huish.
Holly Berries. — Mr. Manley Hopkins writes from Haslemere : There is,
perhaps, no part of England so abundant in holly as West Surrey. The trees
and hedge-bushes last year were prolific in berries, and even more so the previous
year. This season there are none. In our walks and drives about this neighbour-
hood we fail to discover a single instance of the scarlet fruit. A farmer in
Hertfordshire tells me that his trees are in similar condition with the exception
of a single tree, which is loaded with berries. The pious idea that Deus pascit
Corvos, and provides much food for the small birds against a hard winter, is, we
think, groundless ; but this winter proves nothing as to its truth or falsity.
Probably hollies and also hazelnuts overblew themselves in the late previous
years, and that this is the season of rest and recovery.
The Plague of Rats ; Cause and Effect.— The Rev. D. W. Barrett,
of Barnet, sends us two paragraphs from the Peterborough Advertiser , of January
25th, 1890, which well show the wisdom of amateur efforts at the readjustment of
the balance of nature : —
SELBORNIANA, &c.
3i
gTOATS AND WEASLES (Sic. )
6s 6d. each will be given for STOATS and 5s. each for
“WEASLES, and Carriage will be paid from any part of
the Country.*
A PLAGUE OF RATS.
A plague of rats is raging in the east of England. The
farmers cannot keep their wheat in consequence of the numbers
in the stacks, and have to thresh and sell out.
Mr. H. G. O. Kexdall, of The Hyde, Hatfield, Herts, also writes, calling
attention to the fact that the preservation of “ game ” often causes the destruction
under the name of “ vermin ” of many natural checks to rat plagues, and thus
tends to produce a bread famine.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
We have received from various authors and publishers books of special
interest to Selbornians. Reviews of several of these works have been written for
Nature Notes, but the demands upon our space are such that we are unable in
the present number to do more than give the names and publishers of the
following : —
About Robins : Songs, Facts and Legends , collected and illustrated by Lady
Lindsay, R.I. : George Routledge and Sons.
A ncient Cures, Charms and Usages of Ireland : Contributions to Irish Lore ,
by Lady Wilde : Ward and Downey.
Sylvanus Redivivus (Memoirs of the Rev. John Mitford and Edward Jesse),
by Mrs. Houston : Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington.
Science and Scientists, by the Rev. John Gerard, S.J. : Catholic Truth Society.
' Idylls of the Field, by F. A. Knight : Elliot Stock.
Haunts of Nature, by Worsley-Benison : Elliot Stock.
The Butterfly, by John Stuttard : Fisher Unwin.
In Tennyson-land, by J. C. Walters : Redway.
OFFICIAL NOTICES, MEETINGS, &C.
The Hon. Treasurer begs to acknowledge the following surplus funds received
from branch Secretaries for the general purposes of the Society :
Atalanta
5
8
Kent
...£2
0
6
Bays water ...
... 2
0
0
Liverpool ...
... O
18
7h
Bournemouth
... I
0
0
Northern Heights
... I
10
6
Chichester ...
... O
11
11
Nottingham
... O
1 7
ioj
Clapton
... O
4
3i
Petersfield ...
... I
10
7
Ifaslemere ...
... 5
0
0
Putney
••• 3
0
0
Isle of Wight
••• 3
1
0
Southampton
... 1
1
6
Kensington
•*. 3
0
0
Weybridge ... ,
... 0
16
10
At the Annual Meeting of the Lower Thames Valley Branch of the Society,
an important report was submitted showing the large amount of work which had
been done by the Branch during the year, in the way of defending the beauties of
Presumably for New Zealand or Australia. — Eds.
32
NATURE NOTES.
the Thames against the various agencies which threaten their destruction. We
should have been glad to quote largely from this valuable report, but can only
give the following extract dealing with the preservation of Sudbrook Park.
“The last item of news bearing on this important subject is that on January 30th
Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Woods and Forests received an important
deputation, asking them not to take any action in respect to the sale of Sudbrook
Park, or the letting of any portion of it for building purposes, until the whole
matter had been laid before the House of Commons for their decision. The
deputation included the Right Hon. Shaw Lefevre, M.P. ; Mr. Bruce, M.P. ;
Sir T. Whittaker Ellis, M.P. ; Mr. Burt (Chairman of the Richmond Vestry),
and leading members of the Open Spaces Association, the Metropolitan Playing
Grounds Association, the Preservation of Commons Association, the Kyrle
Society, See., Sec. Mr. Edward King specially represented the Selborne Society.
The interests of landscape and other artists were represented by Mr. M. H.
Spielmann (Editor of the Magazine of Art). Mr. Skewes-Cox, the Chairman of
the Joint Executive Committee for the Preservation of Sudbrook Park, was also
present. Without prophesying, your committee venture to express the hope that
the result of that interview may influence the future of Sudbrook Park, so far as
that it is associated with the permanent preservation of open spaces round
London.”
We regret that a long list of names of new members is unavoidably crowded
out, as the space at our disposal is, as explained below, quite inadequate to the
demands upon it.
Subscriptions to the Selborne Society for 1S90 were due on January 1st,
and if not already paid should be forwarded to the Hon. Treasurer (9, Adam
Street, Adelphi, W.C.), or in the case of branch members, to the treasurers of
their respective branches.
Letters on the general business of the Society should not be forwarded to
the Editors of Nature Notes ; but to the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9,
Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C., to whom, or to the Secretary of the nearest Branch ,
those who are desirous of becoming members should apply.
EDITORIAL NOTE.
We are happy to be able to report most favourably as to the success of the
first number of Nature Notes, the Selborne Society’s Magazine. A much
larger number of copies have had to be printed than wTe anticipated, and the
third edition is now almost exhausted. Nature Notes has been the subject of
many appreciative notices in important papers, expressing in warm terms
sympathy with the objects of the Society and approval of its magazine. The
members of the Selborne Society have responded with enthusiasm to our request
for support in the matter of letters, contributions and cuttings. One result of
this is that we are unable to insert a large number of interesting articles and
letters, many of which, however, we hope to utilise in future numbers. It is
hoped that it may be possible hereafter to enlarge the magazine ; in no other
manner can justice be done to the large number of communications we have re-
ceived. Meanwhile we trust that our kind correspondents, whether their con-
tributions have been inserted or not, will accept this expression of gratitude for
their assistance, and will continue to supply us with short original articles and
items of information on matters Selbornian. It is particularly requested that
subscriptions and letters bearing on the general business of the Society should not
be sent to the Editors. Editorial communications should be forwarded (not later
than the 4th of each month, if insertion is desired in the current number) to the
Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
IRature IRotes,
tlbc Selborne Society’s flDaga3fite.
No. 3. MARCH 15, 1890. Vol. I.
RIGHT OF WAY ASSERTED AT GLEN DOLL.
HE publication of a statement, showing the amount of
the expenses incurred by the Scottish Rights of Way
Association in successfully upholding the public right
throughout prolonged litigation with the owner of
Glen Doll, calls for sympathetic notice from our readers.
Glen Doll, in Clova, is one of the richest localities for the
botanist, and, at the same time, one of the most beautiful of
Highland glens. An old road from Kirkton of Clova to Braemar
runs through it. The present owner of the Glen, who pur-
chased it some years ago, closed the road and refused all access,
no matter how politely the request for it was made. The Scot-
tish Rights of Way Association promptly challenged this action,
and litigation ensued, throughout which the owner of Glen
Doll, a Mr. Macpherson, exhausted every resource of which the
law is capable in the matter of expense and delay. The case
finally terminated in the House of Lords, and the public interest
triumphed in every court and on all the points at issue. The
only drawback to the success is that a deep encroachment has
been made on the funds at the disposal of the Society. “The
extra-judicial costs of the litigation have been heavy. The total
is ^650 ; and of this sum ^250 is taken from the Society’s
funds, ^”300 comes out of the pockets of private guarantors,
members of the Society, and only^ioo — between a sikth and
a seventh of the whole — has been subscribed by the general
public.”
This is not as it should be. The road is now open and the
gain to the public is a great one. It was worth fighting for,
but the public apathy may be explained. After all, what is
the gain of a road in the Highlands ? Dwellers in cities may
be surprised at our asking this question. It is not very many
34
NATURE NOTES.
years since anybody was at liberty to roam in any direction
among the Scottish mountains, and even to shoot as many
birds as he pleased, or rather was able to shoot — grouse were
not so plentiful then. It is only since the market value of these
“ shootings ” has been found out that restrictions have been
placed on access to mountains. In this matter it is only fair to
say that the holders and recent purchasers of shootings are to
blame for by far the greater part of the “grabbing” of public
rights, and that the older proprietors incur little reprobation.
In these circumstances is it to be wmndered at that the public
are apathetic in the matter of a mere road when what they
want is a -whole range of mountains, or rather free access to
them ? Nothing could be more popular than the reception
given to Mr. Bryce’s “ Access to Mountains Bill ” of a few
years ago. What has become of it ? If there is any young
politician desirous of the popular canonization so properly
bestowed on Sir John Lubbock for a measure of benefit to the
people which all feel and recognise, let him take up the “Access
to Mountains Bill.”
George Murray.
THE MIGRATION OF THE WOODCOCK.*
E subject of the migration of birds is the most inter-
esting and most amazing in the history of the most
fascinating of all animals. What causes a creature
ordinarily so domestic, so fond of separate quiet
places, so frail as to be in many cases hardly more powerful
than a large moth, to dare sea and storm for thousands of miles,
and mostly to choose the night for his romantic pilgrimage, the
time when his usual wont is to sleep as sound as an alderman
of the City of London ? What causes the Woodcock, always a
solitary don in his habits, to fly singly each one across the
German Ocean to our western bowery hollows and forest tan-
gles, and yet to arrive in such long lines as to cover, of course
sparsely, 350 miles of English coast in one night (from the Isle
of May, Firth of Forth, to Orfordness, Suffolk, opposite Ipswich,
in one night, October 12, 1882) ? What rules the flight of these
over-sea arrivals of myriads of birds which, if they were aerial
ships made by man, would collide, and strew the sea with the
dead ? There is an awe in the subject, however much modern
science has enlarged or illuminated it, and to reverent thought
* From a lecture delivered at Hampstead on behalf of the Selborne Society,
on Nov. 2 1st, 1889.
THE MIGRATION OF THE WOODCOCK. 35
on the migration of birds, the old words, some of the most stately
and onomatopoeic in the whole range of English language, come
home — “ Thy way is in the sea, and Thy paths in the great
waters ; and Thy footsteps are not known.”
The point which I wish on the present occasion to maintain
is, that allowing for the impulse Divine for migration in the bird,
its immediate incidence is due to heat and cold. As in summer
we wear light clothing and in winter warm, so the birds which
are our principal migrants choose, at the approach of summer,
the coldest quarters that they can occupy, and invariably nest in
their highest latitudes, thereby hardening their offspring. In
winter — or at its approach — they are driven by the bare breath
of the north or east wind to get into moister and warmer air.
The spring of 1886 was, at the end of March, warm and almost
tropical ; that represented great heat in the tropics, driving the
birds north before their time, and we had quite a dozen summer
migrants a month in advance of their usual dates. The autumn
of this year was a summer, and last Sunday, November 17th, I
saw a Swallow fly over Harting Church at noon. Two birds had
been observed thereabouts on the previous day. In the same
way the Swifts of 1889 were a fortnight later in departing than
usual ; they had enough heat to delay them.
Now take the typical bird for migration, the Woodcock
{Scolopax rusticola). It is a delicate fragile bird. It nests, among
other places, in the Himalayas, and places as far apart from
them as Scandinavia ; it goes to Persia for warmth and moisture
only in the cold season. When we examine a Woodcock’s head
we find evidence of its timidity. The lustrous jet black eyes
largely developed are raised above the line of the long sucker-
beak, and look backward angularly ; a somewhat similar arrange-
ment is seen in the eyes of flat fish, which are strained to look
away upwards in case of danger. The Woodcock’s most con-
stant attitude is like the Spoonbill’s, with the long sucker-like
tube of a bill pressed down into the ooze ; and I have seen one in
frosty snowy weather help himself up by this beak. The Wood-
cock’s feet and legs are small ; he has little development for
running, and all his life depends on his wings and the marvel-
lously large retrospect of his eye. His claws are absolutely un-
armed, less formidable than a poor Nightjar’s, which, though
useless for defence, are serrated. From his structure the Wood-
cock is most timid and vulnerable ; one feather displaced by a
shot has been known to make him unable to rise from the ground.
Accordingly, this bird, like the hare, full of fears, feels keenly the
breath of north and east wind packed perhaps in several mile
thicknesses, as he is driven across the German Ocean. One year,
1877, Mr. Cordeaux, who has most admirably edited the returns
for the East English Coast, remarks, from the British Associa-
tion reports of nine years, that there was not a single gale or
even strong breeze from any northerly or easterly point between
the middle of September and the end of November, and so there
3^
NATURE NOTES.
were no Woodcocks in England that fateful and disastrous year,
save those bred in our own islands. And from no fewer than
fifty-five schedules he gives, in a remarkable way, twenty-seven
instances at various periods of the Woodcock’s greater or more
numerous flights.
The first flight of these birds occurs early in October, being
mostly of the smaller and ruddier Scandinavian sort, already feel-
ing the approaching gripe of winter ; the later and greater flight
is of the larger grayer Mes-European (Middle of Europe) birds,
before the end of November. But all these visits occur with
winds from east and south-east varying to north. As a very
interesting instance of the powers of flight possessed by a
Woodcock, Mr. Cordeaux estimates that on the 7th October,
1887, a Woodcock left Heligoland at 5 p.m., travelled across
Heligoland, S.W., arrived at the Nash Lighthouse, midway in
the coast of South Glamorgan (as shown by the British Associa-
tion Reports on Migration) at 3.30 next day, October 8, having
traversed the distance of 550 miles in io| hours, at 52 miles an
hour, which is about the estimated flight of this bird. Another
record of the Woodcock’s flight from Sleswig to Whitby Light-
house, gives io| hours for 420 miles, or 40 miles an hour. This
was done on November 8th, 1887. The Woodcock seems to be at
his best when going up the wind, if it be not too strong.
Enough has been said to show that Woodcocks migrating and
sailing at great altitudes in the clear air of the now sun-forsaken
North, and feeling the bite of the North and East wind most
keenly — for the bird is tender from crown to toe — are guided b}-
the prime considerations of warmth and moisture to winter in
England in severe seasons, much as our folk winter at Mentone
and in Italy. In warm winters like 1877 they do not need the
shelter of our western shores, their further limit west, and the
influence of the Gulf Stream, without which England would be
a Labrador. When, however, the east winds come, they bring
the Woodcock, as the same east winds brought the succulent
locusts to Israel in the desert. Too much heat or too much
cold drives the birds away to more temperate climes. Thus the
Woodcock is the tell-tale of winter heat or cold : and before
long it will result that what the magnet-needle is to the naviga-
tion of great iron -clads, and to our telegraphs — the running pen
of the nineteenth century — that the flight of birds — the dark-
steel magnet-needle of the heavens — will be to meteorology and
the science of climates in the twentieth century.
H. D. Gordon..
THE BEAUTIES OF EPPING FOREST IN DANGER.
fcijj-u PPING FOREST is situated mainly on the low ridge
d ^iat ^orms the watershed between the Lea and the
5 Roding, widening out in parts into a level plateau,
but with considerable natural fall over much, if not
most, of its area. This upland is capped by patches of gravel of
various geological age resting upon London clay, which latter
formation is exposed in some of the flat parts and on the middle
slopes of both river- valleys, the lower parts of their valleys not
being within the Forest. Some parts of the Forest are conse-
quently almost always dry at the surface, while on much of the
level central plateau there are numerous stagnant pools and a
considerable area of wet ground after rain, the water being held
up by the clay. Natural rivulets with considerable current
drain the slopes, having, in some cases, as between Great and
Little Monk Wood, cut for themselves deep, steep-sided and
picturesque valleys. The banks of these streams are always
liable to be damaged by the feet of cattle, and their channels to
become blocked by fallen leaves. These causes, and in a few
cases almost certainly, the existence of surface-springs at the
junction of overlying gravel with underlying clay, have in places
produced permanent bogs, marked by a luxuriant growth of Marsh
Pennywort ( Hydrocotyle ) and occasionally of Sphagnum. Such
bogs are undoubtedly, retaining as they do a large amount of
stagnant water in the sub-soil, detrimental to the soundness of
neighbouring timber trees ; and they may, though I have not
heard of any fatalities, be a source of danger to the cattle of
commoners, or of that larger body of persons who, as Sir T. F.
Buxton has pointed out, usurp common rights. Their total area,
however, is so small, and that of any one of them so insignificant
as to be no serious obstacle to any rational pedestrian. It is
not necessary that sound timber should be growing over the
whole area of the Forest ; and their presence gives diversity to
the Forest scenery, and affords many objects of interest to the
large numbers of naturalists who enjoy the Forest in an un-
obtrusive and harmless manner.
The wood of the forest is mainly hornbeam, as pollards and
as coppice, with a good deal of beech, including in some areas
large trees, birch, holly, as undergrowth, and scattered oaks in
some parts. The beech is mostly on dry knolls ; but its copious
root system requires a good water-supply, though not a stagnant
one, in a porous and consequently warm subsoil. The birch is
perhaps more accommodating, but grows mostly on level gravel
areas. The holly is still less particular, flourishing on dry sand,
under the shade of beech or even in a stiff and necessarily some-
what cold loam. Fir-trees are neither indigenous to, character-
istic of, or suitable to Epping Forest ; and, though there are a
few Scotch firs near Fairmead, the spruce is perhaps the only
NATURE NOTES.
38
common fir likely to succeed. Few things more strikingly illus-
trate the way in which the Conservators persistently act in con-
travention of the spirit of the Epping Forest Act, which pre-
scribes the maintenance of the natural aspect of the Forest
than their (mostly futile) efforts at planting fir to the entire
neglect of hornbeam, the most characteristic tree of the Forest.
With regard to hornbeam and oak — two, in our opinion, of the
most important species from the Epping Forest point of view —
it is well to bear in mind the opinion expressed by the late
Professor Bagneris, one of the most distinguished of European
foresters, writing purely from the standpoint of a practical
timber-producer.
As for draining (he says) except in the case of stagnant pools, it must be-
resorted to with great moderation. A few ditches judiciously dug ensure sufficient
drainage, for it must not be forgotten that our most valuable species delight in-
very moist and even wet soils, e.g., the pedunculate oak, ash, elm, hornbeam,
spruce fir and elder. This has been sometimes forgotten. Whenever the water
is not stagnant so that the soil does not become actual!}' marshy, draining is a
mistake. There is no doubt that the premature decay of the pedunculated oak in
many places, and its disappearance in others, are due to over-drainage. This
species is the tree par excellence of low-lying plains which are subject to floods.
In 1883 the present writer reported “ that, seeing the man}'
natural water-courses of the Forest, after the experience of un-
usually wet seasons, it appears that no more drainage is required,
but that the planting of alder, willows, poplars, and other trees,
will be a more natural way of rendering the surface drier.”
There can, I think, be little objection to a few shallow surface
drains on level ground, as at Fairmead, to carry off heavy rain-
falls, or to ditches by the sides of the high roads, or even by
some of the rides ; but the clearing of natural channels from
leaves and other obstructions, without cutting them into straight,
square and bare ditches, as is done at present, seems all that is
otherwise necessary. The straight ditch from the high road into
the fosse of Ambresbury Banks may be interesting from a mili-
tary point of view, but it is so from no other : the clean sweep
of hawthorn and briar from the banks of the stream between Ep-
ping and Theydon manors is surely a needless piece of vandalism ;
and the ditch-digging in Hang-boy Slade and elsewhere has
risked the Sphagnum and the Sundew sharing the fate of that
well-nigh exterminated by the unlamented Board of Works at
Hampstead. This uncontrolled license of the hedger and
ditcher has, it is believed, never had the approval of the ver-
derers — gentlemen better qualified, by their residence on the spot
and the permanence of their office, to judge of the interests of
the Forest, than are the other members of the Committee. It
involves a large amount of expensive labour, for no appreciable
benefit to anything or anybody but the labourers employed, and
certainly to the great loss of lovers of Nature.
G. S. Boulger.
39
OSTRICH FARMING.
URING a visit to the Cape a few years ago, I chanced
to spend a fortnight at an ostrich farm belonging to
a relative. As the growing of ostrich feathers may be
of interest to the readers of the Selborne Society’s
Magazine, I send a short account of what I there saw and
learnt.
To one in search of the picturesque, an ostrich farm is a
grievous disappointment. The country around, it is true, is
very beautiful ; but the farm itself, a one-storied building, sur-
rounded by a number of square enclosures (each containing a pair
of birds), some sheds for the incubators and for storing food,
does not offer much attraction for the pencil. The native who
tends the birds, and goes gaily about, dressed in the cast-off
clothes of his master, may be a loveable creature, but is certainly
not a lovely one.
The birds themselves, gaunt and ugly, are perhaps the
greatest disappointment. They are extremely timid, and when
alarmed, will rush at and break through almost any fence, and
run for miles. They have the greatest aversion towards dogs ;
and as a scare may result in the loss of several birds, the farmer
has no mercy, and shoots every member of the canine species
that comes near his place.
A full-grown ostrich must be handled very cautiously, as a
blow from its foot is often fatal. This foot, which looks like one
large toe, has a formidable-looking claw at its extremity, and
this, added to the enormous strength of the leg, makes it a
dangerous weapon. Its neck is weak, so the keepers, profiting
by their knowledge, have learned to keep the bird at a safe
distance when it approaches by means of a long forked stick,
which seizes the neck just below the head, and which the bird
has not wit or power to avoid.
The chickens are all hatched in incubators ; and to keep their
sham mothers at an even temperature is a continual source
of anxiety to the “ strauss-vogel ” boer. Some ten or fifteen
years ago, when ostrich-farming was very remunerative, every
one who could scrape together enough money bought a pair of
birds. Those less pecunious bought a chicken or even an
unhatched egg, despite the proverb, and these small growers
often reaped a good harvest.
Things were, however, in a very different state when I was
at the Cape. A disease was spreading among the farms, with
which no one seemed able to cope, and many valuable birds
died. In fear and trembling my host would visit his pens of a
morning to see what havoc the epidemic had made. As the
sums paid for ostriches are considerably larger than what we
pay here for carriage-horses, his anxiety was not to be wondered
at. Their value is greatly increased when they have paired, for
4o
NATURE NOTES.
the female is generally very coy and particular in accepting a
suitor. I have heard of as much as ^"506 being given for one
pair of birds ; £200 and ^”300 are not at all uncommon prices.
A few hours after the disease had attacked them, they would be
no more worth than their feathers.
Dick, the Zulu attendant, would pluck their carcases till
they were as naked as a Christmas turkey, and bury them at
once, for fear of the infection spreading. In spite of this
depressing occupation, he was always ready for a grin some six
inches wide, evoked on the smallest provocation, at the most
microscopic of jokes.
Gathering the feathers is not in any way a painful operation
for the birds, as they are not plucked out, but cut— the stumps
being pulled out when the bird would be naturally moulting. It
would not do to wait until the moulting time to gather in the
feathers, as they are then past their full beauty.
Each bird has a distinguishing name of its own. I was
amused to hear the farmer discussing with his Zulu factotum
as to whether “ Mrs. Langtry ” were ripe, or whether “ Mr.
Gladstone ” were fit for gathering. The birds are coaxed into
a kind of wooden hutch with no top to it, and sufficiently small
to prevent the legs having full play. They can then be ap-
proached with ease, and the feathers are safely cut off.
From all that I saw I feel satisfied that ostrich-farming is
not cruel. The birds owe a happy and pleasant existence to the
fact that their feathers have a commercial value. They are
never short of fodder or water, as they too often are in their
natural state. They are protected from wild beasts, and their
great value secures them from rough handling by their owners,
for the better they are kept, the finer the crop of feathers. For
all these advantages the only return they have to make, is to
lose what nature would every year take from them at the moult.
W. Tyndale.
Since members of the Selbome Society are often questioned
as to the humanity of ostrich-farming, it may be worth while
to quote a published letter of Mr. Thomas Distin’s to Sir
Charles Mills, K.C.M.G., in 1886:—
“ Dear Sir Charles, — You enquire if ostriches suffer any
pain in the process of plucking their feathers. Let me assure
you that such is not the case. The ostriches are first driven
into a small enclosure, caught, and put in a wooden frame.
The feathers are then cut with a pair of scissors, leaving about
an inch of stump. The bird is then released, and runs for
about six weeks until the stumps are dried up, when they are
drawn. If the feathers were pulled at first instead of being cut,
then of course the bird would suffer much pain, and the small
fibres or nerves attached to the stump of the feather would be
injured and the bird would no longer produce good feathers,
OSTRICH FARMING.
4i
and would become of little or no value. If feathers are now
drawn and not cut, it is the exception, and could only be done
by an inexperienced ostrich farmer.”
The Hon. P. L. Van der Byl, M.L.C., writes from the Cape
to the same effect. “ I beg to state that no cruelty whatever is
practised on the birds ; the feathers are cut, not plucked (though
that word still remains in common parlance.)”
Mr. Evans, of Reitfontein, Cape Colony, in a letter to the
Times some years ago, says: “ I cannot assert that no acts of
cruelty are committed ; even now perhaps a few birds are
plucked still. But with my extensive acquaintance with the
Colony, I know of no breeder anywhere who is guilty of such
folly. . . . Plucking reduces both the quantity and value
of the feathers, and ultimately leads to ruin.”
From Mr. G. Nathan’s interesting paper in Longman's Maga-
zine some time back, we learn that it was in 1875 that the farmers
began first to adopt the plan of cutting the feathers ; before that
time “ they blundered along in their own way, learning their
experience.” Many of the ostrich camps are over two thousand
acres in extent, and afford a wide run for the domesticated
birds. Of the general gain of the colony through the rise of
ostrich-farming, there can be no doubt. “ It has given to large
extent of sheep runs, a rest ; it has been the means of partially
ridding many farms of the prickly pear, a cactus highly palate-
able to the ostrich, but a pest to the farmer ; and it has made
farmers fence in large tracts of country. The ‘ boom ’ in feathers
came when all produce of the Colony was very low, and for the
time being saved the farming population from bankruptcy. . . .
Many farmers still believe in it as a permanent industry.”
Perhaps no bird has been so much noticed by ancient writers
as the ostrich. The Arabs have a saying that “ Allah gave
fortune to the ostrich by touching its wings with his lips.” It
has been connected from earliest times with sacred symbols and
with the state of Kings.
Sir H. Layard tells us that Ostrich feathers appear on the
robes of the ancient sculptures of Nimrod and on the Babylonian
and Assyrian cylinders. Canon Tristram points out that the
word often translated “owl” in the Old Testament, is really
the ostrich, to whose “hoarse complaining cry by night, Job
compares his lamentations. . . . The same simile occurs
in Micah — ‘ mourning as the ostriches.’ ”
The ostrich feather is used as a symbol of justice on the
Egyptian hieroglyphic monuments, because of the even and
equally-balanced .filaments on each side of the quill. In early
days the plumes seem to have been more worn by men than by
women. Aristophanes, in his comedy, “ Acharnenses,” speaks
of a General wearing two white ostrich feathers in his helmet ;
and we have an example in our own royal history, where the
Black Prince adopted the three ostrich plumes of the slain King
of Bohemia ; they have continued ever since the badge of the
42
NATURE NOTES.
Prince of Wales. Mr. J. E. Hating, in his work on ‘ Ostriches
and Ostrich Farming,” has collected other interesting testimony
to their use b}' both Romans and Greeks. The Eg}rptian Queen
Arsinoe, who lived before the times of Cleopatra, was represen-
ted in a statue on Helicon, riding an ostrich, and Roman ladies
are said to have kept birds for the same purpose. But though
a full-grown ostrich is said to be able to bear the weight of a
man, and one has been known to draw a light kind of carriage,
it is for its feathers that it will always be prized.
“ Ostrich feathers have added grace to womanly loveliness
since the days of Cleopatra,” says Mr. Nathan; and it is a
pleasure to be assured that there is no need from motives of
humanity that a fashion, to be measured by so many centuries,
should be discarded by the women of the Victorian era.
A. M. Buckton.
THE DAFFODIL: AN ANTHOLOGY.
When daffodils begin to peer, —
With heigh ! the doxy over the dale, —
Why, then comes in the sweet o’ the year ;
For the red blood reigns in the winter’s pale.
IVinler’s Tale , Act iv., Sc. 2.
Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.
Ik, Act iv., Sc. 3.
When a daffodil I see
Hanging down her head t’wards me,
Guess I may what I must be :
First, I shall decline my head ;
Secondly, I shall be dead ;
Lastly, safely buried.
R. Herrick.
Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon :
As yet the early rising Sun
Has not attain’d his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day 4
Has run
But to the even-song ;
And, having pray’d together, we
Will go with you along.
We have shoTt time to stay as you,
We have as short a Spring ;
As quick a growth to meet decay
As you, or any thing.
We die,
As your hours do, and dry
Away
Like to the Summer’s rain ;
Or as the pearls of morning’s dew ;
Ne’er to be found again.
R. Herrick.
BOOKS FOR NATURE LOVERS.
43
I wander’d lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky-way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay :
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee : —
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company !
I gazed — and gazed — but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought ;
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude ;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
W. Wordsworth.
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever :
and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in.
Keats, Endymion.
Heigh ho ! daisies and buttercups,
Fair yellow daffodils stately and tall,
When the wind wakes how they rock in the grasses,
And dance with the cuckoo-buds, slender and small.
Jean Ingelow.
BOOKS FOR NATURE LOVERS.
Of the many books interesting to nature-lovers which lie upon our table, the
fairest to the eye is certainly Lady Lindsay’s About Robins (Geo. Routledge &
Sons). It is the work of a member of the Selborne Society, who seems animated
by the true Selbornian spirit of ardent love of nature and righteous wrath against
her desecrators. Lady Lindsay not only wields the deft pencil of an accomplished
artist for pourtrayingin many spirited pictures the beautiful birds she has made the
subject of her monograph, but has given us a very interesting anthology of the
Robin selected from a number of poets ranging from Chaucer to Christina Rossetti,
a quaint collection of nursery rhymes and [Robinical] traditions, and a delightful
gathering of old prose legends on the same subject. One cannot imagine a more
charming book as a present either for a child or a “grown-up” ; and our only
regret is that we have not space to transfer to our own pages some of the many
beautiful stories which it contains. The following quotation, which accompanies
a kindly mention of the Selborne Society’s work, shows a distinct refusal to accept
“ The .Milliner’s scheme of Creation ” : — “ It is fervently to be hoped that, in
time, ladies will altogether give up the habit of wearing these little birds, stuffed,
on their hats and gowns. For my own part, I would as lief wear a stuffed village
child, or what to many would seem yet more horrible, a carefully-prepared defunct
pug dog ! ”
44
NATURE NOTES.
In Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages of Ireland, Contributions to Irish
lore (Ward and Downey), Lady Wilde has made a valuable addition to our
knowledge of the folk-lore of the sister island. Charms and cures, fairies,
banshees, witches, spectres, games and festivals, with dissertations on the early
races of Ireland, Irish minstrelsy, Irish gold, and similar subjects — all find a place
in this interesting and readable volume. It is much to be regretted, however,
that no arrangement or method of any kind has been observed in its compilation ;
while, to make matters worse, there is no index — a serious defect which we trust
will be supplied in any future edition. Incidentally we find names of plants
which are unfamiliar to us, and are not recordedjin our books of reference, such as
the “Dog-fern ”fp. 37), and the “ Crov-Darrig, or Red Hand ” (p. 12), which latter
must be draw n from the ground in the same manner as the Mandrakes of old. We
suspect the Palmate or Hand Orchis is intended in the latter instance. If Nature
Notes numbers any Irishmen or Irishwomen among its readers, they may be able
to supply information on the subject, and at the same time to tell us what is the
English or scientific equivalent of the “ lizard called the ‘ Mankeeper’ ” (p. 16).
Sylvanus Redivivus (Sampson Low, Marston, &c. ) is from the pen of Mrs. M.
Houstoun, the prolific authoress of “ Recommended to Mercy” and many other
novels. In it she deals to some extent with the life of the Rev. John Mitford,
much more fully with the biography of “ his friend and fellow naturalist,”
Edward Jesse, and in still greater detail with the principal events in the life of
Mrs. M. Houstoun. The book contains a number of amusing anecdotes, many of
them on subjects connected with natural history and rural sports ; but the naivete of
the writer and her strange want of reticence on many subjects of a private nature
often produce considerable amusement when the evident intention is to be most
solemn and edifying. Perhaps at the present moment the most interesting of the
narratives is that describing the grievance of Mrs. Houstoun against the Times
newspaper, which throws some very interesting light upon the methods and value
of literary criticism in that journal. Many incidents occur in the pages of the
work which show the kind-hearted nature of Mr. Jesse and his daughter, and
their great love cf animals. One very touching story tells how J esse gave up entirely
the “ sport ” of hare hunting, in which he had previously delighted, on hearing
his daughter’s description of the scene where the “ most timid of God’s creatures
sent up to heaven its death-cry, dreadfully human, for it closely resembled that
-of a tortured child.” We have noticed several misprints in the volume, including
the very common blunder of spelling that much-mispronounced as well as mis-
spelt word “fuchsia” as “fuschia.”
Dr. Emerson’s English Idyls (Sampson Low & Co.) is a series of short
sketches of East Anglian life, by no means wanting in interest, and containing
much information about “ all sorts and conditions of men” (and women). The
book is somewhat marred, however, by sundry affectations, both in style and typo-
graphy, which makes it less pleasant to read than would have been the case had
these been omitted.
Mr. J. Cuming Walters has given us a pretty as well as an interesting
book in In Tennyson Land (Redway). Everything connected with our President is
of interest not only to Selbornians, but to the world at large ; and this “ attempt
to identify the scenes and to trace the influences of Lincolnshire in his works ” has
already met with a favourable reception. So far as the first-mentioned “ attempt ”
is concerned, the best possible authority does not admit that Mr. Walters has been
successful. He certainly, however, shows the influence of Lincolnshire where we
should expect to find it — in the dietion of the poet, and if we demur to the state-
ment that “ a breath of Lincolnshire lingers about the pictures of Camelot,” we
may admit that “the repetition of words like ridge, grange, slope, shard, moor,
mere, copse, trench, dyke, wattled, beck, flats, gorge, quarry, thicket, dune, fen,
reed, creek, cove, holm, barrows (mounds), wold,” show, taken together, a Lincoln-
shire phraseology, although, taken separately, many of them are familiar elsewhere.
The illustrations, notably that of Somersby Rectory, the poet’s birthplace, add
much to the value of this attractive book.
The Field Club (Elliot Stock) is a magazine of general natural history
which we would recommend to readers of Nature Notes who wish to supplement
the information contained in our pages by more technical and specialised study
■of natural history. The Editor of the Field Club is the Rev. Theodore Wood,
SELBORNIANA.
45
whose father was known to all lovers of nature as one of the most humane as well
as most enthusiastic of naturalists, and who has himself been always a warm
supporter of the Selborne Society. The magazine under notice is evidently
conducted on similar principles ; and in the February number is a strongly-
expressed petition from the Rev. F. O. Morris against the destruction of young
birds “under the pretence of bird’s-nesting.”
Mr. Elliot Stock has attained a well-merited reputation as the publisher of
a special class of literature dealing with the aesthetic rather than the scientific
aspects of nature. Of these works, which have a considerable family resem-
blance to each other, Idylls of the Field , by Mr. F. A. Knight, the author of By
Leafy Ways, is a good example. It is a well-printed and beautifully illustrated
little book containing a number of pleasant sketches, reprinted from the Daily
News, on such subjects as “Winter in the Marshes,” “A Sea-bird’s Haunt,”
“Cheddar Cliffs,” “The Heart of the Forest,” &c. Mr. Knight has many times
been compared to the late Richard Jefferies, and although we cannot rank him as
high as that inimitable observer of nature, it would be hard to mention any writer
of the present day who has more closely inherited the spirit of the author of
Wood Magic and The Gamekeeper at Home.
Mr. H. W. Worsley Benison’s Haunts of Nature is a book issued by the same
publisher, with a like “ get up,” and on similar topics. Mr. Kenison, however,
as one would expect from a Botanical Lecturer to a Medical School, is somewhat
more scientific in his method of dealing with nature. He treats in very pleasant
fashion of such subjects as “Protective Mimicry in Insects” and “The Min-
istry of Leaves;” but is not above saying “A Good Word for the Mole,” in
which a very good case is made out for that “much-despised natural engineer.”
The article on “ Wake-Robin” is so very like one of Mr. Grant Allen’s imaginative
evolutionary discourses that it would perhaps have been well to allude to the
work of the previous writer. Mr. Allen, however, is certainly not imitated in the
very numerous didactic moralisings with which Mr. Benison intersperses his pages.
A good example may be found on p. 144, in the series of sentences ending with
a note of admiration. “ Plow suggestive . . . ! ” “ How it speaks . . . ! ”
“ How it bids us . . . !” “How it tells us . . . !” “ How it urges us
. . . ! ” “How it sings . . . ! ” &c., &c. We had imagined this sort of
thing was rather out of date, even in homiletic discourses, but it is plain that some-
people admire it, and even those who do not must not let it blind them to the
many real merits of a pleasant little book.
In connection with Selbornian literature we may remind our readers that in
the March Magazines there are two articles of special interest to admirers of
Gilbert White. In Murray's Magazine the Rev. J. Vaughan writes on “ Selborne
Past and Present,” and the National Review contains an article on “ The Cen-
tenary of White’s Selborne." Selborniana, notices of the Selborne Society,
and of its Magazine are now of frequent occurrence in the journals of the day.
The Daily News and the Daily Graf hie are prominent in that respect ; but the
weekly paper which devotes most space to such matters is certainly the Richmond
and Twickenham Times. The Editor, Mr. King, to whose energy the Lower
Thames Valley Branch of the Selborne Society owes so much, seems to be per-
petually on the qiti vive for “Selborne jottings” to which he devotes a most
interesting column.
SELBORNIANA.
A Plea for the Primrose. — Now that “Primrose Day” is within a
month’s distance, may I call attention to Mr. Britten’s remarks in your first
number (p. 9), and appeal again to all true Selbornians to use their influence
against the wholesale destruction of this lovely ornament of our woods and hedge-
banks? It is not, of course, against the gathering of Primroses, no matter in
what quantity, that we should protest ; but against the wholesale uprooting and
wanton destruction of plants, which is far too common among those who collect
46
NATURE NOTES.
the flowers for use on April 19th. Whether the late Lord Beaconsfield had any
special fondness for Primroses is very doubtful ; their association with his death-
day is doubtless due to the fact that the Queen inscribed on a wreath of them,
sent to his funeral, the words, “ His favourite flower ” — the pronoun referring,
not to Lord Beaconsfield, but to Prince Albert. Be that as it may, however, the
wearing of the Primrose on April 19th — on which day not only Lord Beacons-
field, but the great naturalist, Mr. Darwin, was taken from us — has become a
national observance, and we Selbornians must do all in our power to prevent the
immolation of this latest victim at the altar of fashion. G. S. R.
A Browning Query (p. 28'. — Mr. F. A. Hort writes : “ Surely it is the
little Wood sorrel (Oxalis Acetosel/c) that is referred to, and not the arum or an
orchid.” Miss E. M. Spooner encloses a leaf of a cyclamen ( C . hederafolium),
and suggests that this may be the plant intended : this, however, could hardly be
the case if an English flower was meant, as the cyclamen is of the rarest occur-
ence among us in a wild state. We are not ourselves satisfied that Mr. Hort’s
solution is the correct one.
The “ King Horny.” — May I ask for some information concerning the
fly (used by anglers, I am told), with large feet and something like a bee in shape,
which is called by country people a “King Horny?” I found one in the
summer, walking up a window-pane, and was struck by its singular appearance.
E. V. B.
Peculiar Blackbirds. — I should like to know if it is common for black-
birds to suffer from delicacy of the chest. There is always at least one blackbird
with a cough, who frequents our garden. He coughs when he comes to breakfast
under the windows at eight o’clock. The bird looks rather puffy, but seems quite
well, and the cough does not affect his appetite. A relative of this blackbird, with
the same sort of cough, has been heard about the garden for some years. It may
possibly be the same bird, but I think not, as the cough is somewhat different in
sound, and I have some recollection of hearing them both cough at the same time.
In November there were immense flocks of blackbirds in our orchards and fields,
and we suppose it was then they took the opportunity of stripping the mistletoe of
its berries ; for when Christmas arrived, not a mistletoe could be found that was
not quite bare of berries. A pied blackbird has for the last four years made its
abode in a woody corner of our grounds. There is, of course, no absolute certainty
that this is the same individual bird that we have watched during that space of time ;
the inference follows from the fact of only one having ever been seen at one time.
When first observed, there was only a little white about the wings. The white,
however, seems to have increased year by year, until at the present time the whole
of the back and breast appear snow white, the head jet black, with rather sym-
metrical white feathers in wings and tail. The bird seems to be almost conscious
of its own peculiarity, for it is scarce ever seen but in the early morning, or at dusk.
Even then it flies low. and when disturbed seeks at once the cover of some hedge,
or of its own safe corner. Our anxiety is, lest the existence of this beautiful bird
should become known to some of the reckless, ruthless bird destroyers who prowl
•round the hedges and field paths. E. V. B.
Chevisaunce. — Miss C. E. Leycester writes : “I have been for some
months seeking light, and finding none, upon the flower ‘ Chevisaunce,’ men-
tioned by Spenser in his Shepherd’s Calendar (April). Was any flower so called ?
or was it his invention ? ”
[The New English Dictionary adds a second reference to the name, which
is found in T. Robinson’s Mary Magdalene , c. 1620 ; but the context sug-
gests that Robinson’s lines were adapted from those of Spenser. Dr. Prior says
the name is “evidently a misprint for cherisaunce, comfort, heart’s-ease, the
Cheiri or Wallflower, the plant to which the name of Heartsease was originally
.given. The word occurs in Chaucer’s Romaunt of the Rose , 1. 3337.
“ ‘ For I ne knew ne cherisaunce.'' ”
Dr. Prior’s derivation may be the correct one, but we do not know on what
authority he states that the Wallflower was the original Heartsease. It is true
that Turner so applies the name ; but Lyte and Tusser assign it to the plant nowa-
days known as Heartsease.]
SELBORNIANA.
47
Hampshire Local Names. — Mr. Fowler’s list in our last issue has elicited
the following replies :
The Rev. H. D. Gordon writes from Petersfield : “Mr. Fowler’s ‘Wet your
neck ’ is the green wood-pecker, though I have heard our foresters apply it to the
Wryneck.”
Capt. S. G. Reid writes from Otterhead, Honiton : “ The name ‘blood lark’
is given to the tree pipit on the Hants and Surrey border near Farnham, pre-
sumably from the not unusual red or pink tint of the eggs. I was much puzzled
when I heard the name, but the capture of a ‘ blood lark ’ on its nest in my
presence settled the question.”
Mr. Fowler adds the following Hampshire plant-names, overlooked in writing
•out his previous list
Pussy-cat
* Rush-cane
Dead-men’s-hands
*La vender-snip
*IIemmin-an’-sewin
*Time-table
* Canary-seed
*Virgin Mary
*Poison-weed
*Bugles
‘‘Devil’s-night-cap
Catkin
Typha latifolia
Orchis 7/iascula
I.inaria Cytnbalaria
Yarrow
Dandelion
Pla.nla.vo major
Pulmonaria officinalis
Sedum (any kind)
Echium vulgar e
Larkspur
The names marked with an asterisk are not to be found in the Dictionary of
English Plant Names. Some of them are explained by comparison with other
names of the plants, such as “ Bugles,” “Time-table,” “Canary-weed,” “Virgin
Mary,” See. ; but we should be glad to know if there is any local explanation of
“ Heminin’-an’-sewin’” or “Lavender-snip;” or why the Stonecrops are called
“ Poison- weed.”
The Note of the Cuckoo. — Mr. A. Halte Macpherson writes : “ Ihope Mrs.
Blathwayt’s interesting remarks on the note of the Cuckoo may stimulate other
readers of Nature Notes to make similar observations on the songs of birds
this coming summer. In the case of birds which have a regular song, as dis-
tinguished from a call note, it is practically impossible to reduce the sounds to
musical notation. This is owing to the flexibility of the song and the bird touch-
ing all sorts of notes intermediate between those we recognise in our scale ; the
pitch also is frequently extremely high. On the other hand, the cries of such birds
as the Cuckoo and Owls and the call notes of many of the smaller species can easily
be tested with a tuning fork.
“ There seems some doubt as to whether the typical note of the Cuckoo — when
it is in full song — should be considered a major or a minor third. From the few
observations I have made, I am inclined to think they usually sing the former
interval ; and Mrs. Blathwayt remarks that Beethoven gives it as a major third in
his Pastoral Symphony. But, on the other hand, popular opinion inclines
strongly to its being a minor third ; and Haydn gives it as such in his Toy Sym-
phony (G to E, I think). No doubt the interval, like the pitch, varies in different
birds. Later in the season, about the middle of May, the interval gets rather
wider ; early in June I have heard a distinct and perfect fourth ; and a few days
after this almost a fifth. But the cry by this time is very unpleasant, the first
note being doubled and very ugly, and the second almost inaudible. As the male
birds, which alone utter the cry according to the best opinion, rarely move far
from the spot where they take up their stations on their arrival in England, a
series of valuable observations on the call of an individual bird could be made
without much difficulty. It would be most interesting to learn to what extent
the pitch as well as the intervals varied during the season.”
Appearance of Birds, Flowers, &c. — We have received a large amount
of information on this subject, as well as some suggestions for the enlargement of
this department of Nature Notes. Unfortunately instead of any enlargement, we
are obliged grievously to curtail the notes kindly forwarded, for the reasons given
in “ Notice to Correspondents.” Miss Tracey records the appearance of the
hawfinch at Bovey Tracey, on Feb. 23rd, and Mr. Manley Hopkins found the
same bird at Has emere on Feb. 17th. A hawfinch was found in St. James’s
48
NATURE NOTES.
Park on Jan. 30th, so that the bird seems more common this year than usual.
Mr. Herbert King notes missel thrushes pairing on Feb. 14th, robins and
sparrows on Feb. 27th, at Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. Mrs. Turner writes to
say she had in her garden at Ryde, Isle of Wight, Celanothus dentatus blooming
in February.
OFFICIAL NOTICES, WORK OF BRANCHES, &c.
The object of the Selborne Society is to unite lovers of Nature for common
study and the defence of natural objects (birds, plants, beautiful landscapes, &c.)
against the destruction by which they are constantly menaced. The minimum
Annual Subscription (which entitles the subscriber to a monthly copy of the
Society’s Magazine) is 2S. 6d. All particulars as to membership may be obtained
from the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
We record with much satisfaction the establishment of the first Scottish Branch
of the Selborne Society. We have received several queries as to the work of the
Society in Scotland, where Selbornian efforts against marauders and confiscators
of public rights are sorely needed : and we hope that the “ River Forth ” Branch is
the precursor of many others in various parts of the Scottish kingdom.
The Hon. Secretary of the Bath Branch wishes to make public the following
notice: — “Brigade Surgeon Cockell again offers a prize of half-a-guinea for the
best illustration of the objects of the Selborne Society. The subject may be
illustrated in black and white, or colour. The sketch must not exceed twelve by
eighteen inches, and may be mounted but not framed. This competition is only
open to amateurs, who must forward their work to Mrs. Wheatcroft’s Studio,
Abbey Chambers, Bath, not later than April 25th, 1890. Any queries respecting
the same must be accompanied by a stamped envelope. ”
A number of letters have reached us with enquiries as to the back numbers of
the Selborne Magazine , especially the numbers for November and December, 1889.
We have tried all official sources in vain, and should be glad to hear from
Secretaries of Branches, or others, w ho hold surplus copies of the Magazine for
the months named, in order that we may publish the fact. For the present we
may mention that the Hon. Secretary of the Haslemere Branch has one whole set
of 1888, one of 1889, and single numbers of November and December, 1889.
Communications to be addressed to Miss A. M. Buckton, Weycombe, Haslemere.
The January No. of Nature Notes has now been reprinted, and may be had of the
Publishers.
NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.
We have again to ask for the indulgence of those who have kindly sent us
articles and letters ; it is impossible to find room for a tithe of the correspondence
which reaches us. We find that it would be difficult to increase the size of the
Magazine without incurring considerable loss, as we are bound to supply it to the
Branches at a very low rate, which precludes the idea of profit. Under these cir-
cumstances several members have entertained the idea of starting a special Magazine
Fund, which would enable increased space to be put at the disposal of con-
tributors. Perhaps those of our readers w'ho look favourably on this suggestion
will communicate with us on the subject. May w'e remind correspondents
that short communications, legibly written on one side of the paper only, are
much more likely to obtain insertion than those which do not comply with these
conditions. It is particularly requested that subscriptions and letters bearing on
the general business of the Society should not be forwarded to the Editors.
Editorial communications should be addressed to the Rev. Percy Myles, i,
Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
IRature (Rotes :
abe Selborne Society’s flDacia3tne.
No. 4. APRIL 15, 1890. Vol. I.
THE MAVIS AND THE MERLE.*
With swiftly broken sentences of song,
’Ere yet the stars had faded to the grey
The Thrush began ; he fluted all the day,
And when the sun set, did his tune prolong
In passionate iterations ; thro’ the throng
Of inexpressible thoughts, from far away
Came a sad voice, a solemn liquid lay,
A silver undercurrent clear and strong ;
That was the Blackbird's — he who tho’ his bill
Be gold and gay, has never changed his weeds.
For ever, though the crocus flame and die,
And buttercup to daffodil succeeds,
He feels that love is linked with sorrow still, *
He knows how soon the little ones will fly.
H. D. Rawnsley.
* “ Written after carefal listening to the note of Thrush and Blackbird.” — Extract
from Author's letter.
50
DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS OF PREY IN THE
HEBRIDES.
HE true headquarters of the nobler British birds of prey
are in Scotland, on the “ rock-bound coast and savage
islands of the stormy West.” Among the islands
especially, almost every species is more abundantly re-
presented than anywhere else. The Kite, indeed, is the only
common bird of the group that is wanting, though from time to
time a straggler has been found in the Isle of Skye.
The Golden Eagle, though still probably more abundant on
the outer Hebrides thai> anywhere on the mainland, has
gradually become very scarce. It may, indeed, at times be seen
on any one of the Hebrides, but its eyrie is a sight that rarely
gladdens the eyes of the most adventurous amateur. The first
opportunity I had of really seeing this noble bird was on the
slopes of Ben More in the Isle of Lewis. He was about two
hundred yards away, standing on a stone by the side of a pool,
completely absorbed in his morning bath. By crouching under
a friendly boulder I could follow his every movement through a
glass. When first observed, he was rapidly darting his head
under the surface of the water and throwing great showers of
spray over his back and wings. This done, he shook himself
vigorously, flapped his wings several times, struck the surface
of the water with them violently, then rose in the air with a
shrill cry and flew leisurely towards the top of the Ben, round
which he floated in great circles, ascending higher and higher
each time, till almost out of sight. In a quarter of an hour he
came sailing down to his pool again and re-commenced his
bath. This was repeated three times, then he left for the day.
Several hours afterwards I could just see him a mere speck in
the azure sky, slowly circling round the favoured mountain.
The White-tailed Eagle is much more abundant than its
royal relative. Its headquarters are in the island of Skye,
where it may, as a rule, be found wherever the scenery is
peculiarly wild and savage. It breeds regularly too, in Canna,
Eigg, and North Uist, and on several other rocky islets of the
West. Not unfrequently it may also be seen with half ex-
panded drooping wings sitting motionless on the highest ledges
of the tremendous cliffs of Cape Wrath and the Mull of Oe in
Islay, though the eyries there seem now to be completely
deserted.
It was in one of its favourite haunts in the north-east of
Skye that I had an opportunity of seeing the bird close at hand.
Its eyrie was built on a triangular ledge on the face of a nearly
perpendicular mass of basalt, several hundred feet above the
sea, which thundered along the base of the cliff. The ascent
was difficult and dangerous, but after many trials, was at length
achieved. The female sat on the nest till I was within a few
THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS OF PREY . 51
yards of her, then flew screaming away. The nest was very
large, measuring over four feet in diameter and consisted of
sticks with branches of fir, juniper, and heather twined closely
together. The bottom was scantily lined with sphagnum,
rushes, some brown-seaweed and a few feathets, upon which
lay the two eggs, one of them quite unstained and probably
newly laid. Beside the nest were a large quantity of fish debris,
some bird claws and the bones of a hare or rabbit;
A few minutes after the departure of the female, she returned
with her mate, and both continued circling round at some dis-
tance till I descended. Once the female approached courageous-
ly and unpleasantly near, but made no attempt to attack me,
though I had been assured in the morning before starting that if
I went near the nest I should certainly be hurled ovet the cliff
by a well-directed blow from her wings ! The male was a
splendid bird and must have been of considerable age, as his
head and neck were almost white.
Near Loch Lomond in Argyleshire, a curious structure of
interwoven sticks and branches in the heart of a tree has been
pointed out to me as a deserted eyrie of this bird.
More interesting than the White-tailed Eagle, on account of
its amazing dexterity and grace of movement, is the Osprey.
Unfortunately, however, it is one of the rarest of our British
birds. Only on one occasion in the south of the Sound of Sleat,
have I been able to watch it at a distance through a glass, now
hovering with motionless wings, now sailing slowly round, or
rushing through the air with vigorous beats of its long, powerful
wings, suddenly checking itself in its impetuous flight, and
darting downwards with the velocity of an arrow to clutch with
its strangely adapted claws some unfortunate fish that its
piercing eye has detected in the waters beneath.
Probably one of the best known birds amongst our feathered
nobility, and notwithstanding the extraordinary persecution to
which it has been subjected, still one of the most abundant, is
the beautiful Peregrine Falcon. The marvellous rapidity of its
flight, the grace of its movements and the magnificent swoop
with which it darts upon its prey, have for centuries been cele-
brated in song and story. Moreover, it is one of the most
daring of birds, and by its superior agility and swiftness gives
battle successfully to the White-tailed Eagle. Its headquarters
are in the Isle of Skye, but it is tolerably abundant in Mull,
Inra, Islay, Colonsay and even Arran.
Another graceful bird, almost rivalling the Peregrine in speed,
but widely differing from it in the tenacity with which it hunts
down its prey, is the Merlin, or Falconet. This bird may be
found throughout the whole of Western Scotland. With less
tenacity in the chase, but still more incredible rapidity in seizing
stationary prey is the Sparrow Hawk, seemingly confined in
Western Scotland to Lewis and the North of Harris.
The common Kestril is tolerably abundant over all the
52
NATURE NOTES.
Hebrides. The Buzzard, on the other hand, is either rare or
totally a-wanting in the outer islands, though it breeds in Skye,.
Mull, Inra and probably Islay. The Hen-harrier, last of the
common British nobler birds of prey, is found in probably all the
larger islands of the Hebrides. On the moors of North Uist I
have found four different nests in a single day.
In addition to the birds already named there are, of course,
many others belonging to the same group which are certainly
British, but they are of too rare occurrence to necessitate
special mention at present.
The ceaseless persecution to which our nobler British birds
of prey have so long been subjected, has sadly thinned the
numbers of all and brought some of them perilously near the
verge of extinction.
Save for one or two eyries in the west of Invernesshire the Os-
prey has now completely disappeared, while our two native Eagles
are gradually dwindling in numbers even in their most favourite
haunts. Were it not for the extreme shyness of the White-tailed
Eagle, and the protection extended to it by many gamekeepers
for the sake of its eggs, this noble bird would in all probability
have already become extinct. The Hen-harriers, too, will very
soon be completely exterminated, unless their shameless
massacre be in some way prevented. As this bird returns daily
to the same spot to feed, it is the easiest of all the birds of prey
to shoot. In one year alone over fifty were, to my personal
knowledge, killed in the Outer Hebrides by agents of dealers
and so-called “ sportsmen.” The most generally persecuted
bird, however, is the beautiful Peregrine Falcon. Throughout
the whole of the west of Scotland it is mercilessly slaughtered.
During a holiday tour in Skye, an English clergyman shot
thirteen, his plea being, “ They do look so beautiful when
stuffed ! ”
Eagles and Hawks, it is true, do occasionally help them-
selves to a few young lambs and grouse, but the number killed
for that reason is very small compared with those destroyed
wantonly or for sake of gain.
Lists of prices that will be given for the skins and eggs of
various birds are secretly circulated by rapacious dealers among
gamekeepers and peasantry. The result of offering as much as
£\^ to a half-starving villager for a single egg of the Osprey or
Golden Eagle, can well be imagined. Such a practice, unless
promptly suppressed, must soon lead to the complete exter-
mination of these noble birds.
James Clark.
53
YORKSHIRE NAMES.
[The following words and traditions were collected near Wakefield, in the East
Riding. Yorkshire dialect has been so well worked that the list contains com-
paratively little that is new, although the confirmation of previous investigation is
always useful. Our readers will add to their kindness if they will mention the
year in which the names they may send were collected. — Eds.]
Blue-bottle
* Black-man-flower
*Blag
Bird-eye ...
Bird-nests
Caw-mumble
Cloves or Clove-flowers
Cleats
Coddle-apple
Curns
Cuckoo-flower
Dog-mouth
Dockins ...
Dafly-down-dilly
Dead-men-fingers
Earthsmoke
Eggs and bacon ...
Flag
Fiddle
:;:Granny-hood . . .
Hard-heads
Lad-love-lass "I
Old man
Lady’s-cushion . . .
*Lady’s-tuft
"Lady’s- wedding
"^Lady-shakes
Herb Bennett
Milkmaid...
Headache
Parson-i’-t’-pulpit
Tom -thumb
Tongue-bleed
Sparrow-grass ...
Centaurea Cyanus
Prunella vulgaris
Blackberry
Veronica
Seed-heads of Daucus Carota
Heracleum Sphondylium
Dianthus Caryophyllus
Tussilago Farfara
Epilobium (any of the smaller)
Currants
Cardamine pratensis
Antirrhinum majus
Rumex (any)
Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus
Orchis mascula
Fumaria pallidiflora
Linar ia vulgaris
Iris Pseud-acorus
Scrophularia nodosa
Aquilegia vulgaris
Centaurea nigra
Southern-wood
White garden Saxifrage
Sweet-William
Early white phlox
Briza media
Geum urbanum
Stellaria Holostea
Papaver Rhoeas
A rum maculatum
Lotus corniculatus
Galium Aparine
Asparagus officinalis
There are many sayings in reference to the wild flowers such
as : —
1. “If bud’s-eye be open nar rain ’ill fall.”
2. “ Caurtin’ ’ill cease when t’garse is out o’ flower.”
3. “ Fox-gloves kill all other plants.”
4. If an apple tree has flowers and fruit on at the same time,
tis a sign of misfortune to the owner.
5. The juice of the sun spurge will cure warts.
54
NATURE NOTES.
6. On finding a plant of Shepherd’s Purse open a seed-vessel ;
if the seed is yellow you will be rich, if green you will be poor.
7. Poppies will give you a headache if you gather them.
8. A bunch of rosemary thrown into a grave will make the
spirit rest.
9. If a stranger plants parsley in the garden, great trouble
will befall the owner.
10. If Rose-mary flourishes in a garden, the wife will be
master ; if it dies, the master will ?
11. “ Dead-men-fingers be bad plants; you mun niver pull
’em.”
12. If a child gather “Black-man-flowers,” Black man will
carry him off in the night.
13. “ If t’oak blaws afore t’esh,
“ Then we’ rean we’ll get a splash.
“ If t’esh blaws afore t’oak,
“ Then de-pend we’ll heve a soak.”
14. “ Many berries make a hard winter.”
15. Take a dead “Hard-head” blossom and put it under
your pillow. In the morning, if it has sprouted afresh, you will
marry }rour lover ; if it has not sprouted you will never marry, or
marry some unknown person.
[“ Bird-nests” for the wild carrot dates back to the time of Gerard, who says :
“ The whole tuft [of flowers] is drawn togither when the seede is ripe, resembling
a birdes’ nest, whereupon it hath been named by some bird’s nest.” “ Coddle-
apple ” (which we have from Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire) was suggested
by the smell of the flowers and young shoots of the Willowherb. “ Fiddle ”
[or “ Fiddle- wood ”] was so-called because children strip the angular stems of
their leaves, and produce a squeaking sound by drawing one across the other.
“Granny-hood” is new to us for the Columbine, though Monk’s-hood has
many similar names; is there any confusion here? “Tongue-bleed” is so
named because children draw the rough leaves of Cleavers across their tongue,
and so draw blood. The name “ Tom-thumb” is given to a very similar plant.
Lathy rus prat 'fit sis, in Sussex and Berks.]
Bird Names.
Yeller-bird
Yellow Hammer
Yeller-bill...
Blackbird
Throstle ...
Song Thrush
Blue tit ...
Tomtit
Spink
Chaffinch
Shep
Starling
Storm-cock
Missel Thrush
Sand-swallow
Sand Martin
Pee-weep...
Lapwing
Peggy- white-throat
White-throat
Nanny dish-washer
Water Wag-tail
^Northern Thrush
Fieldfare
Green-linnet
Greenfinch
Fire-flitstarf
Redstart
t Mr. Swainson has “Fire-_/fr>/,” from the continual motion of its tail, which it
constantly jerks up and down.
YORKSHIRE NAMES.
55
Feather-poke Long-tailed-tit
Diggery Duckling
Dicky-dunkin ... ... Hedge Sparrow
1. “ If a boy “ pulls ” a robin's nest he will break his leg.”
2. “ ’Tis lucky to have a swallow’s nest on the house.”
i.
Mammal, Fish and Insect Names.
Askard 1
Eft j
Bull-head...
Bed-mate...
Brock
Buzzard ...
Clam
Cushey-cow-lad}
Furze-pig
Fummit ...
Hairy-man
Lop
Molery-warp
Ratton
Kittling ...'
Newt
Tad-pole
Bug
Badger
Blue-bottle fly
Freshwater mussel
■ Lady-bird
Hedgehog
Weasel
Larva of Tiger Moth
Flea
Mole
Rat
Kitten
“ If t'cats leiiket
“ T’ weather 'ill break.”
2. If a horse rolls it is a sign of rain.
3. If the cattle graze in groups, it is a sign of a thunderstorm.
4. It is unlucky to hear a dog howl.
5. Turn your money for luck when you see your first lamb of
the season.
6. Spiders in the house denote rain.
7. It is lucky to see a spider in the house in the morning ; but
unlucky to see it in the evening.
8. If you swallow a tad-pole it will never die, but go on
growing in your inside.
9. It is unluckly for a rabbit to cross your path.
10. It is unlucky for a crow to fly over the house.
I have seen many people in the West Riding of Yorkshire
who suppose themselves suffering from animals that had got into
them — one with an eft that had crept into his ear and caused
him to be deaf ; one with a fummit, another with a frog, in their
stomachs. Most of these animals were supposed to have effected
an entry when too small to attract observation, and then to have
grown, until they became too large to be affected by medicine.
W. M. E. Fowler.
* The names indicated by a prefixed asterisk are those which do not appear in
our most complete catalogues of popular nomenclature — the Rev. C. Swainson’s
“ Folk lore and Provincial Names of British Birds,” and Messrs. Britten and
Holland’s “Dictionary of English Plant-names,” two works which we have
adopted as our standard of reference,
t Leake=play.
56
CHILDREN’S COLUMN,
A Windfall.
HIGH wind, one day last July, blew down a Thrush’s
nest from a fine old elm tree. Three young birds
were found on the lawn ; two were killed by the fall,
but the one in the picture looked quite unhurt, so it
was brought into the house and fed. Next morning it was put
in a cage and hung at an open window. The parent birds soon
heard the lonely prisoner's cry and came to feed it ; they looked
BOOKS FOR NATURE LOVERS.
57
shy at first when they saw near the cage three smiling faces,
but love soon conquered all fear and a worm was placed by
them in the little one’s open beak. After his repast, Dicky
settled his feathers and had a nap, while one of the parents
found another worm and rested on the branch of a tree opposite
the cage till the little one awoke and chirped, which it did about
every half hour. Each day the bright little captive grew
stronger and handsomer, and after a ten days’ stay with us,
the cage with the door open was left on the floor. Dicky’s
parents, no doubt, found this out and called him away, which
was just what its friends wished should happen. A young
Thrush sometimes seen near the house was thought to be the
little nurseling, but soon its pinions were spread and all traces
of it were lost. The writer sat close to the cage to take the
prisoner’s portrait and was much interested in what she wit-
nessed.
Tower House, Cotham, Bristol. P. A. Fry.
BOOKS FOR NATURE LOVERS.
It would be hard to find a more charming little volume, both externally
and internally, than Days and Hours in a Garden , by E. V. B. (Elliot Stock),
of which the seventh edition has just reached us. Although the authoress gives
only her initials on the title page, many Selbornians will at once recognise
in them the well-known signature of the Hon. Mrs. R. C. Boyle, one of the
earliest and most enthusiastic supporters of the Selborne Society. Many of
us, no doubt, are familiar with this delightful, daintily-dressed, beautifully-
illustrated little book ; but to those who do not yet know it, whether they
are lovers of gardens or not, let us heartily recommend it as probably the
most beautiful and loving description of a garden ever written. It has the unusual
quality of making the trees and flowers spoken of seem to us as if they were real
individuals, not merely “ fine specimens.” By the aid of the exquisite vignettes, we
get to know this garden better than we know many gardens we have often visited ;
we know all its treasures, and delight in them as if they were our own ; we know,
too, all the living; creatures which make it their pleasant home, and wish them
well. And so it is with that mingling of joy and sorrow, that comes from hearing
in the same letter news of the good and evil fate of old friends, that former readers
of “ Days and Hours ” read in a preface dated February, 1890 : — “ As to the living
frequenters of the garden, whose presence there for the most part enhances our
enjoyment of it, the tomtits and the nuthatches are as busy with the cocoa-nuts
which hang for their use all winter from the rose-arches, as the mice and the
sparrows are with the crocuses ; the white pigeons still circle in the air and settle
upon the gables, or preen their feathers in the sunshine amongst the yellow stone-
crop at the base of the old grey pillar in the parterr ; the swallows return year by
year to their nests within the porch ; but the faithful, satin-coated collie lies still
for ever under the turf by the ivied wall, and the earth lies heavy on his noble
head Already the snowdrops are giving way before impatient
hepaticas and primroses, the bare elms are thickening with purple, and we begin
to count the gentian buds. Everywhere Nature repairs herself in ceaseless round.
Only in our human hives some vacant spots there may be where the grass will not
grow green again.”
It seems thankless to point out any blemishes in so delightful a volume ; but
the “ Rhadamanthine ” reviewer must express his regret that there are still many
misprints in the scientific names of plants. We are not pedants in this matter. In
a book like that under notice we much prefer English names, if they may be had.
We rather like the quaint spelling “ parterr,” and the revived Spenserian form
58
NATURE NOTES.
“ yewen hedge we should be quite willing to change “Mrs. Sinkins ” into
Arethusa or Boule de Neige ; we like the fanciful nomenclature by which the
beautiful trees of the garden become the knights and ladies of King Arthur’s Court
— Sir Launcelot, and Sir Bedevere, and Morgan-le-faye — though we are sorry that
there is no room found in this earthly paradise for poor guilty Guinevere. But if
scientific names are used at all, they ought to be used consistently and spelt cor-
rectly. “ Phylleria ” for “ Phillyrea “Pavias” for“ Pavia;” “Tropceolum”
for “ Tropreolum “ chalcedonia ” for “ chalcedonica “ Bromus aspen” for
“ Bromus asper ” are misprints which surely ought not to appear in a seventh
edition. “ Daphne pontifia” (the name given for the spurge laurel on p. 133) is
probably a misprint for “ Daphne pontica but the spurge laurel is really “ Daphne
Laureola.” “Pyrus Malus ” is the botanical name for the apple. “ Pyrus malus ”
(p. 123) is merely the Latin for “ a bad pear !” So with many others. Doubtless
the seventh edition of Days and Hours in a Garden will soon be succeeded by our
eighth, and then we hope that not even a technical or typographical error will mar
the pages of so fair a book.
Science and Scientists, Some Papers on Natural History by the Rev. John
Gerard, S. J. (Catholic Truth Society) is a book much more adapted to the
tastes of nature-lovers than its somewhat vague and unattractive title suggests.
The scientists referred to are those popularisers of science who “ stroll out to the
fields, or the moors, or the sea-shore, where every object they meet— beast, bird,
insect, or weed — furnishes them with a text wherewith to enforce the great creed
formulated by exact science and exact thought concerning the origin of the
heavens and the earth.” From this habit of imparting information while they
take their walks abroad, Father Gerard calls them “ Neo-peripatetics,” or modern
walking sages, and he recognises as head “ walker ” the popular essayist and
novelist, Mr. Grant Allen, with whom accordingly he determines to enter the lists.
Now Mr. Grant Allen is quite accustomed to being attacked by scientific
specialists and learned ecclesiastics ; but being nimble and cunning of fence he
generally manages to get the best of it, for he can slip beneath their guard and runs
them through with a gibe or a good story while they are seeking to crush him
with their ponderous weapons of rigid logic and accurate statement of fact. In
these wit combats Mr. Grant Allen for the most part continues to secure the
sympathy of the spectators ; his style, as we all know', is delightful, and above all
else his easy familiarity ingratiates him with those who have no pretensions to
technical scientific training. “ Don’t bore yourself with all these dull books and
dry technicalities in order to see whether my theories are correct, ” says he to his
readers, “ let us go out into the fields and pluck a buttercup, or eat a wild straw-
berry, or look at an arum, or watch a donkey browsing on the common. And the
“ general reader,” leaving the dull technical treatises on the shelf, arises gladly,
accepts the genial invitation and listens eagerly, while the “ walking sage ” ex-
plains to him all about the buttercup, and the arum, and the donkey. And very
nice w'alks they are, too, and very much we enjoy them, readily and unquestion-
ingly we accept the information which our kind guide gives us about the juicy
strawberry, who competes with his “ chaffy ” brethren in the race of life, or about
the wicked “ lobster-pot-like ” Arum (the original criminal “ who killed Cock
Robin,” not with bow and arrow, but basely by poison), and about the aristo-
cratic donkey whose high position irreverent men rudely refuse to recognise, nor
will they pay the deference they ought to one of Nature’s “ unfortunate noble-
men.”
But Father Gerard refuses to be put on the shelf while our peripatetic tutor is
giving us all this valuable and amusing information. “ I will put on my hat and
come too,” says he, “together we will pluck our buttercup and eat our strawberry
and watch, & c., &c.” The result of these joint expeditions may be found in the
pleasant little volume before us. In it the ambulatory method is recognised as the
right one ; but is turned against its originator with considerable skill. Mr. Grant
Allen is in a fashion, hoist with his own petard, and finds he has a very different
anatagonist to deal with from those ponderous Dryasdusts who think it wise to
conduct a guerilla warfare with an eighty-one ton gun. We learn that we
have been a little too hasty, perhaps, in accepting the instruction we had received in
our former rambles, that we have often allowed our teacher to do all the looking
at nature for us instead of looking ourselves ; that we sometimes, under the in-
fluence of our accomplished guide, have seen things, apparently of considerable
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
59
importance in proving something else, which did not actually exist at all. We
learn, too, that we have often taken a plausible theory for an ascertained fact, and
that we have listened to “ fairy tales of science ” as if they were only true stories
which nearly everybody knew, while all the time we ought to have gratefully
acknowledged that they were private property, being entirely due to the bril-
liant imagination of the courteous gentleman who personally conducted us. In
some respects our second peripatetic lecturer seems even better than the first ; he
is more logical, if not so “ cock-sure about everything ; ” he has clearer vision, if
less imagination ; he is much more accurate, if not quite so interesting ; last but
not least, his lessons are much less expensive, or what comes to the same thing, his
book is much cheaper. But the readers of Nature Notes had better form their
own opinions on the merits of this controversy ; we can only advise all those who
have read Vignettes from Nature , and the Evolutionist at Large to carefully com-
pare the conclusions arrived at in these volumes, with the views set forth in
Science and Scientists.
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
Among the many editions of the Natui-al History of Selborne, none is more
attractive than that issued in the “ Camelot Classics ” (Walter Scott). It has an
admirable introduction by Richard Jefferies, the Gilbert White of our own time, is
well printed and of a convenient size for the pocket, and would be well nigh per-
fect if it were blest with an index ; but of this there is no trace, not even a “ table
of contents.” By a curious slip Mr. Jefferies speaks of “ the little Surrey parish
of Selborne,” whereas the very first sentence in the book is “ The parish of
Selborne lies in the extreme eastern corner of the county of Hampshire.” Mr.
Walter Scott also sends us a threepenny illustrated pamphlet in a pretty
pictorial cover entitled, The History of the Dicky Bird Society. Perhaps few
of our readers are acquainted with this flourishing forerunner of the Selborne
Society, in which case they will thank us for calling their attention to “Uncle
Toby’s ” brochure. This excellent personage — a very real entity to some 140,000
boys and girls who have enrolled themselves under his banner — established the
Society in the “ Children’s Corner ” of the Newcastle Chronicle on the 7th
October, 1876. The way in which the “ D. B. S.” has grown, the work it has
done, the influence it has exercised, with many interesting letters and facsimile
drawings will be found fully detailed in this small but entertaining pamphlet.
The Field ATaturalist’s Handbook , by the Revs. J. G. and Theodore Wood
(Cassell) offers a convenient summary of what is to be done in each month among
insects and plants. Each month is prefaced by some very useful “ general
hints ” as to what to do and how and when to do it. “ Lonicer,” not “ Lonice ”
(p. 9), is the name of the botanist whom Lonicera commemorates.
Messrs. Ward and Lock have conferred a boon upon lovers of nature and
travel by producing a cheap and well printed edition of Darwin’s classical Journal
of Researches made during the voyage of the “ Beagle ” in 1831. Although first
published nearly half a century since, it is as fresh as ever, and in its present form
will reach many who have hitherto been debarred from getting the work on
account of its expense. The illustrations do not add to the attractiveness of the
book, and might well have been omitted.
Messrs. Cassell send us their Concise Natural History , a handsome volume
in small quarto, abounding in illustrations, and containing some 620 pages. The
name of Professor Perceval Wright, the editor, guarantees that the work is care-
fully and accurately done, and, although the descriptions are necessarily con-
densed, they are readable and clear. This would form an excellent school prize,
apropos of which it occurs to us to inquire whether the Selborne Society is
established in any of the public or private schools, and if not, why not? In
addition to its other merits, this Natural History contains an excellent index.
The National Society has done well in republishing selections from Sir John
Lubbock’s Natural History , in the form of a reading book for use in elementary
and higher schools. These “ Chapters on Natural History ” are well suited also for
village libraries and private reading ; ants, bees, and wasps, the colours of
animals, plants, and insects, fruits and seeds are among the subjects dealt with.
6o
NATURE NOTES.
There are nearly a hundred illustrations, many of them very good, others (as on
pp. 177, 181, 209, 212, about the worst we have ever seen.
The Brook and its Banks. (R.T.S.) “Is one of the last books from the
facile pen of the Rev. J. G. Wood,” and, the preface further adds, “ it will be
found in every way worthy of the reputation of the author.” We are glad to
endorse this approval and to recommend the handsome illustrated volume to lovers
of the country as one which will add much to the enjoyment of their rambles, and
to those pleasant anticipations or reminiscences which are only less delightful than
the rambles themselves. The flowers, which so conspicuously ornament the banks
of brooks, are dismissed with somewhat scanty notice ; but there are many other
books which supply this defect. An index would greatly add to the usefulness of
this pleasantly written book.
The Birds in my Garden , by Dr. W. T. Greene (R.T.S. ), is a recent addition
to a class of literature which is already extensive, and the increase of which gives
gratifying testimony to the spread of Selbornian views ; for it is to the nature-
lover rather than to the scientific observer that such books appeal. This
volume contains an account of the feathered visitants of a suburban garden.
It is beautifully printed and prettily illustrated, and will doubtless attract a large
circle of readers.
Mr. Marshall Ward’s Diseases of Plants (S.P.C.K.) is a handy technical
manual on an important subject, and may be recommended to the more scientific
among our readers.
We have received from Messrs. Cassell and Co., The Rev. Theodore
Wood’s Life of his father, the Rev. J. G. Wood , which we propose to notice
at some length in our next issue. ,
SELBORNIAN A.
Flowers in Hospitals.
“ They that can wander at will where the works of the Lord are revealed
Little guess what joy can be got from a cowslip out of the field ;
Flowers to these ‘ spirits in prison ’ are all they can know of the Spring,
They freshen and sweeten the wards like the waft of an angel’s wing.”
Tennyson, In the Children's Hospital.
“The Sea-blue Bird of March (“.9. S.”) — We can state on the best
possible authority, that the bird thus referred to by Lord Tennyson is the king-
fisher.
Kent Names. — I have heard Kent people speak of a Yellow Hambird (or
Ambird, for they are not safe with their aspirates). They also speak of the
“Willow-tit”; but whether that means one species, or the Paricke in general 1
don’t know. I have seen the Marsh-tit biting off willow-catkins. F. M. Millard.
Sussex Names (Fernhurst).— The common wren is called “Jugger wren.”
The white narcissus, which is found in meadows in several places in this parish,
is called “ Primrose Pearls.” Stag’s horn beettles are “ Pincher bobs.” S.
[“Jugger wren ” is not in Mr. Swainson’s book. “Primrose Pearls ” is no
doubt a corruption of “ Primrose Peerless,” an old name for Narcissus biflorus
mentioned by Lyte and Gerard. Culpeper has “ Primrose Pearls.”]
Doncaster Plant Names.
Lady’s fingers
* Periwinkles ...
Cheese-cakes . . .
Bird’s eye |
Mammy-die f
King-cup
Water-blob ...
Blindy-buff ...
Milk-maids ...
Cuckoo flower
*Open-mouths
Alchemilla vulgaris
Wood anemone
Common mallow
Speedwell
( Veronica chavncdrys)
Lesser celandine.
Marsh marigold
Field poppy.
Cardamine pratensis
Stitchwort
Linaria vulgaris
See foot-note (*) on page 55.
SELBORNIANA.
61
Wild tares ... ... Wood vetch
Palms... ... ... Willow blossoms
Lamb’s tails Hazel catkins
Trembling grass ... Briza media
Sow thistle I ... Milk thistle
Swine thistle J ... (Carduus marianus)
Bread and cheese ... First-green leaf buds of the
hawthorn
There is still a relic of superstition clinging to the blue speedwell, though the
children laugh and tell me they “ don’t believe it tunv.” They say the flower
belongs to the birds — and our servants, both country girls, tell me, that when
children, they “ never durst gather it, lest the birds should fly after them and pick-
out their eyes.” Hence, “Bird’s eye.” The origin of the name “ Mammy-die”
is an equally doleful ditty. Our nurse-maids would never allow us to bring the
flower into the house, or “ surely the mother would sicken and die.” Gather it
we might, but we were obliged to cast it away before reaching home. The
former, however, is the most familiar name. L. Hinchcliff.
Gravyes.— The following extract is from Burn’s and Nicholson’s History of
Cumberland and Westmoreland : —
“ There are on Windermere Lake birds called Gravyes, which are larger than
ducks, and build in hollow trees.”
Can any of your subscribers or readers tell me what those birds are ? The
History was published at the close of last century, and no one here (Windermere,)
can tell me to what water fowl the name was applied. A. Ravvson.
The Ladybird. — The Lady-bird, in Kent, is “ Fly-golding ; ” but Norfolk
children used to say “ Beeshy Barnabee.”
“ Beeshy, Beeshy, Barnabee,
Tell me when your wedding be ;
If ter be to-morrow day,
Take your wings, and fly away.
Let me protest by anticipation, as if were, against any emendation such as
“ Bishop Barnaby,” or (in the lines) “if it be ; in classical Norfolk “here it is”
is “ hutterbe.” F. M. Millard.
The Plague of Rats. — The plague of rats all over England — also according
to the papers in the Laccadive islands (how did they get there ?) — will probably
attract more and more of public attention. Personally 1 prefer rats to mice. The
noise they make rattling about under the floors and behind the wainscots, appears
to me rather cheerful, and a decided improvement on the smell and the mess made
by our domestic mouse. The sudden and total disappearance of the house-mice
has seemed inexplicable until we found that rats had taken their place. I be-
lieve the fact is well known that rats and mice do not agree. Until the last few
months our house has been fairly furnished with mice, but quite free of rats.
From all parts of the country there are accounts of the great increase of rats ;
and it is a fact that in Norfolk and in the West of England there live landowners
and some preservers who have ordered their keepers to cease from destroying
hawks. There can be little doubt that the wholesale destruction of hawks,
with cats, owls and other night birds, and of every other living creature that
keepers trap or shoot under the name of vermin, has for one result this enormous
multiplication of rats. Most persons would probably feel somewhat less annoyed
by the knowledge that a few more hawks, &c., are likely to exist unmolested out-
side their dwellings, than that swarms of rats had taken possession within.
E. V. B.
Miss Mitford’s “ Spicer.” — May I be permitted to ask if the plant which
Miss Mitford describes in one of her charming sketches of “ Our Village ” as a
recent introduction there, in her days, has ever been identified ?
The passage occurs in the chapter headed “Dr. Tubb.” Miss Mitford’s
descriptions of natural objects are so truthful and accurate, that unlike most of her
ideal characters, the weed in question must have flourished in her neighbourhood,
and excited the admiration and curiosity she narrates. I should much like to
know whether it still survives, and has spread elsewhere. I have transcribed the
passage relating to it. A. R. P.
“ We found our gardens and all the gardens of this straggling village street, in
62
NATURE NOTES.
which it is situated, filled, peopled, infested by a beautiful flower, which grew in
such profusion, and was so difficult to keep under, that (poor pretty thing ?), in-
stead of being admired and cherished, and watered, and supported, as it well
deserves to be, and would be if it were rare, it is disregarded, affronted, mal-
treated, cut down, pulled up, hoed out like a weed.
I do not know the name of this elegant plant, nor have I met with anyone who
does. We call it the Spicer, after an old naval officer who once inhabited the
White House just above, and, according to tradition, first brought the seed from
foreign parts. It is a sort of large Veronica, with a profusion of white gauzy
flowers, streaked with red, like the apple blossom. Strangers admire it prodig-
iously, and so do I — everywhere but in my own garden.
*****
I never saw anything prettier than a whole bed of these “ Spicers,” which had
clothed the top of a large heap of earth by the roadside. . . . The plants are
thick and close as grass, and covered with delicate red and white blossoms, like
a fairy orchard.”
[The plant referred to is undoubtedly the Soap wort, Sapanaria officinalis,
which, beautiful as it is, too often becomes a serious pest in gardens to which it
has been introduced.]
Voracious Voles. — While walking last week in a narrow Hertfordshire
lane, I was struck with the appearance of two bushes in the hedge at some distance
from each other, the bark of which had been so generally gnawed off from boughs
and twigs that the bushes at a little distance looked white. At the foot of the
bushes — some 8 or ioft. in height — was a small pile of twigs three or four inches
in length, from which all the bark had been stripped. A third bush, an elder,
had also been attacked, but only partially. My companion hunted in the bank
below the hedge and found various small holes and burrows, but nothing that gave
us a clue to the author of the damage done.
I afterwards sought information at the National History Museum, and, by the
kindness of the official in charge of the Insect Department, found that the creature
must have been the meadow Vole. In spite of many years of country life I have
not before seen this nibbled bark (specimens of which I enclose) and I shall be
glad to learn whether this small Vole is now more common than usual ? I met
one in a Yorkshire meadow last year hopping among the grass, in search I thought,
of earth worms. E. H.
The Shooting of Rare Birds. — An interesting, and in some respects,
amusing correspondence has recently been carried on in the columns of the Western
Morning Mews under the above title. Our readers will remember that in the Jan-
uary number of Nature Notes there was quoted a letter from Mr. Thomas
Cornish, of Penzance, in which he gloried in having destroyed two “ rare birds,”
a buzzard and a heron. For this he was severely taken to task by our correspondent,
“ Cornubiensis Indignans but the rebuke he received has had but little effect in
producing a reformation in his habits, for in the Western Morning News of April
1st, he writes throwing doubt upon a paragraph inserted in that paper, to the effect
that the sandmartin and wheatear had been seen near Liskeard, on March 29th,
which paragraph he says, “is the best possible proof that rare birds should be
shot.” He then goes on to make the extraordinary remark that “ Had these ob
served birds been reduced to handling, and so identified, ichthyology]!) would
have gained a new experience, and the bird-world would have lost two of its
members. ”
In a later letter from Mr. Cornish, he takes upon himself the fuller responsi-
bility for this absurd mistake, and goes on to make the still more astounding state-
ment, “ Except for size, habitat, and a few other trifling variations, an elephant
might be a shew {sic) mouse, or the mouse might be a whale, or the whale might be
a flying-fish, and this latter certainly might be a Northern diver.” But for size,
habitat, and a few other trifling peculiarities, Mr. Cornish apparently might be a
stormy-petrel, judging by the tempest of indignation from observers of nature which
he has aroused in the columns of the IV. M. N. One might suppose that it would
have been easy to convince him (1) That a bird is not a fish ; (2) That it is very
probable, instead of “highly Improbable,” that wheatears and sandmartins would
be found in Cornwall at the end of March ; (3) That wheatears and sandmartins
are not, properly speaking, “ rare birds” at all ; (4) That the best way to make any
SELBORNIANA.
6%
bird, rare or otherwise, much rarer, is to shoot any specimen observed “at sight.”
Probably this paradoxical gentleman would deny all these assertions ; but he has a
much simpler way than argument, or proof, for silencing controversy : he re-
plies to charges of “ lamentable ignorance,” by calling his opponents geese, and
insinuating they are April fools. As much as we have seen of the discussion is
closed by a communication of a very different kind — an admirable letter from the
Rev. G. C. Green, of Modbury Vicarage, Ivybridge, South Devon, in which,
after correcting several of Mr. Cornish’s blunders, he goes on to say, “ I can see
no possible occasion for shooting these unfortunate little birds immediately on their
arrival with us, as no mistake can be made in identifying such easily noticeable
birds by any one who would be likely to take any notice of them at all. I am no
mere sentimentalist. I have been a keen sportsman for many years of my life. I
have made a large collection of birds. But of late years I have taken much greater
pleasure in observing their habits out of door without wishing to possess them as
specimens, and although I am not opposed to a few being secured for purposes of
science, especially such as only visit us in the winter, or only pass our shores on
the way to other countries, I do protest strongly against the wanton destruction of
life of a common and most useful bird, merely that it may be identified, especially
on its first return to our shores for the purpose of breeding. I commend to Mr. Cor-
nish’s notice the study of the writings of the Selborne Society, which I think would
interest him. I could supply him with several of these if he would care to read
them, and should be only too glad if he could be induced to join us.” We thank
Mr. Green for his wise and humane words, and shall be glad to learn that he has
been successful in what seems to be a most difficult task — Mr. Cornish’s conversion.
Migration of Birds. — The Rev. A. Rawson, Fallbarrow, Bowness, Winder-
mere, points out that there was a slight error in his article with above title in the
February number of Nature Notes. In the 9th and 10th lines from the bottom
of page 20 the words “ last week of September, 1S78,” should read “ first week of
October, 1876,” and in line 11 from the bottom of the same page the date should
be 1875 not 1885. Mr. Rawson’s present residence at Windermere should be
borne in mind in reading the article, as in some parts of it the observations made
at Windermere are contrasted with those at Bromley in Kent. On the same subject
we have received the following letter from Mr. T. G. Ward, of Leighton Buzzard :
— “ As the time for the arrival of the swallow and martin and other of our summer
visitors is at hand, I think it may be interesting to readers of Nature Notes to
give the dates of the arrival and departure of them in this neighbourhood. From
four years’ observation on the coming and going of the swallow tribe, I find that
the swallow, as a general rule, makes its first appearance here about the 15th and
1 6th of April, and they begin to depart by the end of September, though several
remain till the middle of October ; but a few stragglers, of course, can be seen
later, thus one was observed on the 31st of October, and another as late as the
25th of November. The sand-martin seems to make its appearance here much
about the same time as the swallow. The house-martin does not appear so soon as
the above species, there being about a week or ten days difference, but their de-
parture is about the same time as the swallow. The swift is the last of this family
to arrive and the first to depart, appearing in this neighbourhood by the first
week of May, and departing about the middle of August, though stragglers can be
seen a few days later. Of the warblers, the chiff-chaff and willow-wren arrive
at the end of March, the lesser and greater white-throat at the beginning of April,
while the nightingale, redstart, and grasshopper warbler appear by the middle of
the month. The following list is the first appearance and latest departure (from
four years’ observation) of the summer birds of passage here : —
Earliest Appearance
Chiff-chaff, March 30th
Latest Departure
September and October
October 20th
November 25th
September
November 1st
September 7th
October 13th
September
October 21st
August and September
Willow-wren ,,
Swallow, April 16th
Sand-martin, April 23rd
Martin, May 1st
Swift, May 6th
Whitethroat, April 5th
Whitethroat (lesser;, April 5th
Yellow wagtail, April 15th...
Cuckoo, April 22nd ...
64
NATURE NOTES.
Turtledove, April 23rd
Landrail, April
September 19th
September 20th
September 7th
August
August 23rd
Redstart, April 20th...
Sedge-warbler, May 3rd
Nightingale, April 16th
Grasshopper-warbler, April 20th
Flycatcher, May
End of Summer
September
October 26th
Wheat-ear, April nth
Whinchat, May 4th ...
OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c.
Tiie object of the Selborne Society is to unite lovers of Nature for common
study and the defence of natural objects (birds, plants, beautiful landscapes, &c.)
against the destruction by which they are constantly menaced. The minimum
Annual Subscription (which entitles the subscriber to a monthly copy of the
Society’s Magazine) is 2s. 6d. All particulars as to membership may be obtained
from the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
The Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held on Thursday,
May 1st, at 3 o’clock, at the Burlington Hall , 23, Savi/e Bow, London , IV. All
Subscribing Members of half-a-crown and upwards, who have paid their sub-
scription to a Branch, or to the Honorary Secretary of the Council, are eligible
to the offices of the Society, and qualified to vote at the General Meeting.
Several alterations in the Rules of the Society will be recommended by the
Council for adoption by the members at the Annual Meeting. Of these the most
important is the following addition to Rule 8 : — “ Representatives of Branches
shall be elected in the proportion of one Representative to each 50 members ; but
every Branch shall have at least one Representative. It shall be allowable for
any Representative, not residing in London, to vote by proxy duly authorised in
writing.”
In answer to the notice in the last number of Nature Notes as to back
numbers of the Selborne Magazine, Miss Huish has kindly sent us, from Torquay,
some copies which we have distributed. Mr. Wakefield, 41, Lancaster Park,
Richmond, late honorary secretary of the Lower Thames Valley Branch, and Miss
Hope, 14, Airlie Gardens, Campden Hill, hon. secretary of the Kensington
Branch, write to say that they have copies of the required numbers for disposal.
It is hoped that the whole of the remaining stock of the Selborne Magazine will
shortly be obtainable by members at the offices of the Society.
We have received some kind promises of Subscriptions to the proposed
Magazine Fund, but they are not as yet sufficient in amount to warrant the pro-
posed enlargement, and indeed it does not seem just that the great mass of
Members should accept a boon at the expense of a few liberal ones. The sugges-
tion has been made from several sources, that those Members who are whiling
to pay an extra shilling in their yearly subscription, for the purpose of providing
the increased space desired, should signify the same by means of a post-card.
Those who already pay more than the minimum subscription might express their
desire to devote a shilling of their subscription to the Magazine Fund. This
would be of course a purely voluntary’ arrangement, but somewhat on the same
lines as the decision of the Lower Thames Valley Branch at their Annual
Meeting, to send a recommendation to the Council that the minimum Sub-
scription, entitling Members to the receipt of the Magazine, should be 3s. 6d.
The objection to the suggestion which has been made of obtaining a revenue by
additional advertisements, is that any increase of more than four pages would
double the cost of the postage of the Magazine.
Although “ Selborniana ” takes up this month a much larger proportion of
the Magazine than usual, several Letters and Communications are crowded out
for want of space. It is particularly requested that subscriptions, and letters
bearing on the general business of the Society, should not be forwarded to the
Editors. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Rev. Percy
Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
Mature Motes:
tTbe Selbome Society fTDaga3me
No. 5.
MAY 15, 1890.
VOL. I.
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SELBORNE SOCIETY.
HE Annual General Meeting of the Society was held at
Burlington Hall, Savile Row, on Thursday, May 1st,
1890, Dr. George Harley, F.R.S., in the chair. The
following brief report of the Council for the year ending
April 30th, 1890, was read and adopted : —
“ There has been a very satisfactory increase in the number
of members, and new branches have been formed at Chichester,
Guildford, Liverpool, Nottingham, Brighton, Bloomsbury (Atal-
anta), Dorking and Epsom (Evelyn), Southampton and New
Forest, Neston, and Forth: the last is the first branch estab-
lished in Scotland.
“ In November the editor of The Selbome Magazine withdrew
from the management for the Society of that periodical ; and the
Council thereupon thought it desirable to found a new monthly
Magazine. The first number appeared in January under the
title of Nature Notes. The Rev. Percy Myles and Mr. James
Britten of the British Museum have undertaken the editing of
the Magazine, and a standing Committee for the management of
all matters other than literary has been appointed. The Council
is pleased to be able to announce that Nature Notes has been
very favourably received by the public and the press, and that
its circulation and influence are increasing with every issue.
The scope and purpose of the new Magazine have been fully ex-
plained in a circular letter sent to all members of the Society,
and copies of a leaflet setting forth its programme and the
objects of the Society may be had for distribution on application
at the Society’s Office.”
66
NATURE NOTES.
The following very satisfactory financial statement for the
year ending December 31st, 1889, was then read and adopted : —
Dr.
Cr.
£
s. d. 1
£
s.
d.
To Balance from 1SS8
34
16 7
By the Publishers of the
,, Sale of Prospectuses,
“ Selborne Magazine ”
4S
13
II
Cards, & c
11
5 72
,, Messrs. Bale and Sons,
,, Annual Subscriptions ...
87
11 9
(Printers)
28
4
3
,, Donations
2
9 6
j ,, Subscriptions paid to
., Credit Balances on
Branches in respect of
Annual Accounts of
Members Transferred
2
6
6
Branches
39
9 U
,, Rent
30
O
O
,, Secretary
23
19
6
,, Stationery, Stamps, and
Incidental Expenses of
Office ...
is
9
7
, ,, Balance...
26
19
5
>Ci7S
•3 2
£ns
13
2
Balance ... ... ... £26 19 5 J. L. Otter, Hon. Treasurer.
Examined and found correct ,
M. Wolryche-Whitmore,
H. J/. Exchequer and Audit Dept.
The proposal that the contributions of the branches to the
General Fund should be not less than 10 per cent, of their gross
receipts was agreed to.
The following are the more important of the alterations in
the General Rules, which were recommended by the Council and
approved by the meeting.
“ That the officers of the Society, except the Trustees, shall
hold office for one year (instead of two as previously).
“ That branches be empowered to elect representatives to serve
on the Council in the proportion of one representative to fifty
members, provided that a branch consisting of less than fifty'
members shall elect one representative. And —
“ That a representative of a branch, not residing in London,
may appoint a proxy to serve in his stead at meetings of the
Council.”
Air. Musgrave was unanimously elected co-trustee with Sir
John Lubbock. Some additional Vice-Presidents and a new
Council were also elected.
The new list of the officers of the Society is as follo-ws : —
Patroness.
Her Royal Highness Princess Christian.
President.
The Lord Tennyson.
Trustees.
Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., M.P., See.,
C. A. Musgrave, Esq., F.Z.S., F.R.G.S.
ANNUAL MEETING.
67
Vice-Presidents.
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of
Bath and Wells.
C. T. Beresford-Hope, Esq.
The Hon. Mrs. R. C. Boyle.
Mrs. Brightwen.
The Rev. Stopford A. Brooke, M.A.
James Bryce, Esq., M.P.
F. Dawtrey Drewitt, Esq., M.D.
Professor W. II. Flower, C.B., F.R.S.
The Rev. PI. D. Gordon, M.A.
Edmund Gosse, Esq.
George Harley, Esq., M.D., F.R.S.
The Very Rev. The
The Rev. Professor Henslow, M.A. ,
F.L.S.
The Rev. J. Kirkman, M.A.
Sir James D. Linton, Pres. R.I.
Mrs. Martelli.
Mrs. Charles Mathews.
William Morris, Esq.
The Lady Mount-Temple.
Mrs. Musgrave.
R. J. Pead, Esq.
The Rev. H. D. Rawnsley, M.A.
II. D. Skrine, Esq., J.P., D.L.
:an of Westminster.
James Britten, Esq., F.L.S.
F. Dillon, Esq., R.I.
Miss H. Hope.
Professor F. E. Hulme, F.L.S.
H. Barry Hyde, Esq.
The Rev. G. E. Mackie, M.A.
Council.
A. Halte Macpherson, Esq.
The Rev. Percy Myles, B.A., F.L.S.
J. L. Otter, Esq., Hon. Treas.
T. F. Wakefield, Esq.
W. White, Esq., F.S.A.
The Rev. Theodore Wood, F.E.S.
(With Representatives elected by the Branches.)
Hon. Treasurer : J. L. Otter, Esq., 3, Dr. Johnson’s Buildings, Temple, E.C.
Secretary: A. J. Western, Esq., 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
We feel bound to congratulate the members of our Society
on its present flourishing condition. During the past few months
it has developed a greatly increased amount of energy on the part
of its officers, and the result has been most satisfactory, both with
regard to the growth of the Society in numbers, and the dis-
semination of its principles far and wide. It has on its side a
sympathetic press (most of the leading newspapers giving a
hearty support to its platform), and a daily increasing body of
public opinion. Although it has lately passed through a period
of anxiety which called forth the utmost efforts of all its well-
wishers, it is now stronger than ever, and constitutes a powerful
body which may have a very real effect in checking the ravages
of destroyers, and in educating the public to sound views on the
subject of nature-preservation.
ACCESS TO MOUNTAINS BILL.
j N the first article of the March number of Nature Notes,
Mr. George Murray, dealing with the Glen Doll Right
of Way, wrote as follows : — “ Nothing could be more
popular than the reception given to Mr. Bryce’s
Access to Mountains Bill of a few years ago. What has
become of it ? If there is any young politician desirous of the
popular canonization so properly bestowed on Sir John Lubbock
for a measure of benefit to the people which all feel and recog-
nize, let him take up the Access to Mountains Bill.”
68
NATURE NOTES.
It is evident that the legislation suggested by Mr. Murray
will not fall to the ground for want of ardent support on the part
of some Members of Parliament. Since his article was written,
there has been an important division on Mr. Buchanan’s.
Right of Way (Scotland) Bill. The Government has actually
been defeated, and the measure carried by no votes to 97. Mr.
Bryce's Access to Mountains (Scotland) Bill has not been
so fortunate. Mr. Bryce’s Bill deserves the support of all lovers,
of Nature, whatever be their nationality. As the Daily News
says : — “ It is by no means a merely Scottish measure. It is of
as much importance to Englishmen as to Scotchmen ; indeed,,
it is the tourist and the traveller who are most interested in it.
The object of the measure is to keep open the uncultivated
mountain and moor lands of Scotland to ‘ any person walking or
being on such lands for purposes of recreation, or scientific, or
artistic study.’ It is fenced round with careful provisions
against abuse, and would secure the rights of the public without
injuring those of the landed proprietor.” The Bill stood second
on the paper in the House of Commons on May 7th ; but un-
fortunately its opponents went on talking on the Charitable
Trusts Bill till all the time was gone, and accordingly the op-
portunity was lost.
In the programme of Nature Notes we dwelt on the impor-
tance of keeping an eye on legislative measures which affect the
objects which we are pledged to support, and expressed a hope
that the Selborne Society's Magazine would be “ a medium by
which supporters may be rallied for the advancement of good
measures, and stout resistance offered to bad ones.”
The Access to Mountains Bill is an excellent example of
the good measures for which we desire to obtain supporters.
We hope that all Selbornians will use their utmost efforts to put
pressure upon their representatives in Parliament ; and we can
promise both young and old politicians that if the}' do not actually
attain the “ canonization ” spoken of by Mr. Murray, they will
by their support of this admirable measure earn the gratitude
of very many lovers of Nature, no matter to what political
party they may belong.
THE REV. J. G. WOOD.*
E number of scientists is increasing among us. Lord
Beaconsfield told us some years since that young ladies
“prattled of evolution” in the drawing-room, and the
fashion has steadily gained ground ever since. The
pens of various versatile writers are never more at home than
* The Rev. J. G. Wood : his Life and Work. By the Rev. Theodore Wood.
London : Cassell and Co. ; price 10s. 6d.
THE REV. J. G. WOOD.
69
when narrating “ fairy tales of science,” unless, it may be, when
•constructing the theories based upon their fascinating romances.
There are many more biologists than there used to be ; hut, as
it seems to us, there are fewer naturalists. “ Biology” has taken
the place of “ Natural History,” as we used to understand the
term ; and there are many who know the minute structure of a
plant who would not recognise the plant itself were it placed
before them. “ What is that beautiful thing ?” said a young
lady to a venerable professor, pointing to a brilliant scarlet
fungus on his table. “ That is a Peziza,” was the reply. “ Oh !
a Peziza ! Why, I have been working at Peziza for the last three
weeks,” answered his fair questioner. There be many scientists,
but few naturalists, and there is none among them to take the
place of the Rev. J. G. Wood, who was taken from us on the
30th of January, 1889, a sketch of whose life, from the pen of
his son, is now before us.
John George Wood was born in London on the 21st of July,
1827. He was weak and sickly from his birth, and, from an
early age, manifested that fondness of books which is often
evinced by children who are debarred from more violent sports,
and which lasted throughout his life.
He was not a sharp boy at figures. Whether, like the Beaver
in the “ Hunting of the Snark,” he — •
“ Lamented with tears how in earlier years
He had taken no pains with his sums,”
we cannot say ; but his arithmetical knowledge was always rudi-
mentary, although his biographer distinctly tells us that “ he did
know that two and two make four,” while the Beaver, it will
1 be remembered —
“ Fairly lost heart and outgrabe in despair ”
when endeavouring unsuccessfully to add two to one. His early
boyhood was marked by a fondness for pets, which is not
uncommon, but was accompanied in his case by a constant
“ poking, and probing, and prying here, there, and everywhere, in
the endeavour to discover some of the manifold secrets of
Nature, and to learn the ways and doings of the multitudinous
living creatures that garden and river and woodland afforded.”
He was, in fact, even as a boy, a follower of that model
naturalist, Sir Thomas Ingoldsby, who—
“ Would pore by the hour
O’er a weed or a flower,
Or the slugs that come crawling out after a shower ;
Black-beetles and bumble-bees, blue-bottle flies
And moths, were of no small account in his eyes ;
An industrious flea he’d by no means despise,
While an old daddy-long-legs, whose long legs and thighs
Passed the common in shape, or in colour, or size,
He was wont to consider an absolute prize.”
— except, however, that Mr. Wood never seems to have taken
70
NATURE NOTES.
any interest in flowers, a somewhat remarkable feature in so
ardent a Nature lover.
Young Wood was fortunate in being much encouraged by
his father in his tastes and pursuits. Boys are not always so
lucky. I know of one who remembers to this day the reproof
with which his admiration of the fronds of duckweed spreading
over the dark water in a waterbutt was received by his father.
“ If you talk like that, people will think you are silly,” said the
parent. He went with his family to Oxford in 1830, and soon
became a constant visitor at the Ashmolean Museum, where he
was on the best of terms with the kindhearted old curator. At
school, at Ashbourne in Derbyshire, he collected all sorts of
“spoil, both living and dead;” and made extremely intimate
acquaintance with the domestic flea during a period of confine-
ment to bed, arising from a broken leg. At seventeen he
returned to Oxford, and matriculated at Merton College. During
his university career he became an accomplished gymnast, and
in that capacity was the original of “ Little Mr. Bouncer,” in the
chapters which relate to that gentleman’s experiences in the
gymnasium in Air. Bradley’s “ Verdant Green.”
During his Oxford career he in no way relaxed his natural
history’ studies ; he bred and dissected insects, and observed
their habits. His final scientific training, however, was received
under Sir Henryk Acland in the Anatomical Museum at Christ
Church in 1850-51. “ During these two y^ears he went through
a complete course of research in comparative anatomy, himself
dissecting representatives of all the important families of the
animal kingdom, and making numberless careful and valuable
preparations, of which rnany^ remain in the museum to this day.”
To these two years we may fairly attribute the accuracy of the
scientific portions of his books : for Mr. Wood — more, perhaps,
than any writer before or since — possessed the uncommon art of
combining a popular styde with scientific accuracy, and it is to
this combination that his books owe their value.
His first book — the smaller Natural History — was published
in 1851 ; in 1852 he was ordained deacon, and undertook clerical
duty in Oxford. From this he retired in 1854, but, after two
years’ literary- work, he came to London as chaplain to St. Bar-
tholomew’s Hospital. In 1859 he married, and in 1862 settled
down at Belvedere, near Woolwich, where he remained for more
than fifteen years. During this period of his life he was extremely
active in clerical work ; he was a good musician, and devoted
himself with much success to choir work, and was at one time
Precentor of the Canterbury Diocesan Choral Union. His
regular clerical work — the larger portion of which was unpaid —
came to an end in 1874.
Various books on Natural History were issued by Mr. Wood
before 1857, when the well-known “ Common Objects of the
Seashore” made its appearance, to be followed in 1858 by’ the
THE REV. J. G. WOOD.
7*
still more popular “ Common Objects of the Country.” The
success of these two-shilling volumes was phenomenal. Of the
latter, the first edition of 100,000 copies was exhausted in a week,
and other editions followed in quick succession. One of these
early copies is before me as I write, and its well-thumbed pages
bring back something of the delight with which they were
scanned and consulted thirty years ago. It is to be regretted
that the author himself benefited little by this large sale ; the
copyright was disposed of for thirty pounds, and this was “the
actual remuneration which he received for each.” With all his
excellent qualities, Mr. Wood was not a good business man —
evidences of this occur more than once in the story of his life.
His most important work, the “ Illustrated Natural History,”
began to appear in monthly parts in March, 1859. No expense
was spared in its preparation ; original illustrations were drawn
by the best artists, and the work still holds its position as a
standard popular Natural History. “Homes without Hands”
— the most popular and best known of his larger works — began
its serial issue in 1864 ; and the “ Natural History of Man,” a
companion to the “ Illustrated Natural History,” succeeded it in
1867. Other works followed, the last of which was noticed in
the April number of Nature Notes ; and a constant stream of
contributions to various magazines was kept up.
But a word must be said about Air. Wood as a lecturer, in
which capacity he attained much popularity. He began to
lecture about 1856, but it was not until 1879 that he took up
lecturing “ as a kind of secondary profession.” Mr. Wood soon
found himself in request, and from 1879 to 1888, inclusive, he
delivered lectures in various parts of the country. These were
illustrated by sketches drawn on a large and specially constructed
black board, and afterwards on a large black screen, in coloured
chalks. Mr. Wood was an adept at this method of conveying
his ideas, and regretted that he could not illustrate his sermons
in a similar manner. Two tours in America, in 1883-4 and the
following year, were undertaken — the first was successful, the
second a failure. This part of the book is especially interesting,
on account of the long extracts from Mr. Wood’s letters which
it contains ; we could wish that even more of these had been
printed.
The account of the persevering struggles carried on to the
last, when breath was failing and rest was needed, is sad read-
ing. But so steady a worker was not likely to yield until he was
constrained by a power stronger than that of his own will ; and
four days before his death we find him lecturing, revising proof-
sheets, and writing home, and, although the lecturer was evidently
suffering much pain, “ those who were present said that the
lecture was as interesting as ever, and the drawings as rapid and
exact.” And when the end came, it found his intellect clear and
his mind calm ; in his last letter, two hours before his death, “ the
writing is as firm and steady as usual.” At six o’clock on
72
NATURE NOTES.
Sunday, the 30th of Januarjq 1889, “ he turned his head upon one
side, and quietly passed away.”
Not a great life, or even an eventful one, but a life of useful
work, of much happiness both to himself and to others. How
far the influence of his work may have extended it is impossible
to conjecture ; but we may, at least, be sure that for much of the
love of Nature and of created things which has grown up among
us during the last thirty years, we have to thank the example
and the teaching of the Rev. J. G. Wood.
James Britten.
THE STARLING.
You with the yellow bill and tongue unresting,
The mottled neck and breast of iris sheen
That from dark purple glances into green.
Where is your gossip, and your wonted jesting ?
Why, with such melancholy loud protesting
So wake the morn ? What can your sighing mean ?
Does not fny roof conveniently lean ?
Have you no pleasure in your April nesting ?
Ah ! little mocker, you but make-believe,
For you have caught my sorrow’s trick and know
My grief, and like a fool in motley bent,
To give me back my long-lost merriment.
Lo ! with loud chuckle underneath the eave,
You make your muffled laughter overflow.
H. D. Rawnsley.
BIRDS IN ART.
“ Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter.” — KeA'I'S.
HE depicture of the human form has so arrogated to
itself the primary interest in painting, that the
large part that bird-life has played in pictures
appears to have received very little notice ; and
yet we find that, from the earliest ages, the study of birds
formed a part of the artist's education, and one which
apparently was brought nearer to perfection than that . of
the figure or landscape. An old traveller speaks of being
able to recognise at a glance the different birds executed on one
of the great monumental trophies peculiar to the Egyptians,
whilst in Assyrian pictures we see birds flying through the air,
pecking at the fruit and buds on trees, and seeking shelter beneath
a row of conventional trees, which are supposed to represent a
dense forest. Among the Greeks the birds were ever present.
We all know how the birds in the air flew down to peck at the
grapes carried by a boy in the celebrated picture by Zeuxis,
BIRDS IN ART.
73
which did not win the prize ; then we find a bird bringing morti-
fication to that most hard working and laborious of artists,
Protogenes, whose painting of a partridge in his beautiful picture
of Ialysos and his panting dog, created such a sensation among
non-professional spectators, that the artist scraped it out in his
anger that it should receive the praises due to the man and the
dog.
Dogs appear to have been a very favourite subject with the
old Greek artists. Of the many pictures in which they were intro-,
duced, the dog before-mentioned, with foam at hi§ mouth, is the
most celebrated ; but Nikias, who tinted some of Praxiteles’
statues, was famous for the life-like expression of his dogs.
Horses likewise received their share of admiration, and if, as is
generally supposed, the mosaic of the battle of Issos found in
the Casa del Fauno at Pompeii is a replica, of the time of Vespasian,
of an old Greek picture of the fourth century b.c., it shows that
the great Greek painters had a very thorough mastery of the
drawing of the horse, whereas the life-like truth of their pictures
is assured by the well-known story of the horse painted by Apelles
at which other horses neighed ; indeed, like Vandyke, we find
Apelles noted for the beauty of his mounted portraits. All this
goes to show that a very affectionate observation must have been
bestowed on these birds and beasts which were not considered un-
worthy of the close study of the greatest of the classic Greek
painters. Flowers also received their just share of attention,
and Pausias, who painted a picture of Glykera as a seller
of garlands, may be said to be the first painter of flowers of any
importance. Fruit, flowers, and still life in general soon became
a chief feature in Greek painting ; whilst all are familiar with the
reeds, tendrils, and flowers, which are the vaison d'etre of the
whole scheme of decoration generally known as Pompeian.
To return to birds, their part in the daily life of the Graeco-
Roman period receives strong confirmation from the numerous
dove-illustrations, the most beautiful example of which is now
known as the Capitoline Doves. This lovely mosaic was found
in Hadrian’s Villa, at Tivoli, and represents four doves sitting
on the edge of an exquisitely modelled bowl filled with water.
The action of the birds is exceedingly tender : one bends down
her neck to drink, another plumes herself, the other two look
round anxiously as if of a less confiding mind. The soft colouring
and the remarkable skill with which the glancing lights and
shadows on the plumage have been depicted by the artist
makes this mosaic well worthy of its great reputation. This
subject of doves sunning and pluming themselves on the rim of
a vessel containing water appears to have been a very favourite
one among the ancients, and one which Pliny’s description of the
doves, executed by Sosos in Pergamos, has rendered immortal.
Fruit, leaves, shells— indeed, all manner of still life — we find
depicted in these old mosaics, and not the least interesting is one
of those pavements representing the debris of a meal, with a little
74
NATURE NOTES.
mouse making a hearty supper on the scraps. As we advance
into the Christian era we find birds often introduced into
what are known as the Madonna pictures, and in the dawn of
the Renaissance, birds were much introduced into the great altar
pieces which were so prominent a feature of the new birth of Art
in Italy.
I. Juliex Armstrong.
THE TOOTHWORT
(Latlira’a Squamavia).
OOTH WORT, a parasite rare in the south-east of England,
has appeared in great abundance this year in a place
where for ten years I had not seen it till 1890. Within
the last month I have seen hundreds of these parasites
in abundance in an area of 7 miles from west to east of the
Down, and at a place 3 miles to the south-west of us, where
Mr. Herbert Bull, a prominent member of the Selborne Society,
observed for me no less than 179 examples, on one of which a
humble bee was regaling itself at 6-17 p.m., April 12th. When
3'ou have learnt one habitat of the plant it is sure to guide you
by the shelter required, and the bearing of the compass, to another,
a land-locked coombe, in most cases lying low down. This
plant seems to have been a remainder of the old forest Flora of
the Silva Anderida, and it is found at Dorking on the North
Downs. In one place opposite to a natural funnel in the hills,
formed by a space between two outlying downs, the wind had
blown it to the very top of the down surmounting the hanger.
In most places it was found low down ; but the greater the
natural wind-power the higher was the habitat all along the
Downs. It is generally stated that this plant is found on hazel-
roots, but, although one can often see the grip of the large
stem-base of the Lathraea upon the dark roots of the hazel, in
this region it certainly prefers the maple and ash. On Easter
Monday, April 7th, I learnt this law from four instances in two
habitats a mile apart, where it was on small maple clumps.
No. 1, maple underwood, consisted of some fine young shoots,
the wood being about four years’ growth, had five of the Lathraea
round the stem ; and No. 2, a large thick-stemmed maple camp,
9 feet from any nut growth, was completely surrounded by 22
of the parasites close to the maple stem on all sides. This was
unmistakeable, But the most curious point to be observed is that
the stems of the trees, whether of nut, or maple, or ash, shewed not
the least decadence from the parasitical growth — in fact, if an}--
thing, they were stronger than the rest of the very vigorous under-
wood. Having made two observations to the east, I nowwas able
to take score, after the manner of cricket-matches, in two other
habitats to the west and south-west, further apart still. T aking my
A BOOK FOR NATURE LOVERS.
75
chance, and not at all searching closely, the score of the shrubs
chosen by the Lathraea, April ioth, was: — Ash, 76 ; Maple, 44 ;
Hazel, 14; Spindle-tree, 5 ; total, 139. In the last habitat, April
12th, Mr. Bull, after finding 14 examples in a wood contiguous,
counted for me 165 all under maple, in 19 clumps, all of which,
except one, were on the sheltered side, and hp found one cluster
of the Toothwort numbering no less than 25 ; the largest aggregate
that I had found elsewhere was 30 under ash. It is plain that
the parasite is more omnivorous than many think.
The Lathraea (so called from its “ lying hid ”) is a wonderful
plant, much like the Orobanche, its kinsman, but much more
plucky, even during March winds and frosts. It is wonder-
ful that this dainty growth should be able to survive during frosts.
It owes much to its deep-set large knotted root-stock, which has
been likened to honeycomb, but is more exactly like a humble bee’s
nest. It creeps in the moss on the sheltered side, and many
examples come up with the blade of the stem deflected towards
the ground. Its red, vinous-looking anthers (something like
those of a blanched gladiolus) on a stem inches long, as
was one that I removed from a maple, are the symbol almost
unique among flowers of brave endurance in the winter, which
it now has to surmount in bare exposure after its former history
of sheltering forest life. It is mentioned in White’s Selborne among
rarities, but in two of our now four habitats it has been known
twenty-five years. In the cold spring of this year, on seeing the
rare bloom in March, one might wish that one had the constitution
of a Toothwort, scales and all! But then the drawback is, one
would have to live upon somebody else !
H. D. Gordon.
Harting Vicarage, April 28.
A BOOK FOR NATURE LOVERS.
The Selborne Society must contain a goodly number of authors among its
members. In the notices of books specially adapted to the lovers of nature,
which have been given in Nature Notes, we have been able each month to head the
list with the work of a Selbornian. In this May number we give the place of
honour to Professor Hulme’s Wayside Sketches (Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge). Professor Hulme has done as much as any author of recent times
to popularise the study of flowers by his well-known books, in which pen and
pencil combine to render that pursuit attractive. In several instances to our own
knowledge, the “ pictures ” in Familiar Wild Flowers have first led to the
study of botany by those who previously had considered it one of the driest of
sciences. In the Principles of Ornamental Art, and Suggestions in Floral
Design, the great value of flowers and leaves to the artistic designer is exempli-
fied by admirable illustrations, and in Mythland, Professor Hulme collected a
store of those quaint legends concerning plants and animals in which he takes so
much delight. Put we confess that the present work, called by the modest title of
Wayside Sketches, is to us the most pleasing of all. It is an enthusiastic plea for
Nature-study, and is thoroughly calculated to communicate the authors
enthusiasm to his readers. Interesting facts in Natural History, quaint anecdotes,
76
NATURE NOTES.
apposite quotations, and beautiful legends are arranged as a sort of running
commentary on the Calendar for the Naturalists’ Year. But what will give it
special value in the eyes of our readers is this, that it is so thoroughly imbued with
the spirit which ought to animate the members of the Selborne Society, that
it might be distributed to young naturalists as a “ Manual of Selbornian Principles.”
Take as an example the following pronouncement on collecting, which bears hard
on the mere predatory and acquisitive instinct which is by many mistaken for a
love of Nature. “ The mere mania for collection is a very low ambition indeed,
and leads to the ruthless destruction of every rare bird or insect, the uprooting of
every rare plant, in order that they may minister to the vanity of the collector.
Such an one had far better turn his thoughts towards the collection of crests or
postage stamps, or, as one amiable enthusiast we know, make a list of the names
of the locomotives on the London and North-Western Railway.” On the cruelly
of caging birds Professor Hulme writes as follows : — “ To anyone who knows
what the true home of a lark is, it is a really touching sight to see it shut up with
a small piece of turf, and striking itself time after time against the roof of its
prison, in the vain attempt to soar upward into what should be the pure heaven,
the great vault of cloudless blue. It is one of the few birds that sing on the
wing, and no other bird does so to anything like the same extent ; imprisonment
to the skylark is therefore a peculiar hardship. One of the delights of a spring
walk is to see these birds rising from the ground with their peculiar spiral flight,
and to hear the burst of song growing richer and richer, until at length the birds
are lost ‘to sight altogether, and the sweet notes pouring down to earth seem
to issue from the great dome itself. Those who have been entranced with this
flood of melody will sympathise with the captive beating its wings against its
confining cage, and feel with us how sad the change from the breezy downs to the
close city court. No native bird should ever be held in bondage, but least of all
the skylark.”
Our author is thoroughly sound on the Primrose Question, which has lately been
discussed in the pages of Nature Notes by G. S. R., Mr. Britten and others:—
“Whatever one’s political feelings may be, all lovers of Nature will regret that
the primrose should have become a party emblem. Its tender beauty should
endear it equally to all. The Radical should not feel that he dare but admire it
by stealth and under protest, nor the admirer of Lord Beaconsfield feel bound at
least one day in the year to wear its delicate blossoms, less for their own attractive-
ness than as a party symbol. The primrose is a very freely growing plant,
fortunately; but even then the amount of the destruction of the roots, as they are
recklessly torn up for ‘ Primrose Day ’ each year, will tend to ultimately render
the plant much scarcer than it is at all pleasant to contemplate.”
We regret that considerations of space do not allow us to quote other passages
from this charming little book, but we feel bound to call attention to the admirable
index with which it is provided, prefaced by a quotation which we would gladly
see translated from a “pious aspiration” of Lord Campbell’s into an actual
ornament of the statute-book. “So essential did I consider an Index to be to
every book, that I proposed to bring a Bill into Parliament to deprive any author
who published a book without an Index of the privilege of copyright, and, more-
over, to subject him to a pecuniary penalty. — Campbell’s Lives of the Chief
Justices of England
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge is to be congratulated on the
admirable manner in which the book under notice is produced, bound and printed.
We well remember the time when the stock in trade of that venerable Society con-
sisted of doctrinal treatises frequently dull, and didactic stories not unfrequently
dismal. Under its present management it vies with the leading publishers of the
day in the interest of its books, and of these some of the most interesting are
those which deal with scientific subjects and the study of Nature.
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
We have received from Mr. David Douglas one of the pretty little shilling
volumes of essays by Mr. John Burroughs, who may be styled the American
Jeffries. Winter Sunshine, in spite of its name, is not at all confined to wintry
SELBORNIANA.
77
subjects, and the chapters headed “An October Abroad,” dealing, as they do,
largely with the author’s observations in England, give this volume a special
interest.
Gleanings in Old Garden Literature, by W. C. Hazlitt (Elliot Stock), is one
of those pleasant, chatty volumes which all garden lovers like to read. It con-
tains information about gardening in the days of Elizabeth and Evelyn ; talks
about Kew in olden days, and the nurseries at Old Brompton, Fulham, Battersea
and Deptford ; a short bibliography of garden literature ; chats about arbours and
grottoes, window and cottage gardening, physic gardens and kitchen gardens, and
not the least useful feature, a good index. It is unnecessary to say that the
printing and binding are first rate of their kind.
Messrs. Cassell send us a selection of the handy little pocket volumes forming
their National Library, in which collection, by the way, we find singularly few
dealing with Natural History. Those before us are The Nat in at History of Set-
borne, in two volumes ; Raleigh’s Discovery of Guiana ; Spenser’s Shepherd s
Calendar ; Mungo Park’s Travels in Africa, two volumes ; Voyagers’ Tales,
from Hakluyt ; Johnson’s fourney to the Hebrides, and 'Waterton’s Wanderings in
South America.
SELBORNIANA.
Destruction of Beautiful Derbyshire Scenery. — Miss Ellen
Ilibbert, of Godley Vale, Manchester, sends us the following ardent plea for
the preservation of a beautiful landscape.
“ Permit me to appeal for help from the Selborne Society on behalf of the
lovely valley of Miller’s Dale, in Derbyshire. It is sad enough to have quarries
and limekilns on each side of the valley, with the smoke and disfigurement, but
surely the white refuse need not be thrown down the slopes, destroying and
burying trees, shrubs and herbage, not in one place only, but anywhere alongside
the road that the carters may find most convenient. It seems to outsiders most
unnecessary that, in a district of limestone, it should be permitted to erect kilns,
and devastate the hillsides in a valley which is one of the glories of the county.
The hideous destruction in the Bakewell Road leading out of Buxton is a sight
to make one weep. Ruskin fulminated against the construction of the railway
years ago in Tors Clavigera, and again in the latest number of Prceterita. I
knew Buxton in the old days before the railway was made, and the greatest
charm about the place was the first part of the Bakewell Road, a little over a
mile, winding alongside the river Wye, between cliffs richly clothed with trees,
shrubs, flowers, ferns and mosses. Sad, indeed, it was to any lover of nature, to
see the cliff above the river ruthlessly cut away, with its growth of ash, hazel, ivy
and yew, that the railway line might run along a terrace half way up. Kind
Nature might in a few years have hidden part of the terrible scar with fresh
growths, but the windings of the stream had to be bridged over, and this was
done, not with stone bridges, which some little vegetation might in time have
rendered sightly, but with uncompromising iron, which after a quarter of a
century remains bare and hideous as ever. The worst has yet to come. The entrance
to a side valley is guarded by a limekiln, and the municipality of Buxton have
placed their gas and sewage works at the entrance to the road, so that anyone
wishing to enjoy a glimpse of a former paradise, must pass through purgatory to
reach it. I suppose it was the cheapest plan to arrange these matters so, and yet
thousands of pounds have been spent in beautifying Buxton by public gardens,
&c., all of which are poor and mean indeed compared with this natural beauty,
which it has not been considered worth while to preserve.”
“The Bird Protection Act ” Farce.— Under the above title an inter-
esting letter from Mr. Charles Dixon appears in the Standard of May 1st. As
the subject is such an important one, we reproduce the greater part of Mr. Dixon’s
letter : —
“ As the spring days advance, and the country side becomes more attractive.
78
NATURE NOTES.
the lanes and woods and fields are invaded by hosts of ragged rascals bent on the
destruction of our wild birds and the plunder of their nests. Not only so, but the
birdcatcher and the pot-hunting gunner ply their trade unmolested, with an
audacious contempt or a supreme ignorance of the law which is most irritating to
behold.
“ Only yesterday I passed a costermonger’s barrow, in a bye street near Victoria
Station, on which were spread some dozens of oyster-catchers, curlew's, whimbrels,
and lapwings. I was told by their ow ner that they had come from abroad, but the
fresh state of the legs and the brightness of the eyes of many of the poor birds made
this statement appear incredible. At a shop close by numbers of partridges and
ruffs (the latter birds in their beautiful w'edding plumage) w'ere exposed for sale ;
ringdoves may be seen here and there at other game dealers’ establishments, whilst
in the current number of a weekly live stock journal I am confronted with adver-
tisements offering cock nightingales and other birds now under the protection of
the law for sale. Last week I saw recorded the fact that a hoopoe had been shot
in a southern county. This bird is protected by law, and, if the law were enforced,
rve might soon number the hoopoe among our regular Summer birds of passage.
“ All these birds are now' just about to breed, or actually breeding ; many have
eggs, or even nestlings, so that they are quite out of condition and totally unfit for
food. ‘What is anybody’s business is nobody’s business ’ is an old saying, and a
true one : but I do most sincerely hope that this massacre of the innocent, helpless
birds, now tame and confiding and easy of capture, in the season of their courtship
and love, or whilst bringing up their little ones, may be stopped by the hand of
the lawr.
“ What we want is a new Bird Protection Act, entirely drawn up by persons
who know their business, the eggs as well as the birds being included ; and the
display for sale of any scheduled species, whether shot abroad or at home, to be
held to be an infringement of the law'. The enforcement of the law must be
invested in persons well able to carry it out, and made directly responsible for its
efficient working. The old Act is dead ; indeed, it has never been imbued with
life, although, perhaps, it is a living monument to the utter ignorance of our legis-
lators of ornithology. Any country schoolboy could have framed a better. England
boasts a ‘ British Ornithologists’ Union.’ Why are its members not up and doing
something for the better protection and preservation of those creatuies it is their
professed object to admire and lovingly study ?”
“Annexation” of Hayes Common.--On this subject several letters
have appeared in the daily papers. We take the following from a correspondent
of the Daily News : — “ Hayes Common is only seventeen miles from London,
though it takes an hour to reach it by train from Charing Cross. Including the
Wickham portion, it is, according to the taste of many people, as attractive as the
choicest bits of Epping Forest or Burnham Beeches. The Wickham portion of it
contains some fifty ancient and magnificent specimens of pollard oaks, as also the
remains of a Roman encampment; and through it runs Lord Chatham’s drive.
From the mound in the centre of the Roman remains, the visitor looking in the
direction of Addington and Croydon obtains one of the most charming views in
England. To say nothing of the natural beauty, the mere presence of the Roman
remains should be enough to preserve the spot from the grabbers and the builder,
‘jerry ’or any other. The Wickham portion of Hayes Common is, however,
under process of enclosure. Round the choice part of it above-named a tall iron
railing, spiked and close set, is being run up. Of course, in putting up this
formidable iron railing, the lord of the manor, Sir John Leonard, may be acting
within his moral as well as legal rights ; the point is that among the Wickhamites
there is not sufficient spirit and independence to induce them even to agitate the
question; while they are shrugging their shoulders and mildly grumbling, the
reddish-yellow iron railing is ‘ sneaking ’ its w7ay among the trees and thick bush
round the base of Coney Ilill, along by Chatham’s Drive, round by the Roman
remains to the boundary of what is specially known as Hayes Common. Will
some Member of Parliament call attention to this matter in the House of
Commons ? ”
Bird List from Torquay. — Mr. G. A. Musgrave sends the following
list of birds seen during the year 1889, by Mrs. Currie, at Grey’s Lodge, a
house in a central position in Torquay: — Great-tit, Blue-tit, Cole-tit, Marsh-
SELBORNIANA.
79
tit, White Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Sky Lark, Hedge Accentor, Redbreast,
Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chifif Chaff, Wren, Goldcrest, Spotted
Flycatcher, Swallow, Martin, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Hawfinch, (?) Bullfinch,
Sparrow, Starling, Missel Thrush, Fieldfare, Redwing, Thrush, Blackbird,
Nuthatch, Great Shrike, Woodpecker, Jack Daw, Rook, Seagulls, Wood Pigeon,
Cuckoo, Yellow Bunting, Creeper.
Sparrows. — I have twice been informed by residents in Leusden, a village
near Ashburton, in Devonshire, that no sparrow has been seen there within the
memory of man. Can anyone account for this curious fact ?
During this spring I have had in my garden, in Torquay, rows of yellow
Crocuses quite untouched by the sparrows.
Furzebank, Torquay. Theresa Musgrave.
The Primrose. - The Whitehall Revie-u of April 19th has two articles, one
on “ Primrose Day ” and one on “ Primroses, ” in the first of which we are assured
that “the Primrose is a purely British species, not found in any other part of
Europe,” and in the second that it is found “ nowhere outside the British Isles,
unless it be in some parts of Scandinavia, while our only grounds for presuming
its existence there, is the fact that Linnaeus christened it Primula vulgaris.” This
statement is emphasised and repeated, so it is perhaps as well to say that it is
absolutely devoid of accuracy. It meets my eye on my return from a railway
journey through Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, where the Primrose adorned the
banks and woods as freely as it does at home ; and at Como on “ Primrose Day ”
we gathered a bunch large enough to supply any number of enthusiastic
“Leaguers.” The second of the articles referred to is throughout an excellent
example of the combination of nonsense and misstatement which does duty for
“ science ” in papers of a certain class. G. S. R.
Keswick Notes. —The Rev. II. D. Rawnsley writes from Crosthwaite
Vicarage, Keswick, “ The first Cuckoo was heard here in the Keswick Valley, on
April 2nd. The first Chiff Chaff was seen on April 10th. The first Swallow on
April 20th. The corncrake came to us on the first of May. I find that
it marvellously sharpens the school children’s eyes to look for the coming of the
birds, if a sixpenny bit is promised for the first authenticated sight of one of
these winged lake visitors. But I also find that old eyes are better than young
ones ; in each case my little school friends were a day late in first sight of the
birds. May I again plead that the May Queen Festivals may have associated
with them, as here at Keswick, a public proclamation in proper form of Her
Majesty’s good will and pleasure towards those who kindly entreat horses, dogs,
wild birds, and tame pets, during the coming season. I can send you a copy of
our own proclamation, which after duly being read in the ears of all the people
in the Keswick Market-place, will be posted on the walls, and in the school-
rooms, and in all the cottages. Every little thing that helps in the direction
of kindly care for animals I feel must interest the Selborne Society. This is my
excuse for writing.”
The Note of the Cuckoo.— A. M. II. writes from Bath “Having been
much interested in the letters upon the note of the cuckoo which have appeared
lately in Nature Notes, on hearing it for the first time this year, on April 25th,
I took particular care to observe the interval. It was a clear, distinct, perfect fifth,
A to D, repeated eight or nine times, then ending with a major third, F sharp
to D. Once I heard the bird singing the major third, conclude with a distinct
perfect fourth, G to D. Another cuckoo at the same time was singing major thirds.
I must mention that the pitch by which I took note of the interval was higher than
concert pitch, being philharmonic.”
While dealing with this subject We may note that Miss Eva Milman, writing
from Martin’s Heron, Bracknell, Herts, records the appearance of the cuckoo on
April 16th. And A. II. writes as follows: — “The cuckoo was first heard in
Bramdean, Hampshire, on Tuesday, April 15th, and swallows were first seen the
next day. I adopt a plan which I recommend to all who are lovers of birds. I
not only feed them through the winter and spring, but I keep a pan of fresh
water filled for them. Also I put tufts of cotton wool or wadding near at hand,
which in the nesting season soon disappear.”
Destruction of Birds of Prey in the Hebrides.— Surely the last
paragraph of the article under the above heading in the April number must be a
mistake. 1 have most of the dealers’ catalogues ; they vary little in price, and
8o
NATURE NOTES.
offer eggs of the golden eagle at 25s., and osprey at 4s. The statement going
abroad that £12 is given for single eggs of those birds is likely to produce a whole
army of half-starved villagers, and so help the destruction our Society tries to
prevent. If the owners of shootings could be induced to follow the example of the
Duke of Sutherland, and order their keepers not to disturb the breeding places of
the larger Raptorial birds, is the true remedy. Perhaps some of our members can
bring influence to bear to that end.
Thomas Simpson.
[Dr. Clark’s statement was obviously intended to apply only to guaranteed
British examples of the eggs in question, which— as every collector knows — have
a far higher value than specimens obtained from abroad, which are readily pro-
curable from a dealer. The high prices mentioned by Dr. Clark have long been
well known to ornithologists. Mr. Robert Gray, in his “Birds of the West of
Scotland” (1871) drew “ attention to a fact communicated by Mr. John Batson
to the Times about a year ago — namely, that printed lists are actually in circula-
tion among keepers and shepherds [in Sutherlandshire], offering large prices for
the eggs of birds of prey Nothing but the strongest censure can be
meted out to such collectors as would bribe a man in humble circumstances to
procure eggs of the golden or white-tailed eagles, kite, or osprey, at the price of
ten pounds for each specimen ” (p. 10). — Eds.]
Miss Mitford’s “ Spicer.” — Mrs. Haweis writes from Queen’s House,
Cheyne Walk, S.W., as follows “ I am so much interested by the identification
of Miss Mitford’s Spicer (the Saponaria officinalis ) that I write to say how grateful
I should be if any correspondent of Nature Notes would send me a batch of roots
that I may experiment with. 1 shall not shrink before so pretty a ‘ pest,’ and,
if any charitable stranger will so afflict me, I will gladly bear any expense he is
put to.”
Animal and Plant Names. — We have received lists and communications
from the following contributors : — N. S. W. ; E. F. P. ; R. W. ; G. S. D. ;
E. C. D. ; G. C. G. ; A. J. H. : T. R. A. ; B. E. H. ; E. H. Of these we
hope to make use in an early number.
OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c.
The Annual General Meeting of the Society is an event of such importance
that we have placed an account of it as the first article for this month. Several
matters arising from it will be dealt with in the next number of Nature Notes.
The question of printing the names of new members of the Selborne Society
in each number of the Magazine has been raised by several correspondents ; but
the number of new members is so large, and the space at our disposal so very
inadequate to the demands upon it, that we are quite unable to do so at present.
At the next meeting of Council the advisability of printing in pamphlet form a
fresh list of all the members will be considered. This would, of course, obviate
the necessity of printing the names in the Magazine.
We have received several numbers of the Selborne Magazine, and some
valuable suggestions, from Mr. Albert Keene, of Hammersmith, who has
done much good work for the Society there. The Magazines 'have been dis-
tributed, and the suggestions shall be carefully borne in mind. We are also
indebted for Magazines to Miss S. P. Dawes, of Ditchling Hassocks, who is most
helpful in sending cuttings, See.
Several members express their readiness to give is. or more yearly to the
Magazine fund. Those intending to do so will please remember that we do not
want the money to be sent now, only the names of those upon whom we might
depend in case the idea of enlargement were to be carried into practice. It is par-
ticularly requested that subscriptions, and letters bearing on the general business
of the Society, should not be forwarded to the Editors. Editorial communications
should be addressed to the Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
Mature Motes:
Ube Selborne Society’s fTDagastne.
No. 6. JUNE 14, 1890. Vol. I.
THE PLANT ALLUSIONS IN THE POEMS OF
MATTHEW ARNOLD.
IraGrssSjfN the early part of the present j^ear, Sir Mountstuart
“sfi Grant Duff, in a lecture delivered at the Richmond
Athenaeum on Matthew Arnold, when dwelling upon
that eminent writer’s careful and conscientious work,
illustrated his methods by referring to the great accuracy which
he showed in the references to botany in his poems. After ex-
plaining that Arnold’s delight in flowers became much increased,
“ passed from its dormant stage into a very vivid life,” after
1866, when he was induced to study botany by a friend, the
lecturer continued: — “ One of the most accurate of our critical
botanists, himself a poet of no mean rank, and a most careful
student of poetry,* once wrote to me of Mr. Arnold : — ‘ Of all
our poets, he does flowers best.’ ”
This lecture on Matthew Arnold by one who had been his
very intimate friend, attracted much attention in many quarters.
The passage quoted above specially struck the writer of the
following paragraph in the Editorial programme of Nature
Notes: — “ The Allusions to Birds and Flowers which occur in our
great poets will be noticed, and a series of articles is planned
dealing with some of those masters of song who have found their
highest inspiration in the reverent study of natural beauty,
‘ knowing that Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.’ ”
As Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff has been one of the principal
supporters of the Selborne Society, a suggestion was made to
him that he might find it possible to give some account of the
allusions to Nature in Arnold’s poems for insertion in Nature
* The name of this correspondent is not mentioned in the lecture ; but the
description given above seems to point to Lord de Tabley, better known perhaps
as the Hon. J. Leicester Warren.
82
NATURE NOTES.
Notes. In spite of very numerous calls upon his time, he has
most kindly consented to do so, and we have the pleasure of
laying before our readers this month the first instalment of his
paper on that subject. Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff writes as
follows : —
“ In accordance with your wish, I have looked through Mr.
Matthew Arnold’s poems, with a view to collect for the benefit
of your readers the principal passages in which he deals with
the vegetable creation. I have had great pleasure in doing so,
for there is not one amongst our singers whose allusions to it
are more appropriate. The most convenient course will be to
take the last edition of his poems, as arranged by himself, and to
go through it in order. There are few references to flowers or
plants save of the most general kind in the Early Poems, Narra-
tive Poems and Sonnets, which are contained in the first volume.
Here is one from Resignation : —
“ ‘ The solemn wastes of heathy hill
Sleep in the July sunshine still ;
The self-same shadows now, as then,
Play through this grassy upland glen ;
The loose dark stones on the green way
Lie strewn, it seems, where then they lay ;
On this mild bank above the stream,
(You crush them !) the blue gentians gleam.
Still this wild brook, the rushes cool,
The sailing foam, the shining pool !
These are not changed ; and we, you say,
Are scarce more changed, in truth, than they.’
“ Here is another from Solirab and Rustirn : —
. . . . “ ‘ And he saw that Youth,
Of age and looks to be his own dear son,
Piteous and lovely, lying on the sand,
Like some rich hyacinth which by the scythe
Of an unskilful gardener has been cut,
Mowing the garden grass-plots near its bed.
And lies, a fragrant tower of purple bloom,
On the mown, dying grass — so Sohrab lay,
Lovely in death, upon the common sand.’
“ The following is in the same poem : —
. . . “ ‘all down his cold white side
The crimson torrent ran, dim now and soil’d,
Like the soil’d tissue of white violets
Left, freshly gather’d, on their native bank,
By children whom their nurses call with haste
Indoors from the sun’s eye ; ’ .
“ The holly and the juniper are delightfully introduced at page
224, in the beautiful description in Tristram and Iseult which
begins with the words : —
“ ‘ The young surviving Iseult, one bright day,
Had wander’d forth.’
MATTHEW ARNOLD'S PLANT ALLUSIONS. 83
“ Those for whom I write will like to have their attention called
to the following passages among the lyric poems in the second
volume : —
“ ‘ They see the Indian
Drifting, knife in hand,
His frail boat moor’d to
A floating isle thick-matted
With large-leaved, low-creeping melon-plants,
And the dark cucumber.
He reaps, and stows them,
Drifting — drifting ; — round him,
Round his green harvest-plot,
Flow the cool lake-waves,
The mountains ring them.’
“ I do not know to what part of India this description refers.
Melons in the southern part of that peninsula are much grown
in the beds of the great rivers — the fruit coming to maturity just
as the hot weather begins ; but Mr. Arnold’s habits of study were
so careful that I am sure he could have produced chapter and
verse for the proceedings of the Indian, as well as for those of
his more northern brother, who appears in the next extract : —
“ ‘ They see the Scythian
On the wide stepp, unharnessing
His wheel’d house at noon.
He tethers his beast down, and makes his meal —
Mares’ milk, and bread
Baked on the embers ; — all around
The boundless, waving grass-plains stretch, thick-starr’d
With saffron and the yellow hollyhock
And flag-leaved iris-flowers.’
“ The transition from this scene to the English Midlands de-
scribed in the first lines of Bacchanalia is complete : —
“ ‘ The evening comes, the fields are still,
The tinkle of the thirsty rill.
Unheard all day, ascends again;
Deserted is the half-mown plain,
Silent the swaths ! the ringing wain.
The mower’s cry, the dog’s alarms.
All housed within the sleeping farms !
The business of the day is done.
The last-left haymaker is gone.
And from the thyme upon the height.
And from the elder-blossom white
And pale dog-roses in the hedge,
And from the mint-plant in the sedge,
In puffs of balm the night-air blows
The perfume which the day foregoes.’
“ The next passage I shall cite is from the Youth of Man, and
belongs to the same kind of country
“ ‘ Here they stand to-night —
Here, where this grey balustrade
Crowns the still valley ; behind
Is the castled house, with its woods,
Which shelter’d their childhood — the sun
84
NATURE NOTES.
On its ivied windows ; a scent
From the grey- walled gardens, a breath
Of the fragrant stock and the pink,
Perfumes the evening air.’
“ With the elegiac poems which fill the second half of the
second volume our extracts must become more numerous. The
following are from the Scholar Gipsy : —
“ 1 Screen’d is this nook o’er the high, half reap’d field,
And here till sun-down, shepherd ! will I be ;
Through the thick corn the scarlet poppies peep,
And round green roots and yellowing stalks I see
Pale pink' convolvulus in tendrils creep ;
And air-swept lindens yield
Their scent, and rustle down their perfumed showers
Of bloom on the bent grass where I am laid,
And bower me from the August sun with shade ;
And the eye travels down to Oxford’s towers.
“ ‘ And then they land, and thou art seen no more !
Maidens, who from the distant hamlets come
To dance around the Fyfield elm in May,
Oft through the darkening fields have seen thee roam,
Or cross a stile into the public way.
Oft thou hast given them store
Of flowers— the frail-leafd, white anemony,
Dark bluebells drenched with dews of summer eves,
And purple orchises with spotted leaves —
But none hath words she can report of thee.
“ 1 And, above Godstow Bridge, when hay-time’s here
In June, and many a scythe in sunshine flames,
Men who through those wide fields of breezy grass
Where black -wing’d swallows haunt the glittering Thames,
To bathe in the abandon’d lasher pass,
Have often pass’d thee near
Sitting upon the river bank o’ergrown ;
Mark’d thine outlandish garb, thy figure spare,
Thy dark vague eyes, and soft abstracted air —
But, w'hen they came from bathing, thou wast gone !
“ ‘ But what — I dream ! Two hundred years are flown
Since first thy story ran through Oxford halls,
And the grave Glanvil did the tale inscribe
That thou wert wander’d from the studious walls
To learn strange arts, and join a gipsy-tribe ;
And thou from earth art gone
Long since, and in some quiet churchyard laid —
Some country-nook, where o’er thy unknown grave
Tall grasses and white flowering nettles wave.
Under a dark, red-fruited yew-tree’s shade.’ ”
M. E. Grant Duff.
(To be continued.)
* Mr. Arnold first wrote “blue convolvulus,” but corrected the slip, as Mr.
Keble, his godfather, did in the note in “ The Christian Year,” which, as origi-
nally penned, made the Rhododendron, not the Oleander, grow on the shores of
Gennesaret.
85
A NATURALIST’S WHITSUNTIDE HOLIDAY.
ISS'BOUT a mile north-east of Penmon Point, Anglesea,
(fM) there rises abruptly from the sea the little island of
Priestholm, or S. Seiriol. The bases of its precipitous,
weather-beaten, limestone cliffs, are strewn with blocks
of all sizes, torn from their faces by wind, frost and wave, their cre-
vices and gullies the home of innumerable sea birds, not the least
interesting of which is the puffin, from which the island derives
its popular name. On the northern slope stands an old square
tower with pointed roof, believed to be the remains of a church
of twelfth century date, and at the extreme north-east end on the
edge of a sixty-feet cliff a small four-roomed house, once a sema-
phore station of the Liverpool Dock Board.
The fact that the seas around swarmed with living creatures,
-and that the shores were carpeted with sea weed, often tempted
the biologists of Liverpool to make Anglesea the centre of ex-
ploring expeditions, organised specially with the object of gaining
a wider acquaintance with the marine fauna and flora of this
section of the Irish Sea. That the object of these expeditions
was to a certain extent gained has been proved by the issue,
under the able editorship of Professor W. A. Herdman, of
University College, Liverpool, of a bulky volume, entitled, The
Fivst Report upon the Fauna of Liverpool Bay.
The need of a permanent observing station somewhere in the
neighbourhood and yet out of the reach of the mud and sand
of the two great estuaries of the Mersey and the Dee, soon how-
ever made itself felt, and many a covetous eye was cast on the
firmly-built though dismantled cottage, boldly facing the frequent
north-east gales from its lofty perch on the cliffs of Puffin Island.
The wish was in the present instance not only father to the thought
but grandfather to the acquisition, for by the aid of kind friends,
and through the untiring energy of a small band of workers,
the forsaken observing station has now been transformed into a
marine laboratory, over which proudly waves the blue and white
ensign of the “ L. M. B. C.” A resident keeper takes daily
observations, looks after the boats and appliances, and caters for
the biologists who from time to time are glad to exchange the
lecture room and laboratory for the freedom and sea breezes that
are ever to be found on Puffin Island.
The value of a permanent observing station in furthering the
work undertaken by the Liverpool Marine Biological Committee
soon made itself felt, and a second volume of results was published
in 1889, in which large additions to the previously published lists
of animals and plants were recorded, and accounts given of many
interesting experiments made on the abundant material obtained
in the dredge and tow-net and on the shore. A Third Report is
now in course of preparation, which promises to be even more
valuable and interesting than the two which have preceded it.
Periodically, as the Whitsuntide holiday time comes round,
86
NATURE NOTES.
preparations are made by the local biologists for a general exodus
from the city to the shores of Anglesea, and with a thoughtfulness
and generosity which wrell deserve imitation, the expedition is
provided with that all-important essential, a steamer, by the Liver-
pool Salvage Association. The “ Hyaena ” is a famous craft.
She was a Government gun-boat in the Chinese wars, and in com-
mand of no less a person than General Gordon. Fitted up as
she is with steam winches, electric light, and other apparatus
employed in salvage work, she forms an admirable vessel for the
peaceful purpose to which she is devoted during the three days
the trip usually lasts. If her flat bottom and heavy spars permit
of the possibility of mal de mer being thrown into the bill of fare,
that undesirable sauce is accepted as a necessary evil, or treated
with indifference by her passengers ; if her not over-brilliant
steaming power renders the journey a longer one than the average
tourist might wish, there is the yarn and the song and good
company to make the hours pass pleasantly until the seat of
operation is reached.
On May 23rd a party of some thirty biologists from Liver-
pool, Sheffield, Manchester, Bangor and Edinburgh took ad-
vantage of freedom from engagements and fine weather to revisit
the biological station, and carry out dredging and other biological
operations on the Welsh coast. Some of the party left by
ordinary passenger steamer, and arrived at Puffin Island in
time to do some collecting on the shores at low tide. The island
was aglow with pink and blue under the rays of the afternoon
sun. The wild hyacinth and the sea thrift, safe from the sacri-
legious hand of the vandal “ Field Clubist,” clothe the steep slopes
with a variegated garment of blue and pink, lined with a golden
fringe of Teucrium Scorodonia, and striped with the humble but
ever-lovely daisy. Round the corners of the jagged cliffs the
old-fashioned red-billed puffins watched us with inquisitive but
fearless eyes, knowing right well that they and their nests were
as safe as if they were floating in mid-Atlantic, and majestic
gulls eyed us with curious interest as we scrambled beneath
them, searching for their humbler relatives in each rock-pool
and gull}-. With countless myriads of living forms hidden
beneath the waves, or left behind by the tide on the shores,
all waiting to be looked for and courting examination, surely
the self-styled “ naturalist ” (!), who gathers but to cast away,
might well give poor Mother Earth permission, at least for
a few years, to reclothe, if she can, her bosom, torn bare by
his selfish ignorance. In what respect is science benefited by
the information which greeted me in a daily paper the morning
I returned, that “ Miss So-and-So had secured the prize of the
day by collecting the rare Lloydia serotina ; ” or, that “ Mr.
Somebody had succeeded in unearthing a very rare fern.”
Later in the evening the “ Hyaena ” arrived, and anchored
off the island for the night. The ifiterior of the little kitchen of
the station presents a lively scene at these annual reunions.
A SEABIRDS’ ROCK.
87
The entire resources of the establishment are called into service,
and deficiencies in accommodation, and entire absence of the
luxuries, and occasionally of not a few of the necessities, of life,
are only subjects for merriment and good-natured chaff.
On the following morning the “ Hyaena” steamed down the
Menai Straits, dredging and tow-netting as she went, Carnarvon
Bay being reached early in the afternoon. The party then
slowly worked their way up the southern coast of Anglesea,
anchoring for the night in a sequestered bay known as Porth
Dafarth. There, after nightfall, some interesting experiments,
tried with great success on a previous occasion, were again
made, viz., tow-netting by electric light. A large arc-lamp was
hoisted to the mast-head, and tow-nets, each with a small
electric light within, were lowered to the bottom. Hosts of the
smaller marine Crustacea were thus captured, and it was possible to
pull up by hand-net abundant specimens of Amphipoda, Cumacea,
and Schizopoda, which were to be seen darting about in the bright
path of the electric ray. So enthusiastic were some of those on
board that they got up at three a.m., and tow-netted along the
surface of the water, with the object of determining whether the
animals then to be found were different from those captured by
daylight. Their energy was rewarded by securing a plentiful
haul of Copepoda in great variety.
The next day was spent in dredging and tow-netting along
the coast, the prizes being several rare sponges and ascidians,
along with abundance of Comatula, Holothurians, Nudibranchs,
Zoophytes and Polyzoa. On returning to Porth Dafarth the
electric experiments of the previous evening were repeated with
success.
Monday morning brought with it the disagreeable knowledge
that the holiday was at an end, and that there only remained the
journey back to soot and civilization. Such regrets, however,
were to a great extent tempered by the consciousness of success
following on hard and healthy labour, and the knowledge not
only that we were carrying home with us in the numerous col-
lecting-jars in all probability many additions to the fauna and
flora of the district, but that our three days’ holiday on the sea
had given each one of us a fresh stock of health and vigour
wherewith to meet the less enjoyable, perhaps, but necessary
labours and duties of city life. R. J. Harvey Gibson.
A SEABIRDS’ ROCK AND ITS BRUTAL VISITORS.
E have more than once had occasion to mention the
good work done by the Daily Graphic for the Selbornian
cause. There could be no better example of this than
the admirable article in that journal for May 31, on
“ A Visit to a Seabirds’ Rock.” The rock in question is the
island of Grasholm, off Milford Haven, which the writer of the
article describes as a spot of the greatest interest to ornithologists,
its winged inhabitants including puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes,
S8
NATURE NOTES.
razorbills, gannets, and even Solan geese. The Graphic corres-
pondent was one of a peaceful party of naturalists and artists,
like that which Mr. Harvey Gibson describes in his article on
“ A Naturalist’s Whitsuntide Holiday,” in this month’s Nature
Notes, and he was especially struck with the tameness of the
birds, and their fearlessness of the human species. Of the events
that befell we must give his own admirable description : —
“ Every one of the hundred ledges of the orange-lichen covered
rocks had its row or crowd of comical puffins watching our every
movement and, when one of us was alone, appearing at the door
of the tent ; even the gannets, shy as they are, except at breed-
ing time, no longer rose from their nest even at our near
approach ; indeed, when sketching, they would allow me to
come as near to them as an artist usually is to his model. On
Whit Monday morning I took my book to make a few quite
close studies. As I quietly passed towards them, slowly and
without any quick gesture, they permitted me to sit down among
them and open my book with as little notice as if I were a
comrade. Delighted with this foretasting of the millennium, I
sat and made several outlines, which I forward, until suddenly
I heard the crack of a rifle, and thought something impinged on
a crag below. Then I became aware that one of H.M. sub-
marine miners’ steamers, named ‘ Sir Richard Fletcher,’ had
hove to beside the cliffs, and that some grey-clad young men
aboard were indulging in the insensate practice of shooting at
the beautiful birds whose snowy plumage offered so clear a mark.
“ Presently some six young men landed, and, with the boat’s
crew, dispersed over the island, began shooting puffins and
gulls. The noise and motion soon dispersed the gannets, which
fled to sea, upon which some were soon floating dead. On re-
turning over the island in the afternoon, I came upon one of the
most brutal scenes I have ever witnessed. The gannet eyries
were empty of their innocent population, and, as I sat by one, I
saw above me the sailors hunting out the puffins from their holes,
and killing them with sticks, while three men, in the costume
and with the accent of gentlemen, were wandering along the
ledges of the eyrie, taking the eggs of the gannets from every
nest ; and, not only so, but one man was taking egg after egg,
not with any purpose of preservation, but simply flinging them
as fast as he could gather them over the cliff, to smash upon the
rocks below — a most wanton act, w’hen it is remembered that
the gannet only lays one egg. I saw him fling many, then I
began to count, and before leaving, he flung over more than
thirty, being about a third of the whole number originally upon
that rock. The other rock had been despoiled completely before
my arrival. I should have thought the man a maniac were it
not that his companions were looking on, apparently with com-
placency, at his doings.
“ When after the * Sir Richard Fletcher ’ had sailed I visited
the gannets’ quarters, I found that of 200 nests within reach
only two retained their eggs. The eyries are, for the present,
A SEABIRDS’ ROCK.
89
deserted, and over the whole island the birds are so affrighted
that hardly any appear where there were this morning myriads,
and across the island there is a trail of the marauders ; here
and there again, groups of little bird-corpses, ending at the
landing-place, where a blood-stained dead gannet lies stretched
on the rock, left by the slayer, around wfliose neck I sin-
cerely wish it could be hung, like that of the fateful albatross,
beside a sickening pool formed of the shells and contents of a
large number of eggs smashed during almost every stage of
incubation. Who these chick-smashers were I know not, but
they must be followed by the bitterest contempt of every true
sportsman and naturalist. If they be in Her Majesty’s service,
so flagrant an infringement of the Wild Birds’ Preservation Act
can hardly pass without due notice from the authorities.”
This admirable account of a most disgraceful action is made
more real to us by a number of illustrations in the Daily Graphic,
which give a very vivid idea of the disgusting scene of cruel
and cowardly slaughter.
The intense indignation which will be excited in every reader
of Nature Notes at the atrocious conduct described above,
must not be allowed to evaporate in stormy feeling or strong
language. The Selborne Society would not be worthy of its repu-
tation and would be neglecting its mission, if it failed to do all in
its power in assisting to obtain evidence for corroboration of the
account given above and to punish the ruffians whose conduct
is so strongly and rightly condemned. It is to be hoped that
they do not in any way belong to the Royal Navy, but, if un-
fortunately they do, that will be only a stronger reason for their
being sharply taught that it is not allowed to bring disgrace with
impunity upon that noble service. The well-deserved fate of
the wretched Lieutenant who wantonly dislodged the Logan
Rock shows that the Admiralty can sometimes visit such
offences with condign punishment. That the miscreants had
the costume and accent of gentlemen adds to their guilt, and
is another proof, if proof were wanted, of the homely saying
that “ a well-dressed blackguard is the biggest blackguard
of all.”
[At the last Council meeting of the Selborne Society, held on June nth, after
the above article was in type, the opinions expressed in it were thoroughly endorsed
by the Members of Council present, and unanimous resolutions were passed that
communications should be immediately made : (1) to the Admiralty, directing their
attention to the incident ; (2) to the local constabulary, asking if a prosecution had
been instituted; (3) to Mr. Bryce, M.P., Vice-President of the Selborne Society, and
other members of Parliament, asking them to bring the matter before the House
of Commons at the earliest possible opportunity. We learn that questions have
already been placed on the notice paper of the House of Commons by Sir Hussey
Vivian and others, of their intention to ask the Secretary of State for War whether
he will cause inquiries to be made as to the persons by whom these infractions of
the law were perpetrated; and whether, if no power exists to punish them by
military law, he will cause prosecutions to be instituted against them.
At the moment of going to press we read the ludicrously inadequate reply of
Mr. Brodrick to Mr. Webster’s questions on the subject. The offence is admitted,
excuses are made for the culprits, and they are to be “ reprimanded” ! The matter
must not end here. —Eds.]
90
THE WOODLAND SCENERY OF THE NORTHERN
HEIGHTS.
NE by one, all the most beautiful spots round London
are falling a prey to the builders, who spare nothing
and treat fields, woods and gardens alike.
The “Northern Heights” have long been justly
celebrated for the beautiful woodlands and hedgerows that adorn
them. The Highgate Woods and Parliament Hill, with the
pleasant undulating fields adjoining, have happily been rescued,
but only just in time. Extensive as they are, one can but fear
that before many years have elapsed, they will be. oases in a sur-
rounding wilderness of bricks and mortar ; and this fear is more
forcibly brought home by what the writer noticed during a recent
evening’s walk taken from East Finchley to Hampstead Heath.
The road by which the walk was taken must be well-known to
most dwellers in the district ; it is broad and has an iron fence on
either side, and has evidently been constructed not so much for
the convenience of pedestrians, as to acquaint the public with
what is proposed to be done with one of the loveliest stretches
of pasture and woodland — almost forest land — near the metropo-
lis. The intimation is, as usual, conveyed by notice-boards
placed at intervals along the road, and worded as follows : —
“This Land to be Let on Building Leases for the Erection of
Residences of Good Class ” — joyful news to the speculator and
rich capitalist, but distasteful enough to all lovers of nature.
For some distance the road passes through fields, then it winds
through an oak-wood with patches of undergrowth, the open
spaces covered with brake-fern and wild flowers (notice-boards
appearing at intervals just the same), till at length we emerge
on the Spaniard’s Road, close to the inn of the same name.
So another stretch of country is to be swept away, and ere
long the pick-axe, steam saw and spade will have completed
the work of destruction. Of course there is only one remedy —
the purchase of this estate as another open space for the benefit
of the millions of inhabitants of the “ cluster of cities,” as
London was not long ago aptly described, I think by the Chair-
man of the London County Council — an expensive remedy in-
deed, but surely not too expensive, when one thinks of all the
abundant wealth existing in the metropolis, wealth too often
directed into unprofitable channels. Although the Selborne
Society aims at the preservation of woodland and rural scenery
for its own sake, and as a protest against insults daily done to
Nature all over England, there is not a member of the Society,
I feel convinced, who would not rejoice at the rescue of such a
spot, not merely for its own beaut)', but as another means of
giving health and happiness to the numberless dwellers in what
Sir Frederick Leighton so well called in the first number of
Nature Notes, “this black and monstrous metropolis.”
Archibald L. Clarke.
9i
BOOKS FOR NATURE LOVERS.
Some Bird Books.
He would have no easy task who should undertake to decide whether birds or
flowers have the stronger hold upon the affections of the nature-lover. Perhaps,
like competitors for Academic honours, on whose relative merits it is impossible to
decide, they should be “bracketed equal.” It is certain, however, that these two
between them occupy a far larger proportion of the literature devoted to natural
objects than all the others put together, and the number of volumes is still increasing.
Three of the most recent of these are 'now before us.
The first and most important is the handsome Manual of British Birds , by
Mr. Howard Saunders (Gurney and Jackson). In a volume of some eight hundred
pages we have a complete enumeration, with illustrations of nearly every species,
of all the birds having any claim to be considered as British. Only two pages are
allowed to each bird, no matter how interesting or varied its history may be ; and
Mr. Howard Saunders is to be congratulated on the skill with which he has con-
densed into this small space a complete and readable account of every species. A
systematic sketch of the genera is given in an introduction of thirty pages; in this
way the appearance of the book is made less terrifying to the ordinary reader than
would otherwise be the case, while the student is not deprived of the more technical
characters which he may wish to consult for purposes of comparison. The illus-
trations are the excellent ones which add so much to the attractiveness of Yarrell’s
great work, supplemented by “woodcuts of many recent wanderers to Great
Britain.”
The number of our birds is thus summarised: — “The birds considered as
British in this work are 367 in number, exclusive of several forms — only noticed —
respecting which there are conflicting opinions. The species which have been
ascertained to breed within the United Kingdom during the present century may
be taken as 200; about 70 non-hardy wanderers have occurred fewer than six
times, and 59 others are more or less infrequent visitors ; while 38 species annually
make their appearance in migration or during the colder months, in some portion
of a long, narrow group of islands in the surrounding waters.”
Mr. W. Warde Fowler’s Year with the Birds (Macmillan) has reached a third
edition. It first appeared in 1886, and this is sufficient proof of the favour in
which it is held. There is no need to comment at length upon a work which has
deservedly obtained general approval, but we are glad to bring it to the notice of
such Selbornians as may not already know it. The book is thoroughly Selbornian
in tone, simple, loving and observant. “For several years past I have contrived,
even on the busiest or the rainiest Oxford mornings, to steal out for twenty minutes
or half-an-hour, soon after breakfast, to let my senses exercise themselves on things
outside me.” Thus simply Mr. Fowler begins his narration. The habit began
when he was “an ardent fisherman and daily within reach of trout :”now “ the rod
has given way to a field-glass, and the passion for killing has been displaced by a
desire to see and know ; a revolution which I consider has been beneficial, not only
to the trout, but to myself ; ” and, we heartily add, to the readers of these records.
There are two chapters on Oxford birds, two on those of the Alps, two on those
of “A Midland Village,” and one — different in style, but equally interesting — on
“ The Birds of Virgil.” Some notes and a good index conclude this capital book,
the attractiveness of which is enhanced by Mr. Bryan Hook’s illustrations.
Mr. Charles Dixon adds another to his already numerous bird-books, under
the title Stray Feathers from Many Birds (W. H. Allen and Co.). The title
is not an inapt one, for the twenty-four chapters which make up this handsome
volume range over a great variety of topics, and have no very intimate connection
one with another, except that the main subject of all is the same. The book
contains much interesting reading, but we miss from it that personal observation
which lends such a charm to Mr. Warde Fowler’s volume.
92
NATURE NOTES.
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
When a family which includes some young Selbornians betakes itself to a
marine watering place, a thoughtful paterfamilias will be sure to provide them
with some little manual by the aid of which they may systematise and arrange
the varied knowledge of nature which they acquire in their rambles by the shore.
Even at the present day, when the press teems with popular works on Natural
History, it would be difficult to select a better guide than a handbook familiar to
the last generation, the Seaside Book of Professor Harvey, the fourth edition of
which we have received from Messrs. Gurney and Jackson, the successors of the
well-known publishing house of Van Voorst. In this work the famous Irish
algologist not only deals with the sea-weeds — his own special subject of study — but
discusses the physical laws which cause the motions of the world of waters, and
describes at length the various animals which inhabit the rocks and sands of the
sea-shore, and gives many interesting details as to the microscopic wonders of the
sea. Sea-side plants and birds are also treated of, and a large amount of infor-
mation is given as to the best method of securing treasure (faunal and floral
treasure, not the buried spoil of ancient pirates) by dredging. Professor
Harvey follows Mr. Yarrell in assigning all manner of virtues to a fish diet :
if you want to be healthy, wealthy, and wise, eat fish ; if you wish to im-
mensely increase your intellectual faculties, eat fish ; if you desire to
properly carry- out your religious obligations, eat fish — at certain times.
The Irish priests, according to some writers, formerly allowed themselves
considerable laxity in this matter, and ate good Solan geese at fast times on
the plea that, as they came from barnacles, they must be shell fish, and as
the barnacles grew on trees, they were not far removed from vegetables.
While Professor Harvey quotes a passage to this effect from an old Dutch book
of travels, he is careful to avoid any definite statement which might offend the
sensitiveness of his fellow-countrymen. Perhaps the story originated from some
witty Father Burke of the seventeenth century, who thought he had a good
opportunity of testing the gullibility of a Dutch tourist.
Pond Life : Algce and allied Forms, by T. Spencer Smithson, is one of a
series published by Swan Sonnenschein and Co. This little book is so much
better than most of its class that its coming is a pleasant surprise. The author
shows a personal acquaintance with the things he writes about, not possessed by
the writers of much more ambitious books on the subject. The valuable part of
his work is the information he gives to the young collector as to likely places for
specific forms of fresh-water Alga;. He is, moreover, well versed in the more
scientific aspect of his subject, though perhaps rather daring in the analogies he
draws between these low forms and higher plants. Perhaps in a future edition
the author may see his way to recommending the one-sixth inch objective for a
high power in place of the quarter-inch ; to giving directions for more frequent
examinations on the ordinary slide or hanging drop rather than in the line box,
and for mounting specimens. We heartily wish the book earnest students and
many of them.
We continue to receive each month the Field Club (Elliot Stock), ably
edited by the Rev. Theodore Wood, who has just been elected a member of the
Council of the Selborne Society. Some perfervid Selbornians seem to think the
typical “ Field Clubman is a mere greedy spoliator of Nature. Even if this
rather uncharitable estimate were true, such a creature could not fail to learn
better things from the magazine provided for his benefit.
SELBORNIANA.
“ Porriwiggles.” — Miss A. M. Buckton writes from Weycombe, Hasle-
niere ; — “ The following extract from a letter of Lord Tennyson’s may be of interest
to the readers of Nature Notes: — ‘ Farringford, Feb. 5th, 1S90
SELBORNIANA.
93
Apropos of your slug anecdote, let me tell you one of the tadpole. Porriwiggles,
they call them provincially — a very good name — “ porr ” for the lumpish head
and “iwiggles” for the tail. Once, when a boy, I put my thumb into a little
pool that was full of them, and held it there for some time ; they swarmed
about it and sucked at it, till I took it out, as rough as the finger of an over-
worked seamstress.’ ”
“ The Sea-blue Bird of March.” — The Sea-blue bird of March is, in my
judgment, not the Kingfisher. It does not flit from bush to bush, and is not
found among larch plantations. Cf. the verse in “ In Memoriam,” xc., i., Anyone
who carefully notes the colour of the March hedgerows will observe how their
peculiar colour accentuates the green and yellow and blue of the little blue-tit’s
suit of sea-blue. Readers of Lord Tennyson, and those who know him personally,
must have noted how entirely it would fit in with the Laureate’s nice observation
to speak of the blue-tit as sea-blue. It is veritably the sea-blue bird of March,
never again so noticeable as in that month as far as colour goes.
H. D. Rawnsley.
[The Editorial statement in the April number of Nature Notes was written
with a distinct remembrance of having heard from Lord Tennyson himself that the
Kingfisher was the bird meant. To make assurance doubly sure, our President was
again asked the question, with the result that we can state authoritatively that by
the “Sea-blue bird of March” was meant the Kingfisher, which Lord Tennyson
used to notice first in that month of the year by the Lincolnshire rivers. — Eds.]
Righteous Indignation. — The Rev. H. D. Rawnsley writes later on : —
“ Will you raise your protest against the needless rooting-up of ferns and flowers
in our Lake District, and elsewhere, as the tourist season is close upon us. The
Swiss ‘ Selborne Society ’ prints notices to the effect that the Alpine flowers are
fast disappearing, and the public are warned that those flowers can be far better
propagated from seed than from root, and they are invited to go to the Alpine
Gardens at Zurich and obtain what they want. Two other notes of alarm please
sound. One against the needless cutting of names on trees. The Knight Wood
Oak — the King of the New Forest- — is likely to be destroyed by the pernicious
practice of taking away small bits of the bark. I counted last week 230 new
cuttings at the rind of this remarkable tree’s stem. The other note we need
sounding again, is against wanton destruction of rare birds. Last week, whilst
lunching with Lord Tennyson at Freshwater, I heard the news brought in that
a kite, a buzzard, and ffhoopoe had been shot in the island. I need not say
that very strong indignation was expressed. As good luck would have it, two
members of your Society (vice-presidents) were present, and are able to bear
witness both to the evil news, and also to the way in which your president was
distressed by these barbarous and shortsighted acts of butchery among our
feathered visitants. When shall we learn to entertain angels unawares? ”
Birds’ Sense of Time. — It has often been said that birds cannot count
further than five, since the well-worn story of the rooks and the five men with their
guns. Has their sense of time ever been tested ? We caught last year a young
and helpless blackbird on our lawn, and to protect it from cats hung it up in a cage
in my balcony. It could not feed itself, and beat itself against the wires till its
face was bloody, to our great perplexity and pain. However, in a very short time
the parent blackbirds found it out, and began feeding it through the bars. By a
careful adaptation of mirrors we were able to watch them easily, though the birds
were very wild. The punctuality of the parents was most remarkable, for every
ten minutes , as the clock-hands pointed, one or other blackbird came back with
worm or crumb or grub — how obtained, and at what cost of labour and toil,
with such strict regularity is a marvel to me ; but this happened for several con-
secutive days, till the young one was better fledged and ceased to sit all day with
his mouth open, so that we judged him fit to go abroad. We scattered some
bread crumbs about the cage, to give the parents a little rest, and they were in-
telligent enough to take the hint and poke them through the wires when they
thought themselves unobserved, though the young blackbird had not a notion of
picking them up when placed in his cage. At last we let him fly, and for several
94
NATURE NOTES.
days the birds haunted the near trees and sang to us as if gratefully. Perhaps Sel-
bornians will take note of the habits of birds in feeding their young, and make a
memorandum of the spells of time which various species require for healthy
mastication and digestion. My blackbirds were well able to count ten, but not
eleven, in minutes.
M. E. Haweis.
The Nightingale in the Thames Valley.— Mr. Albert C. Keen writes
from 91, King Street West, Hammersmith : — “ Many readers of Nature Notes
will be agreeably surprised to learn that during the past and some recent early
summers a nightingale has been in the habit of singing in two or three of the old-
fashioned gardens that lie close to the Middlesex end of Hammersmith Bridge, on
the right as you approach the bridge, and within a few hundred yards of busy
King Street, Hammersmith. One of the gardens thus honoured is that of Rigby
House, once the residence of Sir Charles Wheatstone, the eminent electrician.”
On the other hand, Mr. F. C. Hodgson, of Twickenham, writes to the Times
of May 29th, asking persons who take an interest in such subjects, whether they
have observed that the number of nightingales singing is less than usual this year.
“ In this neighbourhood we generally have a fair number, but this year I have only
heard one, and that one very seldom. In most of the favourite haunts of the bird
I have heard none this year. During a fortnight I lately spent in the south of the
Isle of Wight I heard but one, though I rvas out of doors at all times in the day
and the weather was highly favourable for them. To-day I spent three or four
hours out of doors at Horton — Milton’s Horton, which ever since his days has been
famous for nightingales — -but though I heard many other birds singing, I heard not
one nightingale. I should be interested to know if the same scarcity has been ob-
served in other parts of the country, particularly in the eastern counties, where they
are usually so abundant.”
Birds and Bonnets. — We have to acknowledge several extracts kindly
sent us by that veteran naturalist and humanitarian, the Rev. F. O. Morris,
of Nunburnholme Rectory’, Yorkshire. Out of the number we have pleasure in
printing the following letter on the use of birds as trimming for ladies’ bonnets,
which seems to point to the dawning of a new and happier era in the history of
the fashion-book
“ I take the opportunity of the present change to spring fashions to draw the
attention of your readers to the almost entire absence of the use of birds as a
trimming in hats. This custom is during the coming spring apparently to be, for
a time at least, abandoned, the preference being given to imitation flowers, which,
regarded merely from an aesthetic point of view, must surely prove as ornaments
vastly preferable to that which cannot but convey, at any rate to those whose
opinion is of any worth, a repulsive idea of murder — ‘ murder of this best of
harmless beings,’ as Browning has it. The more I have inquired into the
matter the more I am convinced that in many instances the wearers of the remains
of the poor tortured birds have not really thought about the subject at all ; at any
rate have given to it no thought whatever, with regard to the excessive cruelty
necessarily involved. One example alone may convey to the minds of some who
have not given the subject even a passing thought, a slight idea of what the wear-
ing of wings may involve. The following is an extract from Yarrell’s History of
British Birds : — ‘ Some years ago, -when the plumes of birds were much worn in
ladies’ hats, the barred wings of the young kittiwake were in great demand for the
purpose, and vast numbers were slaughtered at their breeding haunts. . . .
Fishing smacks with extra boats and crews used to commence their work of de-
struction at Lundy Island by daybreak on August 1st, continuing this proceeding
for upwards of a fortnight. In many cases wings 'were torn off 'wounded birds
before they 'were dead , the mangled victims being tossed back into the 'water. . .
Allowing for the starved nestlings, it is well within the mark to say that at least
nine thousand of these inoffensive birds were destroyed during the fortnight.’
“It is most sincerely to be hoped that as now for a brief time this spring’s fashion
may cause the temporary laying aside of birds as trimmings, all those interested
in the suppression of an unwarrantable destruction of bird life will, in every way
in their power, endeavour to enlighten the minds of the ignorant and to gain the
sympathies of the feeling ; so that when the rapid changes of fashion again tend
SELBORNIANA.
95
to bring with them a recurrence of the bird adornment, there may be so strong
an opposition to the re-introduction of this barbarous fashion that a less question-
able mode must perforce be adopted, to adorn that part of the human family
which should be the first to encourage all that is gentle, humane, and Christian.”
The Earliest Cuckoo. — The Rev. A. Rawson writes from Fallbarrow,
Windermere: — “In the May number of Nature Notes, page 79, Mr. Rawns-
ley says, * The first cuckoo was heard here in the Keswick Valley, on April 2nd.’
He must surely be mistaken. In their annual migrations to this country the
cuckoos probably strike the English coast from Hampshire to Norfolk! and will
be heard first within those limits. Nearly forty years’ observation of the arrival
of migrants in Kent has given April 3rd as the earliest date, and this was most
unusual, April nth being the next earliest, while the ‘mean’ date was about
April 1 6th. If I remember rightly, this question was discussed in The Field not
long ago, and the mean date of arrival for this country was given April 12th or
13th. Mr. Rawnsley does not say whether the observation was his own, or of
his paid observers. The imitation of the note of the cuckoo is of the most
simple and easiest kind, and it requires a most practised ear to distinguish between
the real and the unreal. I merely write in the interests of ornithology ; accurate
observers are very much needed, but I question if we can rely on boys who are
paid for an early (or the earliest) intimation of the appearance of birds whose
look they do not know, as I have often practically proved. If Mr. Rawnsley
can verify the fact, it is worth noting, for if an unusual one in the South-east of
England, it is doubly so in the North-West : the occurrence is probably unique.”
Outrages in Ireland. — We owe the following extract to the kindness of
Mr. John O’Leary, a high authority on all matters relating to Ireland. It is from
a letter to the Daily Express, by Mr. Allan Ellison, who writes from Trinity
College, Dublin, and calls attention to ‘ * the wanton slaughter of one of our rarest
and most beautiful birds which, in defiance of the law, is carried on within a few
miles of our city [Dublin]. The lesser tern ( Sterna minuta) is a scarce summer
visitor to this country from May to September, and breeds in small numbers at a
few places along our coasts. It may be found breeding on the coasts of Dublin and
Wicklow, in one place within six miles of the General Post Office. Here there
were a few years ago about fifty pairs nesting annually, but, owing to ruthless
persecution, I doubt if there are ibis year as many as a dozen. Even of these a
good many have been shot within the last fortnight, since their arrival in the
country ; and a day or two ago ten or twelve fresh specimens were seen in the
shop of a Dublin taxidermist, ready mounted for hat-trimming, a use for which, on
account of its beauty, this bird has always been a favourite with the fair sex ;
consequently it fetches a very high price. The public must bear in mind that to
shoot these birds, or to have in possession freshly killed specimens at the present
season is a breach of the Wild Birds’ Protection Act, and that persons doing so
are liable to a severe penalty. Before the Act was passed numbers of ‘ sportsmen ’
and holiday makers used to visit the breeding places of some of our sea-coast
birds, and work an indiscriminate slaughter of the helpless birds and their young on
their nesting rocks, simply for the cruel pleasure of killing them. Of late years
this practice has almost become obsolete, for the most part without the necessity
of enforcing the Act ; but surely in a case like the present, when one of our most
uncommon birds is still ruthlessly slaughtered for the profit of a few individuals,
the law ought to be vindicated and offenders punished.”
The Song of Birds. — We have received many communications on this
subject. Dr. Francis, of Richmond, sends us the following lines, not so much
for their poetical merit, as for the accuracy with which they imitate the note of the
American robin —
When the willows gleam along the brooks,
And the grass grows green in sunny nooks,
In the sunshine and the rain
I hear the robin in the lane,
Singing “ cheerily,
Cheer up, cheer up ;
Cheerily, cheerily.
Cheer up.”
96
NATURE NOTES.
When spring hopes seem to wane,
I hear the joyful strain —
A song at night, a song at morn,
A lesson deep to me is borne,
Hearing “cheerily,
Cheer up, cheer up ;
Cheerily, cheerily,
Cheer up.”
The lines have no name attached to them, but are taken from Nehrlinfs North
American Birds , now being published in parts by Wesley and Son.
The Rev. A. Rawson calls attention to the following extract from White’s
Natural History of Selborne : — “ A friend remarks that many of his owls hoot in
B flat, but that one went almost below' A. The pipe he tried their notes by was
a common half-crown pitch-pipe, such as masters use for tuning of harpsichords —
it was the common London pitch. A neighbour of mine, who is said to have a
nice ear, remarks that the owls about this village hoot in three different keys, in
G flat or F sharp, in B flat and A flat. He heard two hooting to each other, the
one in A flat and the other in B flat.
“ Query : Do these different notes proceed from different species, or only from
various individuals?” — From quarto edition of 1813, p. 14.
Miss Agnes Martelli sends the following letter from Mr. John James Carey, of
Ronceval, Guernsey : — “ One night last year I noticed the note of the cuckoo
repeated several times. Once I counted 1 18, and thought this rather unusual, but
this year the call far exceeded this number. On the night of the 8th May, a
lovely moonlight, a cuckoo, perched on a tree opposite my window, awoke me by
constant calls. This was at 1.30 a.m. He ran on an uninterrupted note of 415
times, then ceased for a short time, and, having taken breath, commenced again.
I counted up to 600, then, fearing that I might forget the hundreds, I produced
paper and pencil, dotting down every hundred. My friend ran up to 2,683, net
including the 415 calls. There were short intervals of a few seconds, as if wanting
breath, and once or twice he called a single ‘cook,’ but after two hours (for it
was 3. 30), I thought I had satisfied my mind on the vocal powers of this bird, and
feeling very sleepy I left him still going on.”
Albino Birds. — Mr. W. G. Wheatcroft, Secretary of the Bath Branch,
writes : — My attention has recently been called to this subject by a lady from
Norfolk. Miss Mildred Edwards, of Hardingham Hall, in a letter to my wife of
the 14th inst., observes: — “It may interest you.to hear that we have just had
brought us from one of our plantations an entirely white rook. It had been
evidently mobbed by the others. It is extremely ugly, has white legs and blue
eyes, the pupils having a ghastly pinkish tinge in some lights.” Selbornians will
doubtless call to mind the following passage from The Natural History of Selborne :
— “A gentleman in this neighbourhood had two milk-white rooks in one nest. A
booby of a carter, finding them before they were able to fly, threw them down and
destroyed them, to the regret of the owner, who would have been glad to have
preserved such a curiosity in his rookery. I saw the birds myself nailed against
the end of a barn, and was surprised to find that their bills, legs, feet, and claws
were milk-white. I have come across a goodly number of albinos among plants, but
only one or two in the animal world.”
On this subject Mr. T. G. Ward, of Leighton Buzzard, sends the following
notes of albino birds and mammals seen at North Marston : —
“On the nth of August, 1887, a snow-white specimen of the yellow wagtail
was observed by a friend of mine. The next morning he saw it again, and ad-
vanced within a few yards of it before it flew away. Its flight and chirrup were
quite normal. Several white starlings have been observed at various times by
different persons. White sparrows have also been taken in this district. In the
w inter of 1S85, a sparrow was caught in a trap with the crown of its head pure
white, and one was seen on the 6th of November, and again on the 18th, with
its back and tail quite white. I have been told by a person of good authority
that he saw' a white blackbird in his orchard a few years ago. One morning as I
was out for a walk I saw a pure w'hite stoat ; this was in the winter-time. White
rabbits have been shot in this neighbourhood.”
SELB0RN1ANA.
97
Home Reading Union. — This Society seems to be one which would be
most suitable to many Selbomians who are anxious to carry on their studies of
Natural History in a systematic manner and with the co-operation of others.
It has been formed for the purpose of developing a taste for recreative and
instructive reading among all classes of the community, and directing home
study to definite ends, so as on the one hand to check the spread of pernicious
literature among the young, and on the other to remedy the waste of energy and
lack of purpose so often found among those who have time and opportunity for a
considerable amount of reading. Its objects are (i.) To draw up and publish courses
of reading adapted to the tastes and requirements of different classes of readers,
especially (a) young people, (h) artisans, (c) general readers. (2.) To publish
for each class of readers a cheap monthly Magazine giving introduction to the pre-
scribed books, answers to questions, and other helps. The readers will be or-
ganised, as far as possible, into local circles under suitable leaders ; certificates will
be issued to those who have completed regular courses of study ; and such further
assistance as experience shows to be practicable will be rendered. (3.) To organise
summer assemblies at convenient centres, when lectures will be delivered by ex-
perienced teachers, social gatherings held, and excursions arranged. Among the
works which are selected for reading in the Junior Science Course we find Kirby’s
Butterflies, Moths, and Beetles ; Paul Bert’s First Year of Scientific Knowledge ;
Bower’s Science of Eveiy-Day Life; and Humphrey’s Insect Ways on Summer
Days. In the Senior Course, among others recommended, are Darwin’s Voyage
of the Beagle, Huxley’s Crayfish, and Grant Allen’s Evolutionist at Large ; a selec-
tion which shows that those who made it belong to an “ advanced ” School of
Biology. Mrs. Haweis warmly recommends this Society, which is, she says, an
admirable one, growing fast and promising much greater things in the days that
are to come than it can show at present.
Birds Singing as they Fly. — Looking over some past volumes of the
Spectator newspaper to-day, I came across a review of a poem called “ Mano : a
poetical history,” by Mr. [now Canon] Richard Watson Dixon, in which occurs
the following line, addressed to a lark : —
“ Thou only bird that singest as thou flyest.”
Is not this a — possibly pardonable — mistake? The cuckoo, about whose claim to
be a singing-bird there may be two opinions, certainly “sings as he flies.” And
the other day I saw a blackbird fly off in the middle of his song, and continue
singing as he flew to another perch, there being a curious want of harmony between
the movement of his wings and the rhythms of his song. I think I have seen a
missel thrush do the same. Perhaps some of your readers may be able to support
these instances by others. The subject is rather interesting, as it marks the
great difference between the breathing powers of birds and human beings.
F. W. B.
A Singing Mouse. — Some weeks ago a singing mouse was heard and seen
every evening in the kitchen of this house. The animal, a very small one, was
audible behind the stove, the warbling became more and more clear, and then
the songster would come out on the hearth, still continuing to utter the curious
sounds, which somewhat resembled the notes of a linnet or wren, only of course
they were less powerful. This mouse became very tame, picking up crumbs
which were thrown to it, and then resuming its song. Great care was taken to
avoid frightening it, but in a month or so its visits became rarer, and finally
ceased. Lately the servants have heard two songs at the same time, but the
singers have not shown themselves. No doubt some of your correspondents can
relate similar experiences. I shall be interested in any information on the subject.
Is the phenomenon rare or of frequent occurrence ? E. E. P.
[At a recent meeting of the Linnean Society Mr. J. E. Harting exhibited alive
a so-called “ singing mouse,” which had been captured at Maidenhead a week
previously, and which uttered sounds like the subdued warbling of a linnet. He
desired to be informed whether the cause usually assigned for the phenomenon
was correct — namely, some obstruction or malformation of the trachea. Professor
Stewart stated that he had observed alive, and dissected when dead, a similar
specimen, and had found no trace of any organic disease, or malformation.]
98
NATURE NOTES.
A Brave Comrade. — Miss Harriet Peyton sends us from Cwinrhaiadr,
Machynlleth, an account of the following interesting incident : — “ In this wild
mountainous region from which I write, Buzzard Hawks are not uncommon, and
on one occasion our keeper, seeing two of them, shot and wounded one severely,
and, in fact, thought he had killed it, as it began to drop. At this moment the
other hawk flew under it, supporting it on its back, and carrying it along 200
yards or more at a stretch. As soon as the support was withdrawn, the wounded
bird began to fall, and again its friendly mate supported it in the same manner,
and actually carried it across a valley, half a mile wide, to some very precipitous
rocks, where they were lost sight of.”
Footpath. Preservation. — We have received the Annual Report of the
National Footpath Preservation Society for 1888-9, and gladly call the attention
of Selbornians to a body which has a special claim upon their sympathy. “ This
Society ” — we quote its prospectus — was “ formed for the preservation of ancient
Foot and Bridle Paths, and all other Rights of Way by Land and Water, Fishing,
Vacant Spaces, as Village Greens, Roadside slips of Land, & c. It may be
remarked that, had such a Society been established fifty years ago, a considerable
number of footpaths (which are as much highways as roads) would have been
saved to the public. Public footpaths intersect the country in every direction.
They are of the utmost use, and afford an unfailing source of healthy recreation
and innocent enjoyment to all sections of the community ; young and old, rich
and poor, are alike interested in their preservation, and yet we know that such
public ways have, in innumerable cases, been stopped with impunity. It is, there-
fore, of the greatest importance that the existence of these rights of way should
not be left to chance, or to the casual efforts of individuals, but that they should
be fixed on such a basis as would secure them against attacks.”
During the past year, ninety-four cases of footpath stopping and encroach-
ments have been brought under the notice of the Society, and, in many instances,
the action of the Society has resulted in the removal of the grievance. Twelve
local footpaths’ societies are affiliated to the central body, as well as twenty-one
Local Boards, fifteen Corporations and Ratepayers’ Associations, and twenty-
seven field clubs, and similar bodies. The report, price 6d., and all information,
may be obtained from the Secretary, Mr. H. Allnutt, 42, Essex-street, Strand,
W.C. An annual subscription of 5s. entitles to membership.
Wild Birds and Maize. — The Rev. F. M. Millard writes from' Otham
Parsonage, Maidstone : — “ We keep a few Bantams, and we have been in the habit
of throwing out wheat for them. But the sparrows used to take so large a share
of this that I have now given them maize, unbroken, instead. The results are
rather amusing : the sparrows try their best, but can make very little of it.
Greenfinches (whom, except in snowy weather, I have not seen so near the
windows before) seem to succeed rather better, but not much. But the Blue Tit,
though so much smaller, manages much better. He carries off a grain to a rose-
bush growing against the wall : he holds it firmly between his little claws and
pecks away at the inner side of the grain, much as I have seen a Nuthatch
hammer at a nut wedged in the bark of one of our oak-trees. Master Tommy’s
appetite seems insatiable ; but I don’t like to grudge him, his ways are so pretty.”
WORK OF THE BRANCHES OF THE
SELBORNE SOCIETY.
It has been pointed out by several readers that the account of the Selborne
Society’s work in the last number of Nature Notes gives a very inadequate idea
of the size, income and importance of the Society, inasmuch as it deals only
with the work of the Central Council, and omits all mention of the very
numerous and energetic branches, which in their continual increase are covering
the whole land.
WORK OF THE BRANCHES.
99
In order that we might be able to give a complete account of the present
position of the branches, circulars have been sent to all the Honorary Secretaries
of Branches, asking them to supply information on several definite subjects.
Unfortunately this request has not been complied with in some instances, so that
we are for the present unable to compile the complete account of branch work,
which we had hoped to lay before our readers. Doubtless, however, the whole
of the Secretaries will have sent in their reports by next month, when we hope
to give the results in Nature Notes.
Meanwhile we may mention a most successful meeting held a few days since
for the inauguration of the Selborne Society in the New Forest District. It
took place at Lymington, and had the advantage of being very fully reported in
a well-written paper, the Lymington Chronicle. We have often acknowledged
the obligations of the Selborne Society to the press ; and in the present instance
we find that in the newspaper in question not only an interesting account of the
proceedings was given, but a leading article was devoted to a vigorous advocacy
of the claims upon the public of the Selborne Society. The number of copies of
the Lymington Chronicle which have been sent to us by various correspondents
proves that its goodwill was thoroughly appreciated by local Selbornians.
The following account of the meeting is abridged from that given in the
paper mentioned above. The meeting was held in the Lymington Town
Hall, the Hon. John Scott Montagu presiding, and there was a large and
fashionable attendance, the chief attraction of the meeting being an illustrated
lecture on the migration of birds by the Rev. H. D. Gordon, M.A., of
Harting, near Petersfield. Mrs. Martelli and Miss Agnes Martelli (secretary
to the “ Northern Heights” branch of the Selborne Society) came from London
to attend the meeting. These ladies are of the family of the illustrious Gilbert
White, of Selborne, Mrs. Martelli («/e Miss White) being daughter of the Rev.
F. H. White, Abbots Ann, Andover, Hants. The Rev. H. E. Bull, of Milford,
and his sister, Miss Gertrude Bull, of Southampton, were most energetic in
making known the objects of the Society, and in creating the interest in its
proceedings which resulted in the very influential meeting. The chairman ably
advocated Selbornian principles, and said that it would afford Lord Montagu
and himself the greatest pleasure to give every help in their power to a move-
ment which was so admirable in its objects. Mr. Gordon’s lecture on “ The
Longevity of Birds in connection with Migration ” was a very interesting one,
and we much regret that we are unable to reproduce some of it in Nature
Notes. We must refer our readers to the admirable synopsis given in the
Lymington Chronicle. Mr. Bull, while referring with pleasure to the presence
of the Liberal candidate, Mr. King, side by side with his Conservative opponents,
advised those present to put their politics aside for a moment and to join together
on the common ground of the furtherance of the objects of the Selborne Society.
We commend Mr. Bull’s advice to his namesake, John. It is most refreshing to
find at Selborne meetings the Liberal lamb and the Tory lion (or vice versa ) lying
down peaceably together, while the humane principles of the Society forbid any
lurking suspicion that this fraternising may terminate in the gentler animal being
compelled to take an inside seat.
Another very pleasant gathering which took place during the past month
was that of the Lower Thames Valley Branch. This branch probably occupies
the premier position with regard to numbers and income. It is composed of
three divisions, Richmond, Ealing, and Hammersmith, has a royal duke as its
president, and an imposing list of vice-presidents, headed by the name of the
Countess Russell. It had last year more than 200 members and an income of
over £ 70 , sending a contribution of £y to the Central Council. But perhaps
the most hopeful sign of the Lower Thames Valley Branch is its very efficient
iuvenile section. One of the reviewers on the staff of Nature Notes lately
asked if the Selborne Society were established in any public or private schools,
“and if not, why not?” That inquiring reviewer would have had his laud-
able curiosity amply satisfied if he had been present at the last meeting of the
Lower Thames Valley Selbornians. Upwards of eighty children, or rather young
people, ranging from eighteen to eight, form a most enthusiastic juvenile sec-
tion, which is the creation of Miss Annie Wallis, the principal of the flourish-
ing Richmond High School. This lady is well known as an educationalist ;
ICO
NATURE NOTES.
she is a warm advocate of the advantages of nature study in the work of edu-
cation, and she has the secret of communicating her opinions and enthusiasm
to others. The youthful Selbornians from the Richmond High School have
during the past year shown in various ways their ardour in the pursuit of
natural history. They have done some very creditable work in the stud)- of
the flora of the Lower Thames Valley, and they have been the originators of
a most enjoyable form of amusement in the first Selbornian dance. They have
before them for the present year an extensive programme of botanical research.
It was for their benefit chiefly that the “ May meeting” was held in the
extensive gymnasium attached to the High School, which is always placed at
the disposal of the Selborne Society for meetings. The whole of the wall
space was covered by a collection of valuable natural history specimens lent
by various members and friends. Some admirable collections from an educa-
tional point of view were displayed, and were much appreciated by a large
body of visitors. Much energy was exerted by Mr. F. W. A. Clarke, the
hon. secretary, and Mr. T. F. Wakefield in procuring the materials for such a
successful exhibition. After the various exhibits had been examined under the
guidance of skilled scientific cicerones, a meeting was held, with the Rev.
Percy Myles in the chair. A very valuable paper by Dr. Francis and his son
Mr. William Francis was read by the latter. It was a concise guide to the
admirable type-collection of British Lepidoptera (a selection from his large and
well-known general collection), exhibited by Dr. Francis, and forming dis-
tinctly the most interesting and instructive portion of the whole exhibition. A
paper was also read by Mr. T. F. Wakefield, setting forth in a pleasing
manner some of the leading facts of entomology.
At the close of the general meeting there was held a numerously-attended
meeting of the Committee, amongst whom it was pleasant to see Mr. King, the
“father” of the Lower Thames Valley Branch. The Committee carried into
effect for the first time one of the rules of the Selborne Society which empowers any
Branch consisting of more than 150 members to elect a Vice-president of the
Society. The unanimous choice for the honour fell upon Sir Mountstuart Grant
Duff, who has on many occasions shown his warm interest in the Society, the last
proof of which is his very interesting communication to the present number of
Nature Notes.
Whether the Richmond press gives as much attention to Selbornian news as
does the “ fourth estate ” in Lymington we cannot tell, as we have received no
newspapers in this case. We think, however, that our readers will be glad to
have some account of these two meetings as specimens of the kind of work which
is being continually done in all quarters of the land by the many branches of the
Selborne Society.
NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Owing to the very large number of contributions and letters received, we have
been obliged this month to add four pages to the Magazine. In spite of the
additional space thus secured, a large amount of matter is unavoidably crowded
out. Several interesting communications on Animal and Plant Names are obliged
to be postponed, and we are at the last moment very reluctantly obliged to exclude
two sonnets wre had selected from the great mass of original poetry which reaches
us. Indeed for the future, we fear we shall be obliged to put more rigid limits upon
this department of the Magazine, as the copy at present in hand would be sufficient
to produce a couple of numbers entirely composed of verses. Contributions which
reach us immediately after the publication of each number have, cater is paribus ,
the best claim to a place in the number that follows. May we remind corres-
pondents that short communications, legibly written on one side of the paper only,
are much more likely to obtain insertion than those which do not comply with
these conditions.
It is particularly requested that subscriptions and letters bearing on the general
business of the Society, should not be forwarded to the editors, but to the Secretary
of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, Editorial communications
should be addressed to the Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
Mature IRotes :
Zb e Selborne Society’s flftagastne
No. 7.
JULY 15, 1890.
Vol. I.
THE PRESERVATION AND ENJOYMENT OF
OPEN SPACES.
j HAVE been asked by the Editors to give some account
ii of the work of the several Societies which have been
I formed to secure to the public adequate means of
' enjoying life in the open air.
The oldest of these Societies is the Commons Preservation
Society. This body was formed in the autumn of 1865, and
was the direct outcome of the attacks which about that time
threatened to deprive London of its commons. At Wimbledon,
Lord Spencer had proposed to convert two-thirds of the common
into a park, and to enclose the rest ; Epping Forest had, by
gigantic enclosures, been cut down to little more than half its
full size ; Epsom Common had been in danger of parliamentary
enclosure. But these were mere instances of a danger threaten-
ing all open land. Before the Committee of the House of
Commons, which had held an enquiry on the subject of
metropolitan open spaces, the lords of manors and their agents
had claimed the right to enclose common land almost at
will. Amongst those who were anxious to save the commons
some were ready to take the lords at their word, and to embark
upon costly schemes of purchase. On the other hand, many
held — and the opinion had found advocates before the Committee
— that the commons in the neighbourhood of London might be
saved without spending a penny in purchase, if the commoners
would only watchfully and energetically assert their rights. En-
closure, it was said, could be prevented by litigation, if necessary;
and good order could be insured by local management without
injury to any legal rights. It was to advocate this view that the
Commons Preservation Society was formed. Mr. Shaw Lefevre
was the first Chairman of the Committee — a post he has held,
IC2
NATURE NOTES.
save when a Minister of the Crown, ever since. Mr. John Locke*
who had been Chairman of the House of Commons Committee,
Mr. Charles Buxton and Mr. John Stuart Mill, were amongst the
first members ; Mr. Leslie Stephen acted for a short time as
honorary secretary ; and Mr. Philip Lawrence, to whose efforts
it was largely due that the Society was formed, advised and
guided the new body with consummate skill and ability in the
capacity of honorary solicitor. One is tempted to dwell on the
succession of victories the little Society achieved within the next
ten years, but we have in this paper to do with the present
rather than the past. Suffice it to say that a series of decisions
of the Courts, culminating in the judgment of Sir George
Jessel, by which the enclosure of some three thousand acres in
Epping Forest was declared illegal, amply justified the position
assumed by the Society, and established beyond question, that
a lord of a manor cannot enclose a common against the will
of the Commoners. At the same time the Metropolitan
Commons Act of 1866, and the several Acts passed on the
basis of its provisions, converted into fact the second thesis of
the society, that all that was necessary to complete the work of
securing London commons to the public, was local management
without prejudice to existing legal rights. By this means
nuisances are prevented, order preserved, and improvements
made without depriving a common of its distinguishing features.
The work of the Society soon grew beyond its first limits.
Some time before the final victory in the Epping Forest case,
the late Mr. Fawcett had obtained the support of the Commons
Preservation Society in his intrepid stand against the wholesale
enclosure of rural commons under the Enclosure Acts. The
Society became the vigilant critic of every proposal to enclose
a common which came before Parliament. Enclosure was en-
tirely suspended for several years, and in 1876, by passing the
Commons Act, the Legislature provided an alternative method
of treating rural commons — that of managing them as open
spaces, and declared that no common should be enclosed unless
it were shown that the interests both of the neighbourhood and
of the nation at large would be served ; while in these rare cases
ample provision of recreation ground and field gardens should be
made. The result of this legislation and of the untiring efforts of the
Society to ensure attention to its provisions is, that since 1876
30,000 acres of common land have been placed under regulation,
that only commons in retired and mountainous parts have been
enclosed. Where enclosure has been sanctioned, in some cases
large allotments for recreation and field-gardens have been set
out, and in others a general right of roaming, except where the
land is cultivated or planted, has been reserved to the public.
Moreover, proposals to enclose have become fewer and fewer,
and have now almost ceased.
It was not long after the passing of the Commons Act that
the attention of the Commons Preservation Society was first
PRESERVATION OF OPEN SPACES. 103
turned to those smaller open spaces which are invaluable in
crowded towns — square gardens, church-yards, and fields and
gardens in private ownership. Miss Octavia Hill commenced
this branch of open space work by a vigorous effort to save
from the builder some fields in the neighbourhood of the Swiss
Cottage at Finchley. In 1881, Mr. Walter James, as a repre-
sentative of the Society proposed the Metropolitan Open Spaces
Act, 1881, and in 1884 Mr. John Hollond piloted through Par-
liament an Act prohibiting building on disused burial grounds ;
several other Acts to facilitate the preservation of such open
spaces — out-door sitting-rooms, as Miss Octavia Hill has styled
them — have since been passed. At the same time the Society,
when necessary, has challenged the attempts of railway com-
panies and other promoters of industrial undertakings to obtain
special Parliamentary powers to appropriate commons, town
gardens and other open spaces ; its efforts in this direction have
been signally successful.
We have now, however, reached the time when the Commons
Preservation Society was to have fellows in its work. The
Kyrle Society was founded at the suggestion of Miss Miranda
Hill, with the general object of “ bringing beauty home to the
poor.” Its work in the first instance ran in two channels; it
busied itself in decorating rooms and halls used by the poorer
classes, by the execution of frescoes and the gift or loan of
pictures; and it organised a choir to perform good music in
churches and other public places without expense to the hearers.
In the spring of 1879 the Society determined to establish a
Branch to aid the Commons Preservation Society in its battle for
open spaces, and a paper on the subject was read to a meeting
of the Kyrle Society by the present writer, on the 6th of March.
The Open Spaces Committee of the Kyrle Society soon found
a special held for its activities, in laying out gardens in London
— disused burial grounds and similar spots — and in supplying
seats and aiding local efforts in the improvement of such places.
While mainly interesting itself in this branch of the work, it
cordially supported the efforts of the Commons Preservation
Society both in and out of Parliament, to resist the appropriation
of open land ; and to this Committee belongs the honour of first
calling attention to the threatened sale of Burnham Beeches,
and of particularly energetic efforts to prevent the spoliation of
the lake country by unnecessary railways.
The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, the youngest
of the Societies having for their express object the preservation
of open spaces, was founded by the Earl of Meath, then Lord
Brabazon, in October, 1882. Its avowed aim was “to provide
breathing and resting places for the old and play-grounds for the
young in the midst of densely populated localities, especially in
the east and south of London ; ” and the justification for its exis-
tence is stated to be that “ the work is of far too vital importance
to be dealt with as a mere detail in any general scheme of
104
NATURE NOTES.
philanthropic effort.” Lord Meath, in fact, was of opinion that
the pace ot the Kyrle Society was not quick enough, and that
“a special and influential combination of persons” giving its
“earnest and considerate attention” to the subject, and acting
under his Lordship's guidance, would be able to accomplish
greater things. Whether this opinion was a sound one, it would
be idle to discuss. As a matter of fact the Metropolitan Gardens
Association has done much good work, and any slight feeling of
rivalry which may have once existed between it and the older
Societies has long since vanished; the three agencies are work-
ing together in thoroughly cordial relations. Lord Meath’s
Association can point to a very long list of church-yards and
other gardens laid out or improved by its efforts ; while it has
done much to force upon the public notice the importance of
this particular branch of open space work. The project of
forming a public promenade on the main drainage embank-
ment in the East of London, and the placing of flowers in
Trafalgar Square show that the action of the Society is by no
means a matter of routine, but that it welcomes every suggestion
by which increased facilities for out-door recreation may be
extended to London.
Such is a brief sketch of the circumstances under which each
of the Open Space Societies came into existence and of the
character of the work on which they have been mainly engaged.
But there have of late years been many developments of the
Open Space movement which deserve notice, and upon these
and the relations thereto of the Societies I have mentioned, and
of other agencies, 1 shall be glad, with the Editors’ permission,,
to say a few words on another occasion.
Robert Hunter.
THE PLANT ALLUSIONS IN THE POEMS OF
MATTHEW ARNOLD.
{Continued from p. 84.)
“ TJiyrsis is full of references to flowers. Here are some of
them : —
“ ‘ So, some tempestuous morn in early June,
When the year's primal burst of bloom is o'er,
Before the roses and the longest day —
When garden-walks and all the grassy floor
With blossoms red and white of fallen May
And chestnut flowers are strewn—
So have I heard the cuckoo’s parting cry,
From the wet field, through the vext garden trees,
Come with the volleying rain and tossing breeze :
The bloom is gone, and with the bloom go I !
MATTHEW ARNOLD'S PLANT ALLUSIONS. 105
“ 1 Too quick despairer, wherefore wilt thou go ?
Soon will the high Midsummer pomps come on,
Soon will the musk carnations break and swell,
Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon,
Sweet-William with his homely cottage-smell,
And stocks in fragrant blow ;
Roses that down the alleys shine afar,
And open, jasmine-muffled lattices,
And groups under the dreaming garden-trees,
And the full moon, and the white evening-star.
“ ‘ O easy access to the hearer’s grace
When Dorian shepherds sang to Proserpine !
For she herself had trod Sicilian fields,
She knew the Dorian water’s gush divine,
She knew each lily white which Enna yields,
Each rose with blushing face ;
She loved the Dorian pipe the Dorian strain.
But ah, of our poor Thames she never heard !
Her foot the Cumner cowslips never stirr’d ;
And we should tease her with our plaint in vain !
“ ‘Well ! wind-dispersed and vain the words will be,
Yet, Thyrsis, let me give my grief its hour
In the old haunt, and find our tree-topp’d hill !
Who, if not I, for questing here hath power ?
I know the wood which hides the daffodil,
I know the Fyfield tree,
I know what white, what purple fritillaries
The grassy harvest of the river-fields,
Above by Ensham, down by Sandford, yields,
And what sedged brooks are Thames’s tributaries.’
“In subsequent verses we have amongst other things, the
Hawthorn, the Cowslip, the Orchis, the Loose strife, the Mea-
dowsweet, and the Wood Anemone, all set in their characteristic
surroundings.
“ The next verses are from the poem on Carnac in North-
Western France : —
‘ ‘ ‘ Behind me on their grassy sweep,
Bearded with lichen, scrawl’d and grey,
The giant stones of Carnac sleep,
In the mild evening of the May.
“ ‘ No priestly stern procession now
Moves through their rows of pillars old ;
No victims bleed, no Druids bow —
Sheep make the daisied aisles their fold.
“‘From bush to bush the cuckoo flies,
The orchis red gleams everywhere ;
Gold furze with broom in blossom vies,
The blue-bells perfume all the air.’
“ With these we may contrast the following scene from the
South-East of the same country : —
“ ‘ Dotting the fields of corn and vine,
Like ghosts the huge, gnarl’d olives stand.
Behind, that lovely mountain-line 1
While, by the strand,
io6
NATURE NOTES.
“ ‘Cette, with its glistening houses white,
Curves with the curving beach away
To where the lighthouse beacons bright
Far in the bay.’
“ In Heine s Grave, page 199, we have the lines on Mont-
martre and the ‘ crisp everlasting-flowers ’ — the only flowers
which Renan, in his magnificent denunciation of pessimism, de-
livered at the Lycee Louis le Grand, declares to be not beautiful —
sharply contrasted with the tall dark firs of the Upper, as with
the oaks and beeches of the Lower Hartz : —
“ ‘ . . . . and copse
Of hazels green in whose depth
Ilse, the fairy transform’d,
In a thousand water-breaks light
Pours her petulant youth —
Climbing the rock which juts
O’er the valley, the dizzily perch’d
Rock — to its iron cross
Once more thou cling’st ; to the Cross
Clingest ! with smiles, with a sigh ! ’
“ The connection between Montmartre and the German moun-
tain range, is of course the Reisebilder of the great poet, who is
laid in the Paris cemetery.
“No one who has read it is likely to forget the lovely opening
of the stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse : —
“ ‘ Through Alpine meadows soft-suffused
With rain, where thick the crocus blows.
Past the dark forges long disused,
The mule-track from St. Laurent goes.
The bridge is cross’d, and slow we ride,
Through forest, up the mountain-side.’
Or
“ ‘ The strong children of the Alpine wild ’
in the same poem.
“ The crocus is, I need hardly say, the colchicum so familiar
to the Swiss tourist, and the same which is mentioned in Obermann,
at page 227.
“ In “ Obermann once more ” we have the yellow gentian at page
232, and the crocus again at page 244.
“The oleander also appears in Thyrsis : —
“ ‘ Hear it from thy broad lucent Arno-vale
(For there thine earth-forgetting eyelids keep
The morningless and unawakening sleep
Under the flowery oleanders pale) ’ —
as it does, with more cheerful association, among the Lyric
poems in The Terrace at Berne : —
“ ‘ Ah, shall I see thee, while a flush
Of startled pleasure floods thy brow,
Quick through the oleanders brush,
And clap thy hands, and cry : ’Tis thou ! ’
THE CHEDDAR PINK.
io 7
“ Mr. Arnold once told me that he took special pains with
the references to plants in Merope ; and they are very correct.
See, for instance, the Speech of AUpytus, pages 45-50, and the
Chorus at page 96 of Vol. III. ; but there is no passage in the
play which can be very conveniently detached from its setting
for purposes of quotation.
“ In Empedocles wre have the well-known lines which may
fitly conclude these extracts : —
“ ‘ The track winds down to the clear stream,
To cross the sparkling shallows ; there
The cattle love to gather, on their way
To the high mountain-pastures, and to stay.
Till the rough cow-herds drive them past,
Knee-deep in the cool ford ; for ’tis the last
Of all the woody, high, well-watered dells
On Etna ; and the beam
Of noon is broken there by chestnut-boughs
Down its steep verdant sides ; the air
Is freshen’d by the leaping stream, which throws
Eternal showers of spray on the moss’d roots
Of trees, and veins of turf, and long dark shoots
Of ivy-plants, and fragrant hanging bells
Of hyacinths, and on late anemonies,
That muffle its wet banks ; but glade,
And stream, and sward, and chestnut-trees.
End here ; Etna beyond, in the broad glare
Of the hct noon, without a shade,
Slope behind slope, up to the peak, lies bare ;
The peak, round which the white clouds play.’
“ A careful reader will find other passages, which will remind
him how constant a lover of flowers was the poet we lost two
years ago — a poet whose fame will, I think, be greater with
posterity than it has been with a generation only too apt to con-
fuse poetry with another very different, though no doubt highly
respectable, thing — namely ‘ thinking in verse.’
“In this letter I have only, in obedience to your commands,
put together the most characteristic notices of flowers and plants
I can find in Mr. Arnold’s volumes, in the hope that they may
win a few additional students for some of the wisest and loveliest
compositions in the English language.”
M. E. Grant Duff.
THE CHEDDAR PINK.
NE by one the localities for the rarer plants of England
are fast diminishing. At one time they are threatened
by the heartless rapacity of the “cheap tripper”; at
another by the unwise advertisement of a “find” and
the consequent incursions of the ruthless plant-dealer; and again
by the carrying out of quarrying operations and the setting up
of the “ devilish enginery ” which accompanies them ; not to
io8
NATURE NOTES.
speak of the general destruction and disfigurement of scenery
occasioned by the development of accommodating branch-lines,
constructed on the cheapest principle, by the extension of build-
ing operations in the vicinity of large towns, and by the erection
of gas works, sewage “ farms,” and limekilns in the outskirts.
There are but four pinks which are really native in this
country ; they are all only very locally distributed, and one of these
is threatened with immediate extinction. The plant here referred
to is the Cheddar Pink, Dianthus ccesius. This species is men-
tioned by Ray (1680) under the name of “ Armeriae species flore
in summo caule singulari also by Dillenius (1732), who refers
to it as “ Tunica rupestris folio caesio molli flore carneo.” Hud-
son, in his “Flora Anglica ” (1762), calls it Dianthus glaucus, a
name previously given by Linnaeus to a plant which is now con-
sidered a form of D. deltoides. It is not, therefore, a Linnean
species as stated in Sowerby’s “ English Botany ” (third edi-
tion), but was given its present name and fully described by
Smith in his “English Botany” (1792). The specific name
casius refers to the gray-green appearance produced by the
deposit of bloom on the leaves. Its geographical distribution
is extremely limited, and the only British locality for the species
is the Cheddar cliffs in Somerset. What is also remarkable is
that this solitary station marks the northern as well, as the
western limit of the plant in Europe. In a letter to the Daily
News of July 15th, 1889, Mr. E. G. Aldridge, of Winscombe,
says : —
“ Kindly permit me to call attention to the ‘inexpressibly
saddening thing ’ which is now in progress at Cheddar. I am
aware that it is not long since an article appeared in your paper
condemning the quarrying operations which were then being
carried out upon the western side of that unparalleled gorge.
Latterly, however, these works have been extended in a smaller
degree to the eastern or perpendicular face, and, unless at once
arrested, will do much to mar, if not in some measure to destroy,
the noblest scene of its kind in England. Much might be written
concerning the base use to which the cliffs and their surround-
ings are put by ‘ cave men,’ and others. Loud, inartistic notice-
boards and flaming handbills appear at every turn, while paint
or whitewash proclaims from lofty heights the doom of the im-
penitent or the superior attractions of the upper cave. The
despicable traffic in the floral specialities of the district still con-
tinues, and the beauteous Cheddar Pink has now well nigh dis-
appeared from its accustomed haunts.”
It grows at a height of fifty feet among jagged rocks, and is
therefore not accessible to all comers : and in the case of the
typical cockney excursionist, it is a matter for congratulation,
that, after a preliminary meal of Cheddar cheese and native
beer, the process of digestion would materially interfere with
the comfort attending the extra exertion which any such act of
spoliation would entail.
INSECTS AS ORNAMENTS OF THE GARDEN. 109
On the Continent, the Cheddar Pink, or Mountain Pink, as
it is sometimes called, is very local in its distribution. The
following are the countries in which it occurs, with the ver-
nacular names of the plant : — Belgium, blauwachtige Angelier ;
Luxemburg, Switzerland, the east of P'rance, CEillet bienatre ;
South and West Germany, graugrune Nelke; North Italy, Garo-
fano appannato ; Bohemia, Hwozdik vychlicek ; Moravia and the
Tyrol, graublattrige Bergnelke ; Croatia, Klincic, Transylvania,
hegyi Szegfii ; Roumania, Diant verdiu.
Frederic N. Williams.
INSECTS AS ORNAMENTS OF THE GARDEN.
ISSjpSsadRT has been defined as “matter in the wrong place,”
P jwjgj and Southey, in a passage which I cannot for the
IPJSgJ moment lay my hand on, remarks that we have not
1 taken enough animals into alliance with us, and that
the more spiders there were in the stable the less would the
horses suffer from the flies. A later writer, Mr. A. R. Wallace,
looks forward to the time when the earth will produce only culti-
vated plants and domesticated animals, and when man’s selection
shall have supplanted natural selection (Essay on the Action of
Natural Selection on Man).
To this pass we are visibly tending in all parts of the world
where civilised man has established himself ; for the clearing of
forests, the draining of marshes, or even the settlement of open
country, destroys the native inhabitants of the soil, root and
branch. And in the wake of civilised man come the hog, the
goat, the rabbit, the thistle, and even the water- weeds, to com-
plete the havoc which he has made.
In England the destruction of native plant-life is the end and
object of scientific farming. We hear of one man boasting of
having levelled so many yards of old fences, meaning the beauti-
ful hedges, which but a few years ago adorned our English lanes
and meadows to a much greater extent than at present. It
is recorded to the credit of another successful farmer that if
he cannot grow a good crop on poor soil, at all events nothing
else is allowed to grow there.
With the plants, the insects which feed on them likewise dis-
appear ; and even the destruction of nettles and thistles robs our
gardens of the presence of many of our most beautiful English
butterflies.
But it is useless to regret the inevitable course of the progress
of events, and our only remedy is to march with the times, and
improve our present opportunities. Almost the only insects
which we domesticate at present are the bee and the silkworm ;
but why should we not rear insects for their beauty as well as for
1 10
NATURE NOTES.
their utility ? Our wild flowers are doomed ; a large number
have already disappeared, or become restricted to ever narrow-
ing limits, but our gardens and hot-houses bring together a far
larger assemblage of curious and beautiful plants than any
single locality in the world, however favourably situated. Why
should we not do the same with insects ? Insects are as beauti-
ful as flowers, many are perfectly hardy, and might easily be
acclimatised, and it would be easy to select species for experi-
ment which could not feed on or endanger our crops in any way.
In fact, we might have regular breeding-beds of plants of no
value otherwise (in some out-of-the-way corner of the grounds),
where butterflies and other insects might be reared to render our
gardens as beautiful with innocuous insect-life as with floral
treasures. The Insectarium at the Zoological Gardens is a step
in the right direction ; but who among our rich horticulturists
will be first to introduce foreign butterflies on a large scale to
compete with his orchids ?
W. F. Kirby.
NORTHUMBRIAN PLANT . NAMES.
HE following list of local names of plants and flowers,
noted by the writer during the last ten years, are yet
in common use throughout Alndale and Coquetdale,
two remote, and lovely Northumbrian valleys, border-
ing upon the Cheviot Hills.
D. D. Dixon.
LOCAL NAMES.
Eel-beds
Gollans
Wax dolls
■^Shepherd’s pansy
*Red Mint drops
* White Mint drops
Gowans
;::Stinking Tommy
*Poor Robin...
*Mouse’s peas
#Cocks and hens
* Apple dumplins
Scrab apple
* Poison berry'
Yellow top
Craw crook
Ladies’ thimbles
Cushie-cows ...
Birds’ eyes 1
* Strike fires J
BOTANICAL NAMES.
Ranunculus aquatilis
Caltha palustris
Fumaria officinalis
Viola lutea
Lychnis diurna
Silene in/lata
T rollius Europaus
Ononis arvensis
Bartsia Odontites
Vicia Cracca
Geum rivale
Epilohium hirsutum
Pyrus Mains
Pyyus Aucuparia
Senccio Jacohcea
Empetrum nigrum
Digitalis purpurea
Rumex ohtusifolius
Veronica Chamwdrys
(seed of)
(fruit of)
(fruit of)
(fruit of)
(seed of)
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
1 1 1
LOCAL NAMES. BOTANICAL NAMES.
Cain and Abel . . . Orchis mascula
+ Flea wood ... ... Myrica Galt
Wullies ... ... Willows
Whickans .. ... Knotgrass
''Lady’s soap ... Conferva rivularis
Bagie ... ... Swede turnip
*Buntins Fir cones
Cuddie’s lugs ... Verbascum Thapsus
* The names marked thus are not included in the Dictionary of English Plant
names.
t Sprigs of Bog Myrtle are frequently placed amongst bed-clothes by the
Northumbrian house-wife as a cure for fleas.
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
The Paradise of Birds , by J. W. Courthope. A new edition of this book
appeared some months ago, and should be w’elcome to Selbornians. It tells, in
light and pleasant verses, of the adventures of two Arctic explorers, whose aim
is not to gain glory by reaching the Pole, but to penetrate the snowy region sur-
rounding it, and enter the Paradise of Birds, a warm and sunny region, where
dwell unmolested the souls of all kinds of feathered fowl. After the destruction
of the whole race through the wantonness of mankind, the world is becoming
uninhabitable for want of them, and the mission of the two travellers is by
humble entreaty to obtain from the happy birds’ souls, eggs which they may carry
back and hatch for the benefit of the bird-forsaken world. They obtain their
request, and promise that in future birds shall not be ill-used, but that great
respect shall be paid to them and their requirements. Outside this paradise is a
purgatory, where the souls of those who have offended against bird-life are
punished ; and here, as is meet, are found the souls of bird-catchers, cooks and
— ladies. The birds’ songs are delightfully translated into words, and their
tributes to Aristophanes —
“ Dearest and best of beakless singers,
Friend of the linnet, glory of Greece — ”
to Chaucer and to Gilbert White are quaintly and gracefully written.
British Fossils and where to Seek Them , by Joseph W. Williams. Young
Collector Series. Swan Sonnenschein, London: 1890. British Fossils is a
work of some ninety six pages, which purports to give a summary of the leading
features of distribution and succession of the fossiliferous rocks of Great Britain.
It enumerates the fossils characteristic of each formation, mentions localities
where they may be found, and gives hints to the young collector. As a rule, the
author keeps too closely to some well-known text books to go seriously astray,
but as soon as he strikes out for himself he comes sadly to grief. Thus in the
glossary he calls chert a limestone, while mica and garnet are both “rocks.”
Etymology is apparently the author’s strong point, and here he is often strik-
ingly original, as when he derives the “ horn ”of hornblende from its toughness,
instead of from the German for metal. There are a good number of illustrations,
but though these well served their purpose in the German text book from which
they have been copied, they are quite out of place in a work on British fossils, as
so many of them are of foreign species. Thus not one of the twelve species
figured on page 46 has been found in the British Isles. Misprints abound in the
scientific names, and these sometimes make the words quite unrecognisable. The
work contains none of that infectious enthusiasm which makes Taylor’s Common
British Fossils so valuable a book to place in the hands of the young collector,
while for accuracy and usefulness the older book is greatly superior.
I 12
SELBORNIANA.
A Sea-Bird’s Rock and its Brutal Visitors.— Several communica-
tions have been received on this subject, which was fully dealt with in the last
number of Nature Notes, all expressing the greatest indignation at the disgrace-
ful outrage, and most of them demanding that some punishment should be inflicted
on the perpetrators. The attempts that are apparently made to screen the
offenders have caused several of our correspondents to say very hard things of the
authorities for their culpable remissness in this matter. We should be very loth to
“speak evil of dignities, ’’but it must be confessed there seems to be some reason for
the wrath of those who draw comparisons between the merciless rigour with which
the poor ignorant peasant poacher is prosecuted and the complete immunity
which apparently awaits the infinitely more culpable criminal who is supposed to
be an “officer and a gentleman”! “Justitia” says : — “If some poor fellow
were to knock over a rabbit to give food to a sick wife or hungry children, a. gen-
tleman of this ‘ chick smashing ’ type, sitting on a bench of county justices, would
be the first to send the ‘ low poaching fellow ’ to the tread-mill. If some Irish
Pat were to ‘ look crooked ’ at a constable’s cow, the ‘ chick-smasher ’ sitting in
judgment as a resident magistrate, would hale him off to gaol for four months on
the plank bed. Here is a case of aggravated cowardly cruelty, of theft from the
national property, and beyond a formal reprimand, at w'hich the offender would
probably laugh, not the slightest notice has been taken of the offence. Surely it
is an absolute farce to say that in England we have the same law for the rich and
for the poor.” We believe that the remarks of “ Justitia” are considerably too
severe, when applied to whole classes, but in this particular instance it must be
confessed that the action, or rather inaction, of the authorities, gives ample ground
for such criticism. Letters have been written in pursuance of the resolutions
passed at the last meeting of the Selborne Society. The answers have not yet
been laid before the Council ; but we think that we are not betraying any official
secrets by saying that these answers are eminently unsatisfactory. There is no
vindictive feeling on the part of Selbornians, but it is strongly felt that the least
punishment which would satisfy public indignation, would be the publication of
names of the culprits.
The Earliest Cuckoo. — I thank Mr. Rawson for his kind note. I have
questioned the lads carefully and they are sure that it was a cuckoo, and not a
human voice they heard on the date in question. It is quite clear that for some
unaccountable reason the cuckoo was earlier this year in the vale than has been
generally the case. I heard one in the same neighbourhood, the sunny sheltered
side of the valley under Skiddaw, on the loth of April, and generally we do not
look for the cuckoo before the 15th. A cuckoo was, so I wras informed, also
heard near Carlisle this year on the 10th ; but I am not willing to do more
in the matter than assert that the boys who heard the bird believe they heard a
bird and not a human being or a cuckoo-clock on April 3rd, and that they
obtained 3d. each for what 1 believe tvas not a false report.
Crosthiuaite Vicarage, Keswick. H. D. RaWNSLEY.
Will some of your readers tell us something of the voice mechanism of the
corncrake. I have been astonished at the tirelessness of the constant call of the
bird. When does it find time for food necessary to support the strain, and how
does it escape the weasel and the stoat ?
Porri wiggles. — I notice in your “ Selborniana ” of June 14th, an extract
from a letter of Lord Tennyson’s mentioning “/<?r;-Aviggles” as a “ provincial
name ” of tadpoles. In Book iii. , chap. 13, of the Vulgar Errors, Sir Thomas
Browne has — “that which the ancients called Gvrinus, we a Porwig/e (sic), or
Tadpole.” (I quote from the second edition.) Any member of the Selborne
Society who cares for tadpoles, or for style, will, I am sure, be glad to be reminded
of this chapter, and will divide his admiration between “the high curiosity of
nature ” and the not much lower curiosity of art with which it is described.
Clifton College, Bristol. Sidney T. Irwin.
Sparrows and Mice.— Mrs. Musgrave, of Furze Bank, Torquay, sends
the following note she has received in answer to her paragraph in Nature
SELB0RN1A NA
ii
Notes, p. 79 : — “ I have not seen one sparrow in my place Dol-llan, Llandepid,
since I have lived there, over a year. The crocuses are eaten voraciously by mice,
to my disgust. I have great numbers of owls (barn and wood), this may
account for absence of sparrows, but they cannot exterminate the mice, they
breed so fast.” G. W. L’Estrange.
Birds Singing as they Fly.— The meadow lark, Anthus pralensis ,
sings always on the wing, and in the early spring may be seen rising at short
intervals to a considerable height and returning again with an arrow-like rapidity
of descent to the same spot, singing both in its ascending and descending flight.
I have never heard its song on the ground.
In his British Months , Bishop Mant, an accurate observer of Nature, writes : —
and again : —
“ The sweetest woodlark round and round
Wide wheeling in his circling flight,
Pours forth his morning, evening song.”
“ High in mid air the woodlark sings.”
I have often watched the whitethroat, Curruca cinerea , making short zigzag
excursions from the willows, and returning always to the same spot, singing
loudly while on the wing with the throat distended and the feathers of the crest
and head standing erect. The willow wren, Sylvia trochilus, also sings on the
wing ; and probably, though I have not seen them, some older members of the
Sylviadee.
The Rectory , Clyst St. Mary , Exeter. J. A. Kerr.
In addition to the birds that sing flying, mentioned by F. W. B. in last
number of Nature Notes, the following may be named, viz., the woodlark,
tree pipit and marsh pipit, all of which do most of their singing on the wing,
and are all nearly related to the skylark. That merry little bird the sedge warbler
also frequently sings flying, and so does the green linnet. I have seen the
blackbird do so, but only from one tree to another close by. I cannot remember
ever hearing the song or missel thrushes, but think it is very likely both may do
so. I scarcely think that the cuckoo can be termed a singing bird, its song being
a call of the same nature as that of the landrail and quail. The sweet twitter-
ings of the house martin and chimney swallow on the wing may fairly entitle
them to the name of song birds.
Dundee. George Ure.
The paragraph in this month’s Nature Notes referring to birds singing as
they fly seems to invite further remarks. The following birds have been observed
by me performing their lovesong on the wing : the whinchat, nightingale,
tree pipit, whitethroat, wren, swallow, hedge accentor or dunnock, in addition
to the lark and cuckoo mentioned by F. W. B.
If the singing of birds on the wing consists in the mere production of musical
sounds from the throat while flying, many other species than the above possess
the same power ; there are the laughing cry of the gull, the quack of the heron,
the call of the peewit, the scape, scape of the snipe, the caw of the rook and
jackdaw, the harsh screech of the jay, the scream of the swift, the chirp of the
kingfisher and water ouzel, the chatter of the magpie and others, all of which I
have heard singing to the best of their ability, the dipper, however, having in
addition to the chirp a pretty little song which he sings when perched on a
stone or tree stump.
Rich/nond. J. Lyddon Pring.
Tame Birds and Beasts. — The Rev. F. O. Morris sends us the following
letter received by him from Mrs. Cole, of Condover Hall, Shrewsbury: — “ I am
so glad to see a letter from you in to-day’s Morning Post , and venture to think
you may be interested to hear about a few tame birds and beasts we have here now,
notably of a kestrel. I see in your book on British Birds , you state that the
kestrel is easily tamed. Our bird was taken from a nest last year, and put into a
cage out of doors for a few days only, until fledged ; he was then turned out and
flew across the park into the woods, and was seen no more for some days, when
he returned, found his way into the house, and has never voluntarily left it since.
We often turn him out, and see him a mile or more from the house, but soon after
NATURE NOTES.
114
find him searching for an open window by which he may reach the dining-room,
where he lives by preference, perching on a picture-frame, but always coming on
to my husband’s arm when called, even though with thirty people at dinner, and
through the glare of lamps and candles. He invariably twitters a sort of soft song
when we speak to him. He is a grand bird in perfect plumage.
“ Age of birds.- — A small half-bred game bantam we have here is hatching her
usual sitting of eggs in a hat in the entrance hall, where for the last nine years she
has always done so. We bought her in 1881 to sit on pheasants’ eggs, being
then no more than a pullet.
‘ ‘ Kook. — I have an old bird whom I found on the roadside, three years ago,
with a gunshot wound in his side, and one wing quite blown off. He seemed
very old and wild, but I brought him home, and though left completely at liberty
in a tiee in the garden, he has never failed to eat out of my hand there at once,
and ever since, and shows the most extraordinary devotion and great intelligence.
“ Rat. — I have a white rat, who lives, as all our pets do, entirely loose in the
house or garden, perfectly free to leave us if they choose. The rat w'as given to
me, as old and worthless, two years ago, then quite wild. He gradually became
extremely tame, and during a severe illness I had last year he took it into his
head to sit on iny pillow to guard rne. Ever since then he has continued to sleep
there ; he runs upstairs with me, and follows me to bed, sleeping always on the
bolster or pillow by my head. He is very plucky, and defended himself during
one whole night when he was shut up accidentally in the same room with a large
and savage cat. He was found sitting up with teeth and claws ready, and was per-
fectly overjoyed when his human friends took him up. Though six- months have
elapsed, nothing will induce him to enter that room again. Our dogs are per-
fect friends with him. He uses his left paw always when drinking, ‘ ladling’ the
water up to his mouth, even from the bottom of a tumbler, and is quite 1 left-
handed.’ ”
Continental Selborniana. — We have received several enquiries as to
the Swiss Selborne Society, mentioned by the Rev. H. D. Rawnsley in the last
number of Nature Notes. The following communication (received a good
while ago) from Lieut. -Colonel Linley Blathwayt, of Batheaston, fully answers
the queries of our correspondents : — “ Probably many members of the Selborne
Society may not be aware that one somewhat similar, the*1 Association pour la
protection des Plantes,’ exists in Switzerland. It was founded at Geneva in
1883 (England, France, Italy and Belgium being well represented among its
members), and it is now striving hard to check the wholesale destruction of
Alpine plants. Our own countrymen are, I fear, not quite free from blame, for
one of its members writes that the worst offenders are those who are ‘ seduits par
tes guinees de John Bull, pour les expedier en masse a l’adresse de Pun ou de
l’autre horticulteur Anglais.’ The Swiss themselves are thoroughly alive to the
danger, for the Conseil d’Etat of Fribourg has placed one Alpine plant — the
Edelweiss — under the protection of the police ; and at I’ontresina, in the Enga-
dine, there was a notice that anyone destroying any of these plants would be
fined. The President of the Association is, however, of opinion that there are
other plants, such as ladies’ slipper ( Cypripedium Calceolus), which need pro-
tection far more than the Edelweiss.”
Musical Mice. — Mr. R. Goodwin Mumbray, of Richmond, writes as
follows: — “That mice and several other animals are ‘ moved by the concord of
sweet sounds ’ is a well-known fact. I have known several instances in which mice
have been lured from their crannies by a lovely female voice, or by the sound of a
piano when played softly in a minor (which is said to be the natural) key, or the
‘ tiny din ’ of a flute ; but I only remember one instance of a veritable singing
mouse. My maternal grandfather, a very aged man, who attained his 96th year,
was sitting by the fireside one evening, when a small mouse of a light fawn colour,
made its appearance, and began playing with the tie of the old gentleman’s shoe,
frisking about apparently in high glee, and interspersing its gambols by a song
resembling that of the linnet. It usually appeared about 7 p.m., and would remain
for the space of an hour, when it quietly stole away. These visits were continued
for the space of six or eight weeks, when they suddenly ceased ; the presence of
visitors did not seem to disturb the little creature, although he never took to any-
OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c.
115
one but his ancient friend, who used to reward the little musician with Savoy bis-
cuit. Much interest was excited amongst our acquaintances, one old lady shook
her head ominously, intimating that the wee leastie was sent as a ‘ warning that
called away,’ but the ancient mariner (he was an old sea captain) regarded it as a
‘friendly greeting’ and out-lived the prophecy five years. The doctor, however,
volunteered an authoritative explanation of the phenomenon. The mouse had a
diseased liver ! but then he had no ‘ music in his soul.’ To the regret of all, the
visits of Tommy suddenly ceased — whether he succumbed to liver complaint or
fell a victim to the claws and jaws of Grimalkin was never known, but the memory
of the singing mouse lingered for many years in the family.”
Children as Collectors. — In the Co-operative News, some letters have
lately appeared strongly protesting against classes being arranged and prizes
offered for the best collection of birds’ eggs and stuffed birds in connection with
the forthcoming (Co-operative) Home Industries Exhibition at the Crystal Palace.
The Rev. Oswald Birchall, Rector of Buscot, Lechlade — an ever-aclive Selbor-
nian — and Mr. E. A. Sanderson, founder of the “Junior Co-operative Humane
Society ” denounce such exhibitions, as a direct inducement to lads and others to
engage in bird-slaughter and nest-robbing. On the other hand, in the Richmond
and Twickenham Times of July 5th, we find the following enthusiastic plea for
children’s collections of wild flowers : — “ Among the many pleasing features of
the flower-shows recently held in this neighbourhood, is the number of wild flower
bouquets sent by children of the poorer class. When it was first proposed to offer
prizes for these exhibits, there were many who pooh-poohed the idea as ridiculous
and urged that the show would be vulgarised by the introduction of a crowd of
ill-assorted blossoms, hastily culled and tied in bunches, regardless of form or
colour. However, the children’s friends had their way, the experiment was tried,
proved a success, and now the children’s corner is a familiar object in the cut
flower tent at almost every horticultural show'. True, there may be crude combi-
nations of colour, and in some instances quantity may be superior to quality ; but
Rome was not built in a day, and if the little ones are by this means learning to
know the manifold beauties lying in field and hedgerow, awakening perception will
teach them, later on, how to combine varied hues int j a harmonious and graceful
bouquet. It has been truly said that to know Nature is to love her and such a
pure and wholesome affection cannot but have a beneficial effect upon the
character. In the demoralising conditions under which so many poor children
live, anything that brightens their joyless lives and influences them for good should
be encouraged ; above all a pursuit which — who can tell ? — may lead them from
Nature up to Nature’s God.”
OFFICIAL NOTICES, WORK OF BRANCHES, &C.
The object of the Selborne Society is to unite lovers of Nature for common
study and the defence of natural objects (birds, plants, beautiful landscapes, &c.)
against the destruction by which they are constantly menaced. The minimum
Annual Subscription (which entitles the subscriber to a monthly copy of the
Society’s Magazine) is 2s. 6d. All particulars as to membership may be obtained
from the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
We are still unable to give the promised information as to the statistics of
branches and their officials, as some secretaries have not yet sent in replies to the
circulars issued. Among the defaulters are the Bath, Lower Thames Valley,
Midhurst and Neston Branches. Some interesting accounts of work done have,
however, been forwarded from the branches in pursuance of a resolution at the
last meeting of the Council that such accounts should be sent to the editors of
Nature Notes for insertion, when possible. The Birmingham and Midland
Branch has had a very successful and largely attended meeting. The hon. sec.,
Mrs. W. Arthur Smith writes : — “The report stated what had been done during
the year in the direction of posters about the destruction of plants and ferns, &c.,
NATURE NOTES.
116
in the districts visited by excursionists, also as to the wearing of plumage, which
was taken up and discussed in the public press (with very good results), and
again, as to the distribution of leaflets among the school children. This is now
being largely emphasised by the distribution of 20,000 copies of the enclosed
leaflet among all the leading Board and other schools, the masters and mistresses
having kindly undertaken to speak to their pupils about its contents at the time of
distribution. Our number of members is now 130, and we hope soon to raise it
to a sufficient total to enable us to elect a vice-president of the society.”
The Hon. Secretary of the Bath Branch, Mr. Wheatcroft, sends papers
with an account of the annual “ At Home ” of the Branch at Clarendon Manor,
the president, Mr. H. D. Skrine, and Mrs. Skrine, receiving the visitors. There
was a large attendance o( members who displayed much enthusiasm. We extract
the following remarks from the president’s address for the guidance of other
branches in carrying out the suggestions made in our last number. “ I will name
one point that has been mentioned in the last number of Nature Notes, viz.,
the desire on the part of the Central Council to have reports of progress and
general work from the rural branches, in order to compare notes and draw some
definite conclusions as to the best way of carrying on the business of the Society.
I have no doubt Mr. Wheatcroft will be able to do this as often as is required,
and probably has done so already, but the space in Nature Notes is limited,
and no very voluminous reports are admissible.. Another point suggested was
the utilisation of a local newspaper for the purpose of circulating information on
subjects of interest in Natural History, or otherwise. We have a Selborne
column at our service in the Bath Chronicle, and 1 hope some of our more
scientific members will now and then send an article to the editor, and others
who do not profess any scientific knowledge may be able to relate matters that
have come under their observation that would interest us or influence the public
in favour ol the protection of birds, plants, and pleasant places.” Mr. Wheatcroft
drew attention to the outrage described in the last number of Nature Notes,
under the title of “ A Seabird’s Rock and its Brutal Visitors,” and the greatest
part of the meeting was occupied in the discussion of this subject, which
excited the greatest indignation on the part of the members. The follow-
ing resolution was proposed by the president and was carried unanimously :
“That this meeting hereby expresses its indignation at the cruel and heartless
conduct, in the wanton destruction of sea birds and their eggs, of certain
persons said to have landed from the Sir Richard Fletcher steamer, on the
island of Grasholm, off Milford Haven, reported in the Daily Graphic of the
31st May last, whilst it heartily approves of the action taken by the Council of
this Society in bringing the matter before Parliament, with a view to securing the
punishment of the wrongdoers and preventing the recurrence of such misconduct.”
On the proposition of Professor Earle it was resolved that the Committee be
requested to make the necessary arrangements for a series of lectures on natural
history and science, or other appropriate subjects, to be given at the Institution or
elsewhere during the ensuing winter months. The president, in acknowledging
a hearty vote of thanks, said that he should like to see more members : he
believed the Thames Valley Branch was the largest, numbering 200, while they
had only about 125. He trusted they would show they were not a senti-
mental and fanciful association, but one worthy of the objects it professed to
support.
The metropolitan and suburban branches are not a whit behind their pro-
vincial brethren in activity. We see from newspapers sent by Miss Agnes
Martelli, hon. sec. of the flourishing Northern Heights Branch, and Mr. R.
Marshman Wattson, hon. sec. of the rapidly increasing Clapton (Lower Lea
Valley) Branch, that these two portions of the Society have extended to each
other mutual invitations, and had some very enjoyable first excursions. We
commend their example to other neighbouring branches.
It is particularly requested that subscriptions and letters bearing on the general
business of the Society, should not be forwarded to the editors, but to the Secretary
of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi. Editorial communications
should be addressed to the Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
1foature IWotes:
Ube Selbocne Society’s flDagastite.
No. 8. AUGUST 15, 1890. Vol. I.
THE SEQUEL TO “A SEA-BIRDS’ ROCK AND ITS
BRUTAL VISITORS.”
UR readers will remember that articles with the above
title appeared in the June and July numbers of Nature
Notes dealing with the disgraceful conduct of certain
officers of Her Majesty’s Army and Navy at the
Island of Grassholm, and giving some account of the efforts
made by the Selborne Society to bring the culprits to justice.
Until quite recently this appeared to be hopeless ; the Admiralty,
the War Office, and the representatives of the Government all
returned evasive answers ; and all the resources of the circumlo-
cution office seemed to have been called into requisition for the
purpose of screening from their due punishment these aristo-
cratic offenders against the law.
We are now happy in being able to state that through the
energy and persistence of Mr. John Colam, the well-known
Secretary of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals, justice has been vindicated and the criminals not
only exposed but punished.
The trial took place on last Saturday at Haverford West.
The offences were classified into four divisions, (1) for using a
boat to take birds, (2) for using guns to take birds, (3) for taking
wild birds, and (4) for shooting wild birds.
The offenders were Colonel Henry Saurin, J .P., Captain H. D.
Haig Haig, Captain Harvey, Lieutenants Dickson, Caulfield, Moles-
worth and Shakcrsley ; and the name of the boat, commissioned in
Her Majesty’s Navy and used by them was the “ Sir Richard
Fletcher.” The worst offender appears to have been Colonel
Saurin, who confessed to having used a thick stick to slaughter
the birds with as they came from their nests, which he said he con-
sidered better fun than shooting them. The evidence showed
1 1 8
NATURE NOTES.
that scores of birds were maimed, shot and killed, and their
bodies were left lying about the island. The accused were de-
fended by advocates who pleaded guilty, in the hope of
preventing the full facts from coming before the bench, in
which, however, they did not succeed, as Mr. Colam, junior,
counsel for the prosecution, made a statement showing the nature
and extent of the proceedings of the defendants. The magis-
trates fined them in the maximum penalty of £22 17s., including
costs, or £3 5s. 4d. each.
Ail Selbornians will heartily rejoice at this vindication of the
cause of nature and humanity, against senseless and unsports-
manlike brutality, and will congratulate Mr. Colam and the
Society whose work he so vigorously conducts, on their triumph
over the inaction and evasion on the part of the authorities,
which threatened at one time to secure entire impunity for the
perpetrators of the outrage. We have had an opportunity of
seeing the various steps taken by the R.S.P.C.A. in this
matter, and it has increased our admiration for the wisdom and
energy with which it conducts its never-ceasing crusade against
cruelty. At a meeting of the Council on Monday last, hearty
votes of thanks were passed to Mr. Colam for his action in the
matter, and to Mr. Thomas, the local correspondent of the
Daily Graphic , who was the first to call attention to the occur-
rence. More than one member present expressed the intention
of sending an increased subscription to the R.S.P.C.A., as a
practical mode of showing appreciation of its work. Those
who desire a fuller account of the trial will find it in the
forthcoming issue of the Animal World , to which, doubtless, a
large number of our readers subscribe. It is probable that we
may also recur to the subject in our own columns.
One hardly likes to dwell upon the abominable behaviour of
the offenders in this case. In addition to the money fine, they
have suffered the ignominy of public exposure and convic-
tion, and if they have any sense of decency at all, they will
have very great difficulty in reconciling their conduct with
that which one would expect from “ officers and gentlemen.” In
this connection we believe that we owe some apology to our
correspondent, “Justitia,” for our remarks in the last number
of Nature Notes. He pointed out that the magistrates who
on the English and Irish bench so severely treat the offences of
peasants, especially with regard to poaching, are taken from the
very class, some members of which were guilty of these outrages.
He was, unfortunately, more than right. Incredible as it seems,
we believe that some of the offenders in this case were actually
magistrates themselves. One of these, a County Councillor and
County Magistrate, has, unhappily, escaped conviction owing to
a conspiracy of silence on the part of his fellow criminals ; an-
other was the very worst of the whole gang, inclined apparently to
glory in his shame, and having no idea of the brutal and unmanly
nature of the offence. We have been told that Colonel Henry
MUMMY WHEAT.
1 19
Saurin, J.P., is a member of a well-known Dublin family, and
an Irish magistrate. If this statement is correct, we trust that
members of both political parties will make efforts for his re-
moval from the bench. It would be utterly impossible for any
person to have the slightest respect for sentences delivered by one
who had himself been convicted of such a disgraceful action.
But we are still of opinion that such conduct as this is of ex-
tremely rare occurrence, not only among magistrates, or gentle-
men bearing Her Majesty’s Commission, but among respectable
men of any class whatever. The outrage was just as unsports-
manlike as it was cruel and cowardly ; and it must be one of the
severest punishments of the culprits in this case that they will
feel they are exposed to the contempt of every humane and hon-
ourable man, even among their own associates.
“ MUMMY WHEAT.”
HE popular error of confounding “ Mummy wheat ”
with “ Egyptian wheat ” has lasted for at least half
a century, and is not extinct yet ! Perhaps, there-
fore, a brief resume of the subject may not be unin-
teresting to our readers. In 1840, Mr. M. Farquhar Tupper
received twelve grains from Sir G. Wilkinson, who, it was said,
took them with his own hands out of a vase in an Egyptian
tomb. Of these twelve Mr. Tupper asserted that he raised
one plant, which bore two poor ears, one of which was figured
in The Gardeners’ Chronicle, (1843, p. 787). Mr. Tupper’s ac-
count was reported in the Times (Sept., 1840). In the second
and third years the wheat was described as having recovered
its vigour, so that it bore ears seven and a-half inches long, and
was so like a good sample of Col. Le Couteur’s variety called
“ Bellevue Talavera,” that even the experienced ej'e of that
gentleman was unable to detect any difference. The eminent
botanist, Dr. Lindley, then editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle, in
a leading article expressed his belief in the truth of the survival
of the wheat after some 3,000 years.
Suspicions, however, were raised ; and a writer, signing
himself, “ Este,” suggested that there had probably been some
tampering by the Arabs ( Gardener's Chronicle, p. 805).
In 1846, Sir W. Colebroke is said to have raised several
plants from “two grains of mummy wheat, received in 1842;”
but it is not stated whether they were of the original sample, or
of the produce of those raised by Mr. T upper. After cultivat-
ing them, Sir W. Colebroke remarks: — “I cannot resist the
impression that this is a winter wheat; and if so, it cannot be a
production of the soil of Egypt ; for whence could the ancient
120
NATURE NOTES.
Egyptians draw their supply of this grain?” In 1846 the
late Professor ]. S. Henslow received six grains from Mr.
Tupper, from the plant raised by him. He grew them with
several other varieties of wheat in an experimental border in
his garden ; the following are his observations : — “ This variety
was specially remarkable for its exceeding length of straw and
for flowering much earlier than anj' of the other varieties in my
garden. In this and in all other particulars I could not observe
the slightest difference between an ear of the Bellevue Talavera,
and that of the supposed mummy wheat. Both were also attacked
more vigorously than others by rust and mildew.” Suspecting’
some flaw in the testimony, application was made to Sir G. Wil-
kinson himself for a genuine sample, that it might be tried among
a series of experiments on the vitality of seeds, which were at
that time in progress under the superintendence of a committee
of the British Association.
On receipt of the sample, great surprise was felt at the dis-
covery of fragments of grains of maize (of American origin)
intermixed with the grains of mummy wheat ! This, of course,
led to further inquiry ; and the conclusion arrived at was that
the sample had most certainly been vitiated by the wheat having
been placed in the common corn jars of Cairo !
It may be added that whenever on other occasions the actual
grains of true mummy wheat have been carefully sown, the)''
have never germinated. Thus, M. Denon, who accompanied
Buonaparte’s expedition to Egypt, tried to raise them in many
ways, but he never succeeded. A Dr. Steele also utterly failed
in 1857. In fact a microscopic examination proves that the
embryo is always destroyed, a section crumbling to powder
under the microscope, though the starch grains are not decom-
posed, and still colour violet as usual with iodine.
The popular confusion between “ Mummy ” wheat and
“ Egyptian ” wheat is easily explained. There is a not very
rare variety of “ Revets’ ” wheat, which is “ proliferous,” that
is to say, it bears two or more additional smaller ears at the
base, in consequence of the lower “ spikelets ” growing out and
becoming supplementary ears. This is supposed to resemble
the ears described in Genesis (xli. 5), and has consequently re-
ceived the popular name of “ Egyptian ” wheat. The reports
of “mummy” wheat from Egypt having been grown in this
country has thus given rise to the idea that this variety of
Revets’ was actually raised from the old grains brought from
the tombs of Egypt. But as Prof. Henslow remarked, if Mr.
Tupper’s experiments were trustworthy, the old Egyptian wheat
must have been identical with the Bellevue Talavera, and not at
all like our modern “ Egyptian ” or the proliferous variety of
Revets’.
Finally, it may be noticed that wheat, in this country at
least, is well-known to agriculturalists to be particularly short
lived. “An old farmer” writing to the Gardeners' Chronicle
FEATHER PAINTING.
121
(1848, p. 787), remarks that — “ We all know that the seed of
the year is always preferred for sowing ; that the seed of the
year before would never be equally productive, and that if seed
five or six years old were sown, not half of it would come up.”
And I can add, that of apparently sound grains seventeen years
old, not one germinated.
George Henslow.
FEATHER PAINTING.
VER and over again I have been asked : “ why, instead
of using the skins and wings of birds on screens and
fans, a painting of them in decorative combination
should not be acceptable to the public?” In Japan,
careful studies of birds in flight are constantly found on screens,
and as far as artistic effect goes, leave nothing to be desired.
Here in England the hand-painting for the trade is, as Miss Beale
has pointed out, so utterly execrable that it can only find a market
amongst persons unable to distinguish between a coloured map
and one of Vicat Cole’s views in Surrey. That work can be
specially produced in this country, quite comparable with the
best Japanese, is not so well known as it should be. Not long
ago a professional artist, a Miss Emily Murray, of 80, Eaton
Terrace, London, S. W. (one of the “ Atholl ” Murrays) showed
me some drawings of birds’ wings, which struck me as admirable
examples of perfect workmanship, and peculiarly adapted to the
purpose indicated by me. Thinking that some of the subscribers
to the Selborne Society might like to know a few more details
concerning Miss Murray’s speciality, I prevailed upon her to
allow me to publish two or three extracts from letters received
by her from persons whose opinions are in every way valuable.
To give the first place to our revered art critic, John Ruskin
writes thus : — “ Your work is quite the best I have ever seen in
its kind — just what I have always wanted to get done, and
never could ! Quite beyond price to me just now, when I am
trying finally to organise a school of natural history
The prime and rare gift is your love of the truth and the insight
that comes of it — and the patience. Your lovely book must
not be broken up — the drawings will eventually be worth much
more than they are at present to a dealer — if you keep them till
you have name as a bird painter. I am certain your eyes will
recover all the strength needful for the noblest bird drawing.”
MissMarianne North, herself an admirable transcriber of Nature
says : — “ I think the bird wings are exquisite. . . . Such
accurate drawing is not often met with ; if I do not mistake it,
the colouring of those dull bronze and greys is most beautifully
rendered.” The Secretary of the Ray Society writes : — “ Yesterday
I placed your very beautiful paintings before the Council of the
1 22
NATURE NOTES.
Ray Society. In reply I am desired by the Council to express
their thanks for the opportunity of inspecting these most careful
illustrations.”
Besides these written expressions of approval, I may add
when Mr. Stacy Marks saw Miss Murray’s paintings he de-
clared that for fidelity to Nature and accuracy, they might be
compared to those of Albert Diirer. Personally, I wish that I
could persuade the public that such faithful work as this and
much that is to be found in the Arts and Crafts Exhibitions,
and amongst the so-called “sketches” by young artists, made
from the love of painting, is worth buying and that the same
amount of money spent in the purchase of gaudy daubs pro-
duced by people whose attainments are on the level of those
of the pavement artist in chalks — is absolutely frittered awa}'
njuriously.
If there were no market for daubs, the daubers would be
forced to obtain subsistence by honest work and the skilled
artists would have a better reward for their painful labour and
the public would gain by an investment in works of art, although
they may be only fans and screens, rather than lose by the
possession of trash.
George A. Musgrave.
Furzebank, Torquay.
THE PLANT ALLUSIONS IN THE POEMS OF
ROBERT HERRICK.
B HUMBLE lover of Nature and an earnest Selbornian,
I have found much pleasure and profit in reading the
admirable essay by Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff,
which has lately appeared in the pages of Nature
Notes, upon the allusions to plants which occur in the poems
of Matthew Arnold. I think it will be found that the writings
of Robert Herrick are fuller of references to plants, and espe-
cially to flowers, than are those of any other English poet. May
I be allowed to draw the attention of my fellow Selbornians to
some of the beautiful passages in which these references occur ?
Herrick belonged to a Leicestershire family, and he was born
in the year 1591. He graduated in arts at Cambridge, and in
the year 1629 he took holy orders in the Church of England,
and was appointed soon afterwards to the vicariate of Dean
Prior, a quiet little rural village on the borders of Dartmoor,
in what he called “ his dull Devonshire.” Herrick, when he
was fifty-six years old, in the year 1647, when the unfortunate
King Charles and his cavaliers were defending the royal crown
of England against the pikes of the Puritans, printed in Lon-
don the first of the two sections of his poems, made up of his
“ pious pieces,” under the title of “Noble Numbers.” In the
ROBERT HERRICKS PLANT ALLUSIONS. 123
next year following, his larger collection, the secular division of
his writings, was printed. In honour of the west country in
which the verses were written, in his Devonshire vicarage, the
whole collection was entitled “Hesperides; or Works both
Human and Divine.” Professor Henry Morley, from whose
admirable edition of Herrick’s poems I propose to make a few
quotations, calls Herrick “one of Nature’s poets,” and says,
very truly, “ the love of flowers runs through all his verse.” In
the poetical introduction of his book Herrick himself says : —
“I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers.”
And again : —
. . . . “I write
How roses first came red, and lilies white.”
Herrick’s collection of poems is made up of a very large
number of short lyrical pieces, full of melody, in which he tries
nearly every cast of rhyme and metre. Many of his songs are
love songs, written in honour of his ideal Julia, and in these
pretty ditties are to be found many beautiful references to
flowers. The serious object of his book seems to be to set forth
in verse every mood, passion, and moral experience of human
life, and to blend into the whole the teachings of his Christian
faith, his love of Nature, and his loyalty to his unhappy king.
His references to flowers are not made in the scientific spirit of
the naturalist, but rather with the lofty sensuousness of the
poet, who sees in the beauties of bud and blossom, in their
colours, scents, and forms, the types and illustrations of all else
in the world that is pure, and fair, and lovely. Upon his Julia’s
recovery from sickness he writes : —
“ Droop, droop no more, or hang the head,
Ye roses almost withered ;
New strength and newer purple get,
Each here declining violet.
O primroses ! let this day be
A resurrection unto ye ;
And to all flowers allied in blood,
Or sworn to that sweet sisterhood,
For health on Julia’s cheek ”...
Then he dreams of a parliament of roses, when
“ all those powers
Voted the Rose the queen of flowers.”
In his sadder moods Herrick wrote of his death, and of
what men would think of him when he had passed away. He
chose a laurel tree to mark his grave : —
“ A funeral stone or verse, I covet none :
But only crave of you that I may have
A sacred laurel springing from my grave.”
In one of his longer poems, dedicated to his brother, Her-
124
NATURE NOTES.
rick gives some charming pictures of the joys of a country life.
He describes the “ damasked meadows ” and tells us how
“The purling springs, groves, birds, and well-weaved bowers,
With fields enamelled with flowers,
Present their shapes.”
Herrick had some fanciful and curious conceits about flowers.
He sings a plaintive melody of an unlucky girl who was turned
into a wall-flower. He jokes rather sadly about “ divination
by a daffodil,” thus : —
“When a daffodil I see
Hanging down his head towards me,
Guess I may what I must be ;
First, I shall decline my head ;
Secondly, I shall be dead ;
Lastly, safely buried.”
Then we have some more pleasing verses in the same quaint
strain, telling “ how lilies came white,” “ how violets came blue,”
“how roses came red,” and “ how marigolds came yellow.” As
I turn over the leaves of Herrick’s delightful book, I find there
is scarcely a page which does not speak of flowers. Some
of these references I must leave for others to find. Herrick’s
gentle lyrics, now two centuries and a half old, will be remem-
bered when newer rhymes are forgotten, and they will live not
alone by their own bright charms, but also because the beautiful
objects of nature upon which they rest abide with us always.
One of his sweet old songs “ Cherry Ripe,” has long fixed his
fame wherever joy can spring to speech in English words.
James Sawyer.
THE FUTURE OF THE BOTANIC GARDEN AT
CHELSEA.
HE hand of Time has wrought many changes on the
banks of the Thames in and about London. Docks,
quays and warehouses have succeeded the thickets
and reed beds of centuries ago, and nowq more
happily, where twenty years since only reaches of mud at low
tide and slimy walls met the eye of the passenger by boat up
the river, there may be seen spacious embankments planted
with avenues of lime and sycamore. But although these em-
bankments have been the means of abolishing much that was
unlovely, in one instance at least they have helped to efface and
obscure from viewr an old landmark on the river bank which
forms the subject of this note.
Once a conspicuous object to those passing up and down the
Thames, the old Botanic Garden of Chelsea is now hidden from
view by the flourishing avenue of sycamores on the embank-
FUTURE OF CHELSEA BOTANIC GARDEN. 125
ment.*‘ It is hemmed in on one side by lofty red-bricked
mansions, and on the other by humbler, yet densely-packed
tenements. The trees, too, hide the ancient cedar, survivor of
its fellow blown down in 1845, and “ the embankment has
robbed the garden of the water-stairs given by Sir Hans
Sloane.”
Like the parterre of a deserted mansion, sequestered and
barred to the public, no wonder such a spot, lonely amidst the
turmoil of London, is forgotten, and to all but the surrounding
inhabitants, almost unknown. Yet in former days, before the
foundation of the more celebrated garden at Kew, it must have
been a notable place, for “ Evelyn used to walk in the Apothe-
caries’ Garden and admire ‘ besides many rare annuals, the tree-
bearing Jesuit’s bark which has done such wonders in quartan
ague.’ ”
Quite lately some degree of public interest has been aroused
in this long-forgotten spot. The ever restless sea of bricks and
mortar now seeks to inundate this island of green, and ere long
the builder hopes to be making havoc of its shady walks and
flower-beds. Not many weeks ago a meeting was held at the
Chelsea Town Hall, under the presidency of Lord Meath, to
protest against the sale of the garden by the Apothecaries’ Com-
pany, and a resolution, modified into a declaration, was passed,
that an effort should be made to preserve it as an open space.
Now better far than that the garden should pass into the hands
of the builders, would be that it were kept as an open space ;
but, we would add, not exactly in the sense of the other
numerous, though not too numerous, recreation grounds of
the metropolis. If secured to the use of the public for ever, it
is difficult to see why it should not, all the same, be devoted to
the use for which it was designed by its founder, namely, for the
study of botany as a means of learning the medicinal and noxious
properties of plants ; of promoting healthy relaxation to those
engaged in manual or sedentary employment, and of teaching
observant habits of mind. With the sole exception of medicine,
more especially in its clinical aspect, no science is easier to be
demonstrated, and learnt by demonstration, than is botany. It
was his never being content with mere book-learning, but
believing that botany could only be grasped as a science by
actual field observation that gave the late Professor Henslow
such success with his pupils at Cambridge, and with those in
his village school.
If such an object as now suggested, were attained, no doubt
there would be found plenty of botanists, whose knowledge and
position would enable them to do so, ready and willing to give
lectures and demonstrations on summer evenings and at other
times in the garden.
* This is the only old Botanical Garden in London left, “ Gerard’s at Holborn
and Tradescant’s at Lambeth having perished.” (flare’s “ Walks about Lon-
don.”)
126
NATURE NOTES.
It would be idle to suppose that such a garden could in any
sense become a rival to that of Kew, but everyone in London who
has a desire to learn structural botany, by observation of plants
while in a growing state, has by no means the time and money
to be frequently going to Kew, much less into the open country,
receding as the latter does, further and further from the
metropolis ever}' year. The principle of localisation, as opposed
to centralisation, is now happily becoming a leading feature in
politics, as we see in the establishment of County Councils ; also
in education, as the University Extension Scheme has most suc-
cessfully shown. Could not the same principle be applied with
regard to the study of botany ? If this garden were to be kept
up for the purpose originally intended, doubtless other gardens
would be employed for the same useful purpose. The Botanic
Gardens of Regent’s Park, of Kensington, and of Battersea
Park (the latter exactly opposite the Chelsea Garden), would
then become centres of botanical learning, and form valuable
auxiliaries to Kew.
To some who might be inclined to suggest the difficulty of
getting the various kinds of wild plants to flourish, it may be
answered that it is astonishing to see the number of our wild
flowers and field plants that do grow and luxuriate in the
naturalized parts of the Zoological Gardens in Regent’s Park,
such as the large aviaries formed of recent years.
Lastly, although in the winter months, when of necessity it
could not be used much for the purpose here advocated, the
garden might be employed more generally as a recreation
ground ; in the spring and summer months there would not
be the same need, owing to the Embankment with its leafy
avenue being close at hand, also the far larger expanses of
Battersea Park, easily accessible on the other side of the water.
If only secured, and the writer trusts he is echoing the wish of
every member of the Selborne Society that it may be so, let
the garden be kept as near as possible to the original purposes
of its donor — “ for the manifestation of the power and wisdom
and goodness of God in creation, and that the apprentices
might learn to distinguish good and useful plants from hurtful
ones.”
Archibald L. Clarke.
SOME BOOKS FOR HOLIDAY-MAKERS.
Among the thousands of readers of Nature Notes, many are doubtless
already on their travels for the annual vacation ; others are preparing for flitting,
or engaged in the selection of a route. It is, therefore, an opportune moment to
call attention to a number of guide-books, which have been sent to us by different
publishers. Of these the most important is Ireland , by H. J. B. Baddeley and C.
S. Ward, in the admirable and well-known “ Thorough Guide Series,” published
by Dulau and Co., Soho-Square. Ireland as a resort for tourists has been well
SOME BOOKS FOR HOLIDAY-MAKERS. 127
to the fore this summer. We have hardly yet ceased laughing at the school-boy's
delightful description of “that beautiful country, which is chiefly noted for three
principal classes of things, which is, namely, its great greenness, its big bogness,
and its little shamrocks,” and we feel that we should like a little more definite
information about the inhabitants of that island than the statement that “ The
hearts of the Irish are all very warm. If you was walking out in the country
and you met a poor man, you could easy tell whether he was an Irishman, for if
he was an Irishman he would perhaps be in a pashion and have a pig with him.”
Holiday Ireland, too, has wrought up one of the morning papers into a state
of ecstasy, which finds vent rather in glowing prose-poetry than in details likely
to be of use to the average tourist. Our old friend, “ Adolescens Leo,” Esq., of
the D. 71, is left many Irish miles behind in passages like this : — “ It is no ex-
aggeration to say that Cork county and her neighbour Kerry are a microcosm of
all that is beautiful and grand in natural scenery river scenery, mountain
scenery, sea scenery. Has not Cork her ‘ Irish Rhine,’ a storied stream ; its
ruined castles, telling of ‘ unhappy far-off things and battles long ago ? ’ The
‘ Irish' Rhine ’ land is a slowly-changing kaleidoscopic vision of emerald-green
retreating meadows, wooded cliffs, and mountain masses.” What a come-down
from this picturesque word-painting to the humiliating confession couched in
ordinary language, that “ Not one English tourist in a hundred thousand has ever
seen or heard of the Irish Rhine ! ” Reviving from his depressing bit of actual
fact, the prose poet soars upward again and inlorms us that “ The balmy summer
air of these Irish regions is life itself ; the skies are, in dry weather, like the pearly-
blue, dreamy sky of Italy.” One can imagine a cynical anti-irishman asserting
that the whole force of this passage lay in the three words, “in dry weather,”
and gravely inquiring how many instances of this peculiar meteorological com-
bination have been known in historical times. But the cynical objector would be
quite wrong, and the gushing describer, despite his gush, is very nearly right. It is
a fact acknowledged by all those yvho have been able to compare Irish scenery
with the very best that the Continent can show, that we far too often hurry
abroad at great expense in search of beauties inferior to those which may be seen
in the Sister Island, within a small compass and at a small cost. This is now
recognised and acted on by a gradually-increasing stream of tourists, who on
their return fill the papers with praises of the beauty of the country and the
invariable courtesy of the people. It is quite impossible for those who intend to
“ try Ireland ” to have a better guide book, as far as practical advice for travel-
ling goes, than that of Messrs. Ward and Baddeley, although it certainly cannot
pretend to vie in style with the beautiful passages we have given above. The
writer of this notice knows Ireland well. He has special acquaintance with two
large Irish districts, one in the North and another in the South, which he has
travelled over on foot, on horseback, and by carriage ; and he has been astonished
by the accuracy, even in the minutest particulars, of the accounts given in the
present guide-book. He cannot say, however, of this, as has been said by a high
authority about some of the other books in the “ Thorough Guide ” Series, that
“ it is not possible to suggest an improvement.” The historical and archxolo-
gical portion of the book is not on a level with the topographical. There
are omissions, misprints, and sometimes distinct errors in the historical state-
ments. The writers, too, have been too prone to give gratuitous hints on
matters political, a very great mistake in a subject which divides men’s minds so
sharply as Irish politics. It is clearly not an advantage in a guide-book that it
should offend either section of those who use it. On the whole the “ Thorough
Guide ” to Ireland is a work which reflects very great credit on the industry and
accuracy of its authors ; it is very much the best practical guide for the Irish
tourist in existence ; and if it were submitted to the revision of some one with
a competent knowledge oflrish history, and had all allusions showing political bias
expunged, it would be very difficult to find in it any fault whatever.
We cannot afford so much space to the other books on our list. The Thorough
Guiae to Scotland, by the same authors, reaches us in its sixth edition, and is in
some respects a better book than the companion “ Ireland.” The coloured con-
tour maps, especially, are not excelled by anything in British cartography and
give an idea of the relative altitudes of the various localities which it is im-
possible to obtain in any other way.
128
NATURE NOTES.
Messrs. Dulau and Co. also send us a new edition (the fifth) of North Devon
and North Cornwall , by Mr. C. S. Ward. We once practically tested this
book very severely in an expedition along the sea coast from Clifton to the Land’s
End, and found that it was most admirable in its practical utility. The new
edition is distinctly improved, some new and excellent maps are supplied, and in
many instances the results of the recent survey are given in advance of the much
wanted i-inch revised Ordnance maps. We cannot leave these “ Thorough Guide”
series of Messrs. Dulau without giving the result of our own experience of many
years ; whenever we have broken new ground in the British Isles, we have always
enquired first of all whether there was a “ Thorough Guide” for the locality. If
there was, we have invariably found it much superior to any other which came
into our hands.
A most careful manual, which ought to sell by tens of thousands to the British
paterfamilias when he is engaged on the solution of his annually recurring prob-
lem of “Where shall we go this autumn?” is Seaside Watering Places (L.
Upcott Gill). The book is cheap, comprehensive, and so far as we have tested
it, wonderfully accurate, considering the very large amount of information' con-
veyed. In some cases interesting information as to the fauna and flora of the
locality makes the work doubly useful to Selbornians. The name of the editor of
Seaside Watering Places is not given, but he deserves high praise for the in-
dustry and ability displayed in the compilation of what is practically a cyclopaedia
of the watering places on the English coast, dealing impartially with their often
conflicting claims for supremacy.
We have also received the Tourist's Guide to Derbyshire , by R. N. Worth, one
of a very useful series of county guide issued by Edward Stanford. Useful summaries
are given of the botany, palaeontology, and geology of the county, and attention is
directed to all the spots of special interest and beauty which abound in Derby-
shire, as, for example, the Valley of Miller’s Dale, a plea for the protection of
which, by Miss Ellen Hibbert, appeared in the May number of Nature Notes.
The map which accompanies the guide is on too small a scale, and we have failed
to find in it several places for which we looked.
We have been gradually approaching the metropolis in our selection of locali-
ties for holiday makers. The last book on our list only comes in that place
because it deals with a spot which is practically part of London itself. Hamp-
stead Hill, by Professor J. Logan Lobley is a very pretty, nicely illustrated
book, and one which is sure to be most useful to all nature-lovers who are not
too grand to “spend a ’appy day at ’Ampstead,” in the study of the natural
history of that beautiful suburban spot. To most Londoners it will be a startling
surprise to find that they may, almost at their own doors, find material for the
discussion of interesting geological problems, and for very varied exploration both
in the zoological and botanical domains. Mr. Lobley himself deals ably with the
structure, materials and sculpturing of the Hill, and gives us much incidental in-
formation on the fossils of the London clay. Mr. J. E. Halting, an eminent
ornithological authority, supplies a thoroughly trustworthy account of the birds of
Hampstead, founded to some extent upon that given in his well-known Birds of
Middlesex. The Rev. F. A. Walker and Mr. H. T. Wharton are responsible for
less valuable guides to the insect fauna, and the flora of Hampstead. The book is
an example of a really good idea well carried out, and we should be glad to
see similar works published with reference to many similar localities in the neigh-
bourhood of London.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
Wild Nature Won by Kindness, by Mrs. Brightwen, Vice-President of the
Selborne Society : T. Fisher Unwin. [A notice of this work, which is for many
reasons most interesting to Selbornians, is, for the present, unfortunately crowded
out on account of the great pressure on our space. Reviews of several other
works have been for some time in type.]
CHILDREN'S COLUMN.
129
Studies in Evolution and Biology , by Alice Bodington : Elliot Stock.
Half-Hours in the Green Lanes, by Dr. J. E. Taylor : W. H. Allen and Co.
IVild Flowers Worth Notice, by Mrs. Lankester : W. H. Allen and Co.
Glimpses into Nature's Secrets, by Edward Alfred Martin : Elliot Stock.
The Human Epic, byj. F. Rowbotham : Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co.
Mendreva ; a Dream, by Edward G. Aldridge, F.G.S., &c. : Simpkin, Mar-
shall, Hamilton, Kent and Co.
Our Cats , and all about them, by Harrison Weir : Simpkin and Marshall.
The Cat, Past and Present, by Mrs. Cashel Hoey : Bell and Sons.
Father Perry, the fesuit Astronomer, by the Rev. A. L. Cortie : Catholic
Truth Society.
CHILDREN’S COLUMN.
A Letter from Switzerland. — Miss Wallis, of Richmond, who has estab-
lished there by far the largest and most flourishing juvenile section of the Selborne
Society, sends the following letter, primarily for the junior members of her own
branch ; but it will doubtless be read with interest by many other young Selborn-
ians : — “ Hotel Rigi-Scheideck, August, 1890. Dear Children, — We are spending
a few weeks in one of the loveliest parts of Switzerland, at the top of Mount
Rigi, on Lake Lucerne. Our hotel is 5,400 feet above the level of the sea ; it is
very difficult to imagine such a height, but you will understand it better when I
tell you that the clouds, which are so high above your heads, are often very, very
far beneath our feet. You will think we must have been very tired when we
reached the top of the mountain ; not at all, for, impossible as it may seem, there
is actually a railway the whole way up. Each train consists of only one carriage
with an engine below it, and the wheels have cogs which catch in the lines to pre-
vent the train from slipping backwards. The day after we came we went out for
a climb, and saw so many lovely flowers that we determined to try how many we
could find. Me gathered sixty-four different kinds, many of which were old
friends, such as daisies, buttercups, eyebright, monkshood, speedwell, sweet
briar, sweet william, pinks, blue bells, honeysuckle, ragged robin, forget-me-not,
geranium, thyme, orchis, azalea, and strawberry, all of which we found growing
wild. The colours of these were much brighter than in England, and some of
them were very large indeed — the blue-bells are twice as large as ours, and one
ox-eye daisy which we measured was eight and three-quarter inches round. \Ye
also found a great many beautiful mosses, ferns, and grasses. You would have
been amused to see us laden with our spoils standing on the line waving a red
flag to make the train stop for us. Imagine anyone standing on the railway
lines in London waving a flag to stop the train !
“ Besides these, there are some beautiful Alpine flowers. We have found three
kinds of gentian — yellow, purple-red and brilliant blue, and also the Alpine rose,
which is very pretty, but not at all like our rose ; it grows close to the ground and
has several blossoms, which are bright red, close together at the top of the stalk.
The edelweiss and ice-plant we have not found, as they grow amongst the ice and
snow where we have not yet been. Some beautiful flowers were given to our
hostess last Saturday, arranged to form the pattern of the Swiss arms — a white
cross of daisies on a red ground of Alpine roses, with a wreath of other flowers
all round it. Though there are so many flowers, we see and hear very few birds,
but those there are seem wonderfully tame. \Ye have also recognised seven or
eight kinds of butterflies, but there are not nearly so many as in England. It is
impossible to describe all the beauties of the place in this short letter, but I hope
when you are older you will be able to come here and see them for yourselves.
“ With best wishes for a happy holiday to you all, I am, your affectionate
friend, “Annie Wallis.1'
130
SELBORNIANA.
Strange Instance of Nest-t)Uilding. — Mrs. Brightwen, Vice-President
of the Selborne Society, sends us the following interesting notes on birds’
nests : — “ In a shed at Oxhey Grange Farm the implements had been stowed
away at the end of the haymaking season last year, amongst them a broken
wooden rake, which was thrown behind an elevator, teeth upwards. Between
these teeth four thrushes’ nests have been built side by side, and in each nest
were eggs — all of which have been unfortunately taken and the nests damaged,
it is supposed by a labourer, much to the annoyance of the occupier of the
Grange Farm, Mr. Bone. On the same farm while one of the men was clearing
away some rubbish, a robin’s nest with eggs in was found in an old kettle ; the
man took the kettle and showed it to several people, but was persuaded to re-
place it where it was found, and the mother has taken to it again, and is now
nestling the young ones.”
Pheasants as Fowl- Rearers. — Mr. H. D. Skrine, President of the Bath
Branch, writes to us from Claverton Manor : — “ It may interest some of your readers
to know that a hen pheasant in my woods has reared two chickens this season,
whose parent must have laid her eggs in the pheasant’s nest. That there should
be only two birds hatched out is explained by the fact that the hen pheasant’s
eggs take several days longer than hen’s eggs to hatch, and as a pheasant is not
so good a sitter as a hen, it would seem that finding two live chicks under her she
did not wait for the others to arrive in due course, and must have left them to
spoil. In all probability these chickens will become as wild as the pheasants, and
eventually a cross breed may be established in my woods. Have any of your
readers had a similar experience ?
The Cheddar Pink. — Selbornians will be pleased to learn that, notwith-
standing the tendency to destroy this interesting native plant, preservative in-
stincts are also at work. About two years ago, whilst walking from Maesbury to
Wells, in this county, I observed on the top of a high wall, a plant which looked
very like the Cheddar pink. I managed to secure a small piece of the plant by
the aid of my walking stick ; I then discovered that my first impression was
correct, and that Dianthus ccesius was not only growing, but looked quite at
home on this old garden wall. A person who lives on the opposite side of the
road had noticed my doings. He accosted me, and asked whether I knew the
name of the plant I had been taking so much trouble about. Upon my answer-
ing that 1 believed it to be the Cheddar pink, he replied, “ So it is, I brought
the seed from Cheddar myself, and sowed it on that wall.” Some few years ago
this rare plant was to be found on the walls of Prior Park, near Bath. I have
sought for it in vain of late. A few' days ago one of the courteous professors of
Prior Park College showed me some flowers of a pink, and asked me whether I
recognised them. I was afterwards informed that they had been sent from Scot-
land by a former pupil of the college, and that the seed which produced them
had been gathered from plants which once grew' on the park walls. The Northern
habitat seemed to have suited the plant, for the flowers looked healthy and strong,
whilst the colour of the petals was of a deeper hue than I had hitherto seen.
About a wreek ago, whilst attending a garden party, given by one of the founders
of the Bath Branch of the Selborne Society, I was delighted to find, on the
inner side of one of the garden w'alls, a large clump of Dianthus cesius. Several
of our members w'ere admiring the plant, and a question arose about its dimen-
sions. I applied my foot rule, and found them to be close upon five feet by four
feet. This clump is evidently the product of many years’ growth. I feel sure
that our host of Monday last would allow any Selbornian who wishes to assist in
preserving this interesting species, to have some of the seed. Such a delightful
garden of “old fashioned” flowers I have not seen for a long time, Thaliclrum
ilaz'um, L. and Aristolochia Clcinatitis, L., amongst other plants, find a place in
this charming old garden.
Bath, July 21 st, 1890. \V. G. Wheatcroi-t.
“ Insects as Ornaments in Gardens.” — It is to be hoped that all
members of the Selborne Society who are entomologists, even in the most super-
SELB0RN1ANA. 131
ficial degree, will act upon Mr. Kirby’s suggestion, and endeavour to entice harm-
less insects to breed in their gardens.
In the Selborne Magazine, for March, 1889, 1 advocated the growing of nettles
and rearing of butterflies in the town gardens, and should be glad to hear of any
member who has succeeded. For my part, 1 must admit that I find the insects
easier to rear than the nettles, which do not flourish in the confined “gardens”
of this semi-suburban district, as do the various lilies, purple clematis, &c.,
which, if permitted, would soon crowd them out.
This year I have been trying as garden ornaments another order of insects,
viz., dragon flies, a much neglected family, and yet one of the most beautiful
and interesting. Having prepared three or four small pools, I placed the larvce
in them, giving them occasionally minute worms, maggots, & c. , the larger species
finding sufficient food in the small earth worms that fall into the water, or on
some tadpoles already hatched there.
A newly emerged dragon fly, clinging to a blade of grass or watercress, is a
lovely sight on a sunny morning, much prettier than the blooms of “ geraniums,”
of which we have far too many in our gardens.
Upper Clapton. R. Makshman Wattson.
Another London Oasis Disappearing.— Can nothing be done to pre-
vent the destruction of a little-known but very interesting spot in the South-
west of London? At present it possesses not only some delightful old architecture
but a plot of greenery which is invaluable in the closely-packed neighbourhood of
Victoria, opposite the Soldiers’ Home, lately opened in a narrow street. Near
Buckingham Gate stand Lady Daire’s Alms Houses ; old red brick buildings
round three sides of a quadrangle, which on the fourth is enclosed by fine iron-
work gates. This space is now open to the public, but it is doomed in the near
future. The Charity Commissioners have said it must go, and the site will be
used for building, and so another lung will be lost to London and another his-
toric memento swept away. I have heard that the Lord Mayor has some influence
in this matter ; if so, possibly some of your readers may prevail on him to use it,
and to save a little more breathing room for our crowded city.
Margaret Bell.
Papyrophagous Slugs. — Is it a common occurrence for slugs to eat
paper? I have never heard of it before, but yesterday I went into my room,
and on the table where a few books and plants were, I saw, on taking up last
month’s Nature Notes, that the leaves were eaten into along the top edge ; on
looking more carefully at the book, I found it covered with slime, so concluded
that it must have been the work of a snail or a slug. I then searched for some
time hoping to find the perpetrator, but my search was in vain.
Agnes M. Parmenter.
A Bellicose Duck. — Mr. Arthur T. King, of High Barnet, sends us a
note of the following amusing incident : — “ We have on the long water at the
end of the recreation ground, a brood of eight little ducklings, which are periodi-
cally paraded by an admiring mother cluck, conscious of the attractions of her
little charges, especially in the evening, when they are out as little flycatchers,
and are very quick and clever in their movements. The mother duck on these
occasions generally parades on dry land to guard the little ones against intruders,
and very bold she is against any who would dare to interfere with her progeny.
On Thursday evening she more than once deliberately attacked a fox terrier
prowling around on mischief bent. Fortunately the dog was muzzled, or I am
not prepared to say the manoeuvre of the old lady would have been exactly dis-
creet. As it was, the dog swooped down upon her several times, arid it was
most laughable to see how on each occasion she ‘ went for ’ the dog in the boldest
fashion, ejaculating sundry and divers ‘ quacks,’ which, if translated, might
mean something of a ptean of victory, or perchance bad language at the unseemly
interruption ! ”
Memorial to Richard Jefferies.— Miss Agnes Martelli, hon. secretary
of the Northern Heights Branch of the Selborne Society, calls our attention to
the following extract from a letter of Mr. Arthur Kinglake “ July 21st, 1S90.
A wish has been expressed of late by many, that some memorial of Richard.
132
NATURE NOTES.
Jefferies should be erected, and inasmuch as he was a native of Wilts and fond of
his county, Salisbury Cathedral appeared to be the most appropriate spot for that
purpose. Mr. Charles Longman, an attached friend of Richard Jefferies, and
Mr. Walter Besant, the happy author of the “ Eulogy,” regarding the proposal
with favour, a committee has been formed for placing a marble bust of the Prose
Poet of the Wiltshire Downs in this grand old cathedral, the Bishop of Salisbury
and the Dean having most cordially given their assent to this project. The
estimated cost of this work will be about .£150. It is believed that little diffi-
culty will be experienced in raising this small fund among the admirers and
readers of the most remarkable man produced in the diocese of Salisbury for
many years. ”
The Wiltshire folk do not seem to have responded as generously to the appeal
as was anticipated by Mr. Kinglake, and Miss Martelli suggests that some of the
readers of Nature Notes would probably be glad to show by subscribing to
this memorial bust, how much they appreciate the boon conferred upon all Nature
lovers by Richard Jefferies.
L’ Association pour la Protection des Plantes. — Mr. R. Goodwin
Mumbray, of Richmond, has kindly sent us the Bulletin de P Association pour la
Protection des Plantes for 1890, and advises that the Selborne Society should
become one of the “ Societes qui sont Membres de l’Association.” This has
already been done at the suggestion of Mr. T. E. Wakefield. In the 1890
Bulletin we find a very kindly notice of the Selborne Society. Evidently our
existence was unknown to the Editor in 1889, for the Bulletin for that year has
an article on “ British Plants ” by A. D. Webbster, in which he deplores the fact
(or rather the fiction) that no such society has been founded in England. M.
Webbster’s article is very well-intentioned, but the Genevan printers have so
utterly mangled it that it forms one of the most amusing examples of “ English
as She is Wrote ” that we have ever come across.
Answers to Queries.
As nobody has answered two queries inserted in the early part of the year by
E. V. B., I should like to suggest that the blackbird at Huntercombe is getting
yearly more grey from old age , and that the bee-like fly is the Drone Fly, whose
proboscis forms one of the most interesting common objects of the microscope.
G. A. M.
OFFICIAL NOTICES.
At the last meeting of the Magazine Committee, the account of the Magazine
expenses and receipts was presented by Mr. Otter, the Hon* Treasurer, and the
Committee were pleased to find that, in spite of the large initial expenses con-
nected with Nature Notes, it is already in a flourishing financial condition.
This will be very pleasing intelligence to the gentlemen on whose advice the
venture was determined on to meet an emergency, and specially to Mr. Edward
King, of Richmond, who was the warmest advocate of the course which has
been pursued. Meanwhile the difficulty of limited space is becoming more press-
ing than ever. This month a very large number of communications which we
would gladly print, have been reluctantly set aside ; and it has not been possible
to use some pages of matter already in type. Many correspondents recommend
the raising of the price to 3d., but we should much prefer to be able to per-
manently increase the size without departing from the present price. To be able
to do this with perfect safety we must either have more subscribers or special
contributions to the Magazine Fund.
To those members who will help us to obtain additional subscribers, we shall
gladly send programmes of Na’i ure Notes for distribution, and we shall be
glad to have the names of those who are willing to contribute to the Magazine
Fund. During the last month we have received the following Wm. 'Whitwell,
5s. ; C. R. L., 5s. ; G. A. Musgrave, 5s. ; J. S., 5s. ; Tom Brown, ios. ; Mrs.
General Smith, is. 6d.
It is particularly requested that subscriptions and letters bearing on the general
business of the Society, should not be forwarded to the editors, but to the Secretary
of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi. Editorial communications
should be addressed to the Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
IRatuie IRotes :
Ube Selborne Society’s flDaoa3me.
No. g. SEPTEMBER 15, 1890. Vol. I.
THE PROTECTION OF PLANTS IN
SWITZERLAND.
HAT there is a necessity for some action in the direction
of protecting the ■wild flowers of the Alps, no one who
has visited those regions can doubt. And this is
specially true of the plants which grow at moderate
elevations, such as are well within the reach of the average
tourist. Down below in the valleys, and even some way up the
mountains, the flowers can be gathered without injury to the
plants, and there is little danger of any mischief being done ;
but when the sub-alpine and alpine flora is reached, the case
is altogether different. The plants are small and grow among
loose stones, and it is difficult to gather the flowers without
pulling up the roots at the same time. And as they are all the
more bright and tempting from their dull surroundings, and
more attractive on account of their novelty to the traveller, it
follows only too often that large masses are wantonly torn from
their haunts and left to perish after they have been admired for
a few moments.
It is not the botanist who is chiefly to blame, although he is
often supposed to be so. He is usually content to select a
few good specimens for his collecting-case, and to pass on in
search of other novelties. Judging from my own observations
in Switzerland this year and last, I fear ladies are most
guilty. Coming down from the Faulhorn last month I passed
a young lady — I am afraid she was English — with a basket and
handkerchief crammed with flowers, among which I could see
Gentians, Forget-me-nots, Androsaces, and a host of other cha-
racteristic plants. Now if one such visitor ascended the
Faulhorn every day during the season, and brought away a like
quantity, the botany of that mountain, varied and beautiful as it
still is, would soon be despoiled of its chief treasures.
134
NATURE NOTES.
As was mentioned in the last two numbers of Nature
Notes, an Association for the Protection of Plants, having its
head-quarters at Geneva, is doing a good work. This it does
by discouraging as much as possible the collection of roots for
the garden, and by supplying, on reasonable terms, plants and
seeds which are not only far more likely to grow, but which
have been raised in cultivation for the purpose. Since 1883
this excellent Society, so kindred in spirit to our own, has been
carrying on its work under the direction of M. Henri Correvon,
its active and enthusiastic President. I was fortunate in finding
him at home when I visited the garden of the Association, and
had the pleasure of his company in a walk round the grounds.
The garden is not very extensive, but contains many plants
of interest, in addition to the tiny Alpines for the propagation
of which it was established. Here we saw any quantity of little
pots containing small but healthy specimens of Edelweiss and
other treasures of the Alps ; and, while selecting from the
extensive seed list, I chatted with M. Correvon about his Society
and our own, and exchanged good washes for the prosperity of
each. It was pleasant to learn that it was from the Selborne
Society, whose leaflet vras reproduced in the last “ Bulletin ” of
the Association, that M. Correvon took the idea of issuing
similar appeals. A translation of the Swiss Society’s leaflet is
appended to this notice.
The “ Bulletin ” of the Association is issued yearly, and
contains interesting papers upon the work and the necessity
which exists for it. To the issue for 1890 is appended a list of
members, among whom I am glad to notice a large number of
English names, including Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. William
Robinson, Mr. J. G. Baker, Mr. Nicholson, Sir Trevor Law-
rence, Mr. Wilson, and others.
The annual subscription to the Association pour la Protec-
tion des Plantes is only two shillings, and I hope that many of
the readers of Nature Notes will forward this amount to
the Treasurer, M. Louis Lang, 23, Glacis de Rive, Geneve.
James Britten.
The following is the leaflet referred to above : —
“ Protect the Plants !
“A Spanish proverb says, ‘If you would understand the importance of
plants, imagine a world without them, and the comparison will terrify you,
because the idea of death will immediately arise.’
“ Friends of plants and flowers, have you ever reflected what our vegetable
carpet would be if it were despoiled of the graceful corollas which adorn it ?
Have you considered what our mountains would be if the flowery clusters which
brighten their slopes were suppressed, if the pastures were flowerless, the rocks
without verdure, the forests stripped of those myriads of stars which shine on the
sombre surface of the ground ? Have you ever reflected that there are species of
plants, rare or sought after for their beauty, which may disappear from the flora of
a country in the same way that certain animals have disappeared from its fauna ;
that the treasures of nature are not inexhaustible, and that, however slightly
destruction exceeds reproduction, the species is threatened with extinction?
BOOKS OF FEATHERS.
i
a 5
“These fears are unhappily not chimerical ; they are founded on facts.
Several species of rare, interesting, or beautiful plants have disappeared from
Swiss territory, either in consequence of the ravages caused by collectors and
hawkers, or as a result of breaking up the land for cultivation, or by amateurs or
horticulturists who introduce these plants into their gardens. The Association
for the Protection of Plants has undertaken to protect the threatened species and
recommends : 1st, To botanists and tourists not to devastate the habitats of rare
plants, and to limit themselves in the event of their desiring to obtain specimens
for their herbaria, to the plant without its root, and to take as few specimens as
possible. 2nd, To amateurs to raise rare and choice plants by means of seeds, or
to buy them of horticulturists who raise them by that means. 3rd, To public
authorities, professors, and cultured people generally to see that a habitat of rare
plants be not surrendered to cultivation without compensation having been given
to Nature by replanting the threatened species in the neighbourhood, if possible,
in a place safe from future clearings. It recommends also the forming and the
support of protective gardens in threatened territories. 4th, To all persons
generally the Association recommends the adhesion to this society, of which any
person may become a member by the annual payment of two francs. The
“ Bulletin ” of the Association is sent gratis to all persons whom the subject may
interest.
“For all information apply to M. H. Correvon, President of the Association
for the Protection of Plants in Geneva, or to M. Alex. Claparede, Secretary, in
the same city.”
BOOKS OF FEATHERS.
HAVE often thought that lovers of nature would like
to be told of the great interest there is in making a
collection of birds’ feathers grouped artistically on the
pages of a large album. Possibly such books have often
been made, but I have never seen any except my own, and they
seem always to give pleasure to young and old, and form a use-
ful resource on wet days or at odd times when friends are need-
ing something to chat about for half an hour. I will therefore
describe how simply they are made, in the hope that others will
share my pleasure and learn, as I have done, many most
interesting facts about the lovely plumage of birds.
The book should be a blank album of about fifty pages,
eleven inches wide by sixteen, so as to make an upright page
which will take in long tail feathers. Cartridge paper of various
pale tints is best, as one can choose the ground that will best set
off the colours of the feathers. Every other page may be white,
and about three black sheets will be useful for swan, albatross
and other white-plumaged birds.
The only working tools required are sharp scissors and a
razor, some very thick strong gum arabic, a little water and a
duster in case of fingers becoming sticky. One needs a clear
space on a large table which will not have to be disturbed, as we
shall see presently the feathers must be carefully sorted if the
group is to have a good effect.
Each page is to receive the feathers of only one bird ; then
they are sure to harmonize, however you may combine them.
NATURE NOTES.
I3<5
Should any one wish to experiment on this point let him place a
green parrot’s feather on the wild duck page, or mix pheasant’s
and guinea fowl’s plumage, and note the jarring result. One learns
a lesson as to the exquisite harmony of tints in bird plumage
which would teach many a fashionable lady how to combine
colours to the best advantage.
A common wood-pigeon is an easy bird to begin with, and
readily obtained at any poulterer’s. Draw out the tail feathers
and place them quite flat in some paper till required; do the
same with the right wing and the left, keeping each separate
and putting a mark on the papers that you may know which
each contain^ ; the back, the breast, the fluffy feathers beneath
—all should be neatly folded in paper and marked, and this
can be done in the evening or at odd times, but placing the
feathers on the pages ought to be daylight work that the colours
may be studied. Now open the tail feather packet, and with
the razor carefully pare away the quill at the back of each
feather ; this requires much practice, but at last it is quickly done
and only the soft web is left which will be perfectly flat when
gummed upon the page. When all the packets are thus
prepared (it is only the quill feathers that require the razor),
then we may begin.
I will describe a specimen page, but the arrangement can be
varied endlessly, and therein lies one of the charms of the work.
One never does two pages alike — there is such scope for taste
and ingenuity — and it becomes at last a most fascinating occupa-
tion. Towards the top of the page place a thin streak of gum,
lay upon it a tail feather (the quill end downwards), and put one
on either side. The best feathers of one w’ing may be put down,
one after the other, till one has sufficiently covered the page, then
the other wing feathers may be placed dowm the other side ; the
centre may be filled in with the fluffy feathers, and the bottom
can be finished off with some breast feathers neatly placed so as
to cover all quill ends. When one works with small plumage a
wreath looks very pretty, or a curved spray beginning at the top
with the very smallest feathers and gradually increasing in size
to the bottom of the page.
Butterflies or moths made of tiny feathers add much to the
effect, and they are made thus. Cut out the shape of the butter-
fly in note paper and cover both sides with thick gum. When
quite dry, moisten one wing and lay the small feathers on, like
tiles on a house roof, one over the other, in any pattern desired ;
when the second wing is done lay a suitable feather along to
form the body and let all become dry. Then moisten the gum
on the under side and press the butterfly firmly on the page —
the legs and antennae can be added very delicately with a pen
afterwards. I made a butterfly of the prismatic hues of the
pigeon’s neck and placed it in the middle of the fluffy feathers of
the pigeon page, wThere it looks charming. A small parrakeet
may be showm in the act of flying if the page is large enough to
BOOKS OF FEATHERS.
1 37
take it in, but there great care must be taken to place the wing
feathers as they would be in nature — the primaries, secondaries,
&c., in their right order, else the effect will be unnatural. The
beak, eye and legs must be painted on the page ; a drop of gum
on the eye will give brightness, only it must be very thick and
allowed to become quite dry before closing the page. It is best,
I find, to fill a wide-mouthed bottle with dry gum, and just cover
the gum writh water, allow it to melt, keep stirring and adding a
few drops of water till just right — no bought liquid gum equals
one’s own preparation. In arranging a woodcock the two artist’s
feathers (one at the tip of each wing), should be specially shown ;
they are small and very stiff, and are used in miniature painting.
The tail should be reversed to show the lovely white satin tip to
each feather — the only contrast nature has permitted to the ex-
quisite russet browns of the rest of the plumage. To make the
book complete there should be a careful water-colour study of the
bird on the opposite page, its Latin and English name, and a
drawing of the egg.
It may interest some to know how I obtained the ninety-
one birds which fill my books. Some were the dried skins of
foreign birds either given me by kind friends or purchased at
bird-stuffers. The woodpecker and nuthatch were picked up
dead in the garden. The dove and budgerigars were moulted
feathers saved up until there were sufficient to make a page.
Years after the death of our favourite parrot I found his wings
had been preserved, so they appear as a memento of an old
friend who lived as a cheery presence in my childhood’s home
for thirty years. It is a pleasure to me to be able to say no
bird was ever killed to enrich my books. The birds used for
food supply an immense variety of kinds, such as wild ducks,
pheasants, partridges, and all the species of wild fowl that can
be purchased throughout the winter and spring would keep one
busily occupied. Some birds have come to me in odd ways : I
bought a heron which was hanging at a poulterer’s in an out-of-
the-way street in London ; I picked up a fine white barn owl in
a wood in Cornwall, a dead gull at Brighton, and a guillemot on
the beach at Bournemouth, and a still rarer find was a stormy
petrel lying near it — a bird only met with there once in two or
three years. If it is once known that one is making a feather-
book, sportsmen will often kindly reserve some rare bird to add
to one’s store.
It has often occurred to me that if the sportsmen them-
selves could be induced thus to preserve the feathers of their
victims they would be so struck with the beauty of their plum-
age, the adaptation of colour to the habitat of the bird, the
winter changes of colour — as in the ptarmigan and others — that
more thought would be given to these marvellous creatures, and
in time a more tender feeling of pity might arise, and instead of
the useless slaughter of uneatable birds which is so constantly
going on, the sportsman might in time be changed into the kindly
138
NATURE NOTES.
naturalist who would love to watch the living bird and learn its
ways and curious instincts — surety a far higher and more noble
use of time and energy than simply levelling the murderous gun
at every living thing that ventures within reach. This it is
which effectually prevents our fauna ever being enriched by rare
birds settling and breeding in England. It is touching to think
that the little foreigners arrive again and again, weary from their
long journey across the sea, always to receive the same inhospit-
able treatment. If only others felt as strongly on this subject as
I do they would be ashamed to appear in the newspapers as
murderers of rare specimens. I earnestly wish each such notice
could bring down the severest censure on the so-called sports-
men. If Selbornians will but have the courage to boldly ex-
press their opinions on this matter we may be able to gradually
create such a reaction that, instead of being pained by such
tales of cruel slaughter as in the recent case of the gannet
massacre, we may be gladdened by reading of rare birds, noticed ,
let alone, and breeding in various places.
Eliza Brightwen.
P.S. — It is well to have a Russia leather cover for the feather
book to keep away moths ; such a cover has protected my books
for more than twenty years ; the feathers are as fresh to-day as
when first arranged. I hope I may hear that many readers of
Nature Notes have been led to begin this artistic and pleasant
employment for leisure hours.
FIELD PATHS.
fc«WTp|| ISS OCTAVIA HILL, who takes much interest in
the work of the Selbome Society, has kindly sent us
!P.hwJI' (through Miss Agnes Martelli) the following extracts
' from William Howitt’s Book of the Seasons, first pub-
lished in 1830. They are very interesting, as showing how sixty
years ago, long before the starting of any of the Societies which
Mr. Hunter has lately described in our columns, the need for
such organizations was keenly felt. Miss Octavia Hill tells us
that it is to the enthusiasm of Mrs. Hill, her mother, that wre
are indebted for the selection and transcription of these extracts
and several others which we have not, unfortunately, sufficient
space to insert : —
“ I love our real old English footpaths. I love those rustic
and picturesque stiles opening their pleasant escapes from fre-
quented places and dusty highways into the solitudes of nature.
It is delightful to catch a glimpse of one on the old village
green, under the old elder-tree by some ancient cottage, or half
hidden by the over-hanging boughs of a wood. I love to see
FIELD PATHS.
139
the smooth, dry track, winding away in easy curves, along some
green slope to the churchyard, to the forest grange, or to the
embowered cottage.”
“ Stiles and footpaths are vanishing everywhere. There is
nothing upon which the advance of wealth and population has
made so serious an inroad. As land has increased in value,
wastes and heaths have been parcelled out and enclosed, but
seldom have footpaths been left. The poet and the naturalist,
who before had, perhaps, the greatest real property in them,
have had no allotment. They have been totally driven out of
the promised land.”
* * * * * *
“ Those are commonly the most jealous of pedestrian tres-
passers who seldom visit their own estates, but permit the
seasons to scatter their charms around their villas and rural
possessions without the heart to enjoy, or even the presence to
behold them. How often have I myself been arrested in some
long-frequented dale — in some spot endeared by its own beauties
and the fascinations of memory, by a board exhibiting in giant
characters ‘ Stopped by an Order of Sessions,’ and denouncing
the terrors of the law upon trespassers ! ”
“ When the path of immemorial usage is closed — when the
little streak, almost as fine as a mathematical line, along the
wealthy man’s ample field is grudgingly erased — it is impossible
not to feel indignant at the pitiful monopoly. Is there no village
champion to be found bold enough to put in his protest against
these encroachments, to assert the public right ? For a right it
is as authentic as that by which the land itself is held and as
clearly acknowledged by the laws. Is there no local ‘ Hampden
with dauntless breast ’ to ‘ withstand the petty tyrants of the
fields,’ and to save our good old footpaths ? If not, we shall in
a few years be doomed to the highways and the hedges ; to
look, like Dives, from a sultry region of turnpikes, into a
pleasant one of verdure and foliage which we may not ap-
proach.”
# * * * * *
“ It is when I see unnecessary and arbitrary encroachment
upon the rural privileges of the public that I grieve. Exactly
in the same proportion as our population and commercial habits
gain upon us do we need all possible opportunities to keep alive
in us the spirit of Nature.
The world is too much with us ; late and soon,
Getting and spending we lay waste our powers ;
Little there is in nature that is ours.
We give ourselves up to the artificial habits and objects of
ambition till we endanger the higher and better feelings and
140
NATURE AT0TES.
capacities of our being, and it is alone to the united influence
of religion, literature and nature that we must look for the
preservation of our moral nobility. Whenever, therefore, I
behold one of our old field-paths closed, I regard it as another
link in the chain which Mammon is winding around us, another
avenue cut off by which we might fly to the lofty sanctuary of
Nature for power to withstand him."
THE BLACK-HEADED GULL.
URING the last week in April, I was fortunate enough
to obtain an order enabling me to visit Twigmore, the
place in North Lincolnshire where the black-headed
gulls breed — here strictly preserved, and in private
grounds. As many of the readers of this Magazine will know, the
black-headed gull only frequents the sea-shore during the winter
months, and for the spring and summer comes inland, feeds as
do the rooks, and breeds in great colonies at a few places, Twig-
more being one of the most important. The bird is about the
size of a rook, but grey, and in Lindsey is called the White Crow.
The head feathers (after the second year) are black during sum-
mer, but in winter become white. The breeding place at Twig-
more is a marsh, surrounded by rushes, situated in a wood
some little distance from the Brigg and Messingham high road.
The gulls are there in thousands, flying overhead, swimming in
the water, or running about the margin, and their screaming
can be heard more than a mile away. The nests among the
rushes, and all about the edge of the water, are little more than
hollows in the ground, and so close together that it is difficult to
walk without treading in them. To keep down the number of
birds several thousand eggs are taken yearly. They are, it is
rather remarkable, a great delicacy, not unlike those of the
plover, only somewhat larger. Each hen bird lays three, which
vary considerably both in colour and markings, some being quite
blue or green, others of the darkest brown. The birds fly great
distances from home, and there is hardly a field in North
Lincolnshire which has not during spring one or more gulls
feeding in it. It is a lovely sight to see them following the
plough on the red iron soil in company with the rooks. They
may be easily domesticated, and will live happily in a garden,
where, in a few days, they become tame enough to sit on the
gardener’s spade, and almost troublesome in the way they dodge
about his feet, picking out the worms he digs up. We had a
young one once which died from over-eating itself in this way, but
during its lifetime it was a most amusing pet. It would swim
in the water-butt, or follow us about the garden like a dog, and
was a general favourite.
W. M. E. Fowler.
I4i
ENGLISH PLANT NAMES.
EVERAL lists of these have been received from
various correspondents, from which we select the
following. We have eliminated certain names which
1 are in frequent use ; those not found in the Dictionary
of English Plant Names have an asterisk prefixed.
From Swaffham, Norfolk : sent by the Miss Harrisons : —
f Ascension
Neetlleweed
Lords and Ladies
Cockles...
•Creepers
•White-fluff
Bird’s eye
•Gipsies’ daisy ...
Pick cheeses ...
Ginger ...
From North Marston, Bucks:
Leighton Buzzard : —
Cuckoo...
Smell-smock
Crazies ...
Bindweed and Combine
Blind eyes
Cows and calfs...
King fingers
•Celery (or salery)
§Je wel-run-the-ground . . .
Burweed
Senecio vulgaris
Geranium columbinum
Plantago media and lanceolata.
Arum maculalum
Lychnis vespertina
Convolvulus arvensis
Menyanthus trifoliata
Germander speedwell
Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum .
Alalva sylvestris
Sedum acre
sent by Mr. T. G. Ward, of
Early purple orchis
Ladysmock
^ Marsh marigold
( Lesser celandine
Large and small convolvulus
Scarlet poppy
Cuckoo pint
Bird’s-foot trefoil
Common sorrel
Ground-ivy
Goosegrass or cleavers
From Appleby, Westmoreland:
Heelis, April, 1890: —
Lockety-gowans
King-cup
Whin
*Smere ...
Bumble-kites ...
JJupes
collected by Miss N. J.
Globe-flower
Marsh marigold
Gorse
Clover
Blackberries
Fruit of wild rose
From Burscough, near Ormskirk, Lancashire ; sent by Dr.
T. R. Allinson :• — -
Paddocks
Damsels
•God’s-stockings
Fungi of toadstools
Damsons
Campions
f “ Ascension.” This is a variant of Sencion, a Norfolk name given by Halli-
and others : cfr. Latin Senecio, French Senefon.
t 'lJnpes.” This is more usually written “Choop” or “Choops.”
§ No doubt a corruption of Gill-run-the-ground.
142
NATURE NOTES.
tjinny Green Teeth
Sour-docks
Kabbits’ food ...
Thousand leaf...
Kissing bush ...
Wicks ...
Mares’ tails
Spuds ...
Sprats ...
Duckweed
Wild sorrel
Wood sorrel
Y arrow
Holly in winter
Roots of couch grass
Equisetacece
Potatoes
Small Potatoes
From Skipton in Craven,
Cleats ...
Prim rose-pearl ...
Lads’-love
Blue buttons ...
Wackering-grass
May-flower
Bublicans or publicans
Yorkshire : —
Colts’-foot
... White narcissus
... Southern-wood.
... Scabious
Trembling-grass
... Cardamine pralensis
... Marsh marigold
TWO BOOKS ABOUT CATS.
R. HARRISON WEIR, an old and tried friend of
animals of all kinds, to whose graphic pencil we owe
many hundreds of studies of our four-footed friends,
has a special affection for the cats, and he has devoted
to his pets an extremely interesting and beautifully illustrated
volume which he calls Our Cats, and all about them (Simp-
kin and Marshall). Mr. Weir is no niggard in the praise he
bestows on his favourites : “ among animals,” he says, “ pos-
sibly the most perfect, and certainly the most domestic, is the
cat.” He is President of the National Cat Club, and founder of
the now familiar “ Cat Shows,” the first of which was held at
the Crystal Palace in July, 1871 ; and most of his pictures are
portraits of cats which distinguished themselves on one or other
of these occasions.
The author, in this little volume, gives us a varied and
interesting collection of facts and fancies connected wdth cats.
Anecdotes of their intelligence, as evinced by his own pets ;
descriptions of the different kinds ; notes on their management
and breeding ; the points by which cats are judged ; their
diseases and folklore, proverbs, traditions, performing and fish-
ing cats, loves of cats, stories about cats — almost everything
connected with cats is to be found in this interesting volume.
We miss the well-known folk-tale about “the King of the Cats,”
and the clever punning poem entitled “Poor Pussy,” wrhich is,
f Mothers told their children it would pull them in the ponds and drown them
if they went too near.
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
143
we believe, of transatlantic origin ; and the folk-lore and plant-
names connected with the subject of the book might easily be
extended — the latter, indeed, need revision in some cases.
But, on the whole, Mr. Weir’s book is singularly complete, and
it is made more useful by the addition of a fairly good index.
Mrs. Cashel Hoey’s The Cat, Past and Present (London, Bell
and Sons), is a translation from the French of M. Champfleury,
and is an excellent companion to Mr. Weir’s volume. The
same ground is, to some extent, occupied by each, and yet there
is very little that is common to the two volumes. The artists
of cats (including the Japanese painter, Fo-Kow-Say, whose
charming little studies appear as tail-pieces to chapters) ; the
early history of cats in Egypt, Greece and Rome, as well as in
heraldry and on signs ; their friends and foes ; their good and
bad qualities — all these and much more are duly set forth in
this attractive volume. The translator has added some interest-
ing supplementary notes, notably the selections from Theophile
Gautier’s “ Menagerie Intime.” Some of the illustrations are
very curious— notably the popular Russian picture of the accom-
panying of a cat to the grave by a cortege of rats ; this, we are
told, “derives its origin from a very interesting Russian legend,”
which, to our regret, is not given. Those who possess Mr.
Harrison Weir’s volume should not delay to obtain Mrs. Cashel
Hoey’s book ; while those already familiar with the latter
should supplement their knowledge by purchasing the former.
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
Messrs. W. II. Allen and Co. send us new editions of Dr. J. E. Taylor’s
Half-hours in the Green Lanes and Mrs. Lankester’s Wild Flowers worth Notice.
The former is one of a class which always commands readers ; it contains 262
figures of no great excellence, and a good deal of miscellaneous information. We
can commend neither the letterpress nor the illustrations of Mrs. Lankester’s
book, which, as it has gone through “various forms,” should not contain such
errors as “ palustrzrs ” and “Galium arrarine,” which are twice repeated. The
author’s use of capital letters is also extremely erratic.
We have been very much pleased by the writings of two gentlemen who have
only recently joined the Selborne Society, but who have evidently long been
Selbornians at heart. Mr. D. Andrew has for the last three years contributed to
the Dumbarton Herald a series of letters headed, with a curious anticipation of our
own title, “ Nature Notes.” In these he shows a keen sense of what is beautiful
in nature, and a considerable amount of literary skill — one of his poems, a
“Scottish sang” entitled “ Robin’s Return,” is particularly pleasing ; and they
are imbued with the true Selbornian spirit.
Mr. W. Whitwell in A Bachelors Christmas Day, gives a delightful little
sketch of the many pleasures which a botanist can derive from nature, even at
the season when he is supposed to have the least opportunity for observation and
study. It is wonderful what an interesting and instructive narrative Mr. Whitwell
has constructed out of what would seem unpromising materials. He has evidently
unusual power in detecting the “ tongues in trees,” indeed all plants seem to speak
144
NATURE NOTES.
to him eloquently of “ the untold and untellable richness of Nature — or rather
of the Divine thoughts and their expression in the world around us.” Mr.
Whitwell has very kindly said, that if any reader of Nature Notes would
wish for a copy of his tiny booklet, he will be glad to send it — “ as a Selbornian.”
We are inclined to think that there will be many applications for the charming
little sketch which is gracefully written, and the work of a well-informed, loving
and reverent student of nature. Mr. Whitwell’s address is 4, Thurleigh Road,
Balham, S.W.
SELBORNIAN A.
The G-rassholm Outrage. — The excitement caused by the trial and con-
viction of the offenders in this case has not at all subsided. We have received
several letters of congratulation and approval of the course taken by the Selborne
Society in the matter. Some of our correspondents regret that the penalty in-
flicted is so disproportionate to the crime ; it has been pointed out that if Col.
Saurin and his associates were to destroy some rare vase in the British Museum,
the penalty would be a flogging and a severe term of imprisonment, while such an
offence is, in reality, a much less heinous one than that of destroying some of the
rarest of our bird treasures, of far more value than some archaeological curiosities.
Among the letters received there is only one which disagrees with the line we have
adopted, and that is signed by “An Englishwoman.” This lady is moved to
compassion, strangely enough, not by the poor birds, whose peaceful settlement
was turned into a scene of slaughter, but by our strictures on these gentle (?)
“men of good position.” Our fair correspondent thinks that it would have been
much better, instead of drawing attention to their conduct, to “ invite them to join
the Selborne Society. ” We cannot make out whether this is said in jest or earnest.
If in earnest, the writer must have a far less vivid sense of humour than most of
her sex. She would apparently apply to a band of hawks to join a society for the
protection of pigeons. If she is in jest, we fear that her small joke would be
entirely lost on the gentlemen in question. The very worst part of their conduct
is that the}' have not shown the slightest sense of shame or regret for the outrage
committed by them, and seemed only able to see “the fun” of the thing, until
the fun ended in their own conviction. Ample proof of this will be seen in the
article in the Animal World , to which we directed the attention of our readers.
Every new detail which comes to light makes the whole story a worse one. The
episode of the Magistrate and County Councillor, who was one of the chief
offenders, and before whom they were anxious the case should be heard , is irresistible
in its sublime impudence.
It is the fact of this want of all contrition on the part of the detected evil-doers
which makes it necessary to pursue the matter farther. The Selborne Society
made several applications to the Admiralty and the War Office, and to their
representatives in the House of Commons ; these applications were in each case
answered in an evasive and unsatisfactory manner. What was the reason of all
this ? Why was it that such great pains were taken to stifle enquiry and to screen
the offenders ? We must obtain an answer to these questions. We entirely
concur with the appeal of the Animal World : — “ Will no member of the House
of Commons interrogate the Government next November on the above details,
and particularly on the false view which they took of the case and gave to the
House, as shown by the facts obtained by the Society ; and will they ask the Lord
Chancellor to do his duty ? ”
[The Council of the Selborne Society at its last meeting, held since the above
was in type, passed a unanimous resolution that Mr. Bryce, the only M.P. on
our Council, should be requested to bring the matter before the House of
Commons as soon as possible.]
“ Sky Signs.” — A little time ago, who had ever heard of a “ Sky Sign”?
Who is there now who does not, unfortunately, know not only the name but the
SELB0RN1A NA .
145
thing ? For the last few weeks a fierce crusade has been carried on in the papers
against this barbarous mode of advertisement. Among the foremost in this good
work has been Mr. J. B. Hilditch, of Richmond, a member of the Lower
Thames Valley Branch of the Selborne Society, who has been active in the agita-
tion conducted by that branch respecting Sudbrook Park and other matters of local
importance. In one of his letters to the Times , Mr. Hilditch appeals to the
Selborne Society to take steps for legislation in order to prevent such outrages on
the picturesque ; and meanwhile he offers “in such a good cause to take charge of
correspondence, and receive the names of sympathisers and supporters until a
public meeting can be called, or some concerted action taken.” The Lower
Thames Valley Branch has already passed a strong resolution in support of Mr.
Hilditch’s scheme, and the Central Council, on the motion of Mr. T. F.
Wakefield, has expressed its sympathy with the movement, and determined to do
all in its power to support the opposition to this new species of Vandalism.
Lovers of the beautiful will not require urging to use every effort in their
power for the removal of these abominations, which threaten to vulgarise the
whole country, and obscure the beauties which are still left in our island. Mr.
Punch has come valiantly to the aid of the right side in this matter, and we trust
that there are many Selbornians who will do battle against the vulgar and greedy
spirit which would gladly see the Pyramids placarded over with “ Puffer’s Peerless
Paint,” the Castle of Chillon covered with “ Clutterbuck’s Corn-plasters,” and
Stonehenge with “Snooks’s Soap,” in the spirit of the smart Yankee advertise-
ment agent, who yearned to paste an announcement of “ Bouncer’s patent Bug-
killer ” across an unusually beautiful sunset.
Papyrophagous Slugs. — In reference to the paragraph under this heading
in the current number of Nature Notes, I may say that I have undoubted proof
that snails eat paper. Some time since I left a roll of unmounted photographs
on the drawing-room table, in the centre of which was a bowl of flowers ; when
opening them a day or two afterwards to my surprise a small snail fell out, and I
found one of the photos eaten through three thicknesses of the paper, the hole
being about the size of a pea. The snail had, I suppose, come out of the flowers,
but why it should prefer a photograph to its natural dietary remains a mystery.
Apropos of snails, we have one residing under a heavy bookcase in our dining
room, which is seldom moved. Every now and then it leaves its track all over
the carpet for two or three nights in succession, the track always starting from,
and ending again, at the edge of the bookcase ; then we shall not see it for days
or weeks, when it will again appear to have been all over the room. This has
been going on for more than a year, and we have tried every device to catch it,
but all to no purpose. Now, occasionally, as a matter of charity, we put a cabbage
leaf or something of the sort to give it a meal : a very little seems to satisfy it,
and it has always disappeared before anyone is about in the morning, so that it
also may well be called a mysterious snail. Hannah F. White.
In reply to Miss (or Mrs.) A. M. Parmenter’s enquiry as to the paper-eating
propensities of slugs, I take the following from Turton’s British Shells : — “ I have
often observed the common garden snail (H. aspersa) eating the posting-bill from
the walls of the environs of London, after a shower.”
R. Marshman Wattson.
Sluggish Gymnastics. — On August 9th, whilst ascending the zigzag path
which commences the Susten Pass at the upper end of the Gadmenthal, I noticed
something suspended in mid-air from the branch of a pine tree, which extended
across the track at about eight feet from the ground. On going to see what it
was I found, to my surprise, a large brown slug, about three inches long, and pro-
bably weighing over an ounce, hanging from the branch by a fine thread formed
of slime, which copiously covered the whole surface of the foot, and was being
drawn out from the posterior extremity much in the same way that treacle or
viscid honey is drawn out from a spoon. The slug appeared to be greatly enjoy-
ing this novel mode of descent, curving its body in various directions, and often
twisting round upon the axis of the thread. Its progress being at the somewhat
slow rate of one inch in two minutes, this apparently risky adventure could not
have been undertaken with any idea of saving time in reaching the ground, and.
146
NATURE NOTES.
therefore, if not purely a pleasure excursion, I could only suppose it to have
originated in some accidental loss of hold upon the branch having offered no
alternative between this method of descent and an uncomfortable fall upon the
rocks below.
Mount Park Crescent, Ealing. R. T. Lewis.
[Mr. Lewis’s letter bears upon the following query by Mr. Stanley Morris,
which appears in the current number of The Field Club : — “Is it a fact generally
known that the common garden slug can descend from a height by means of a fine
thread, which is given out by the animal as it lets itself down ? I have watched
a slug thus descend from a height of nearly five feet, the time occupied in the
descent being about thirteen minutes. There was a strong breeze blowing at the
time, which swayed it to and fro in such a manner that it seemed as though the
thread must give way beneath its burden, but it was very elastic, and the slug
was borne in safety to the ground, when the thread was snapped in an instant.”
Just as we are going to press Mr. Lewis kindly sends the following additional
references to slug threads — Science Gossip, vol. xi. (1875), pp. 190 and 206 : “ In
the former, R. S. Terry describes the descent of a small white slug, and in the
latter, J. E. Daniel specifies two kinds of slugs — out of eleven native species —
which are known to be able to perform similar feats, viz., Umax Arborum and
Umax Cinereus (the L. Maximus of Linnaeus). The one I saw was certainly
neither of these.”]
The Cheddar Pink. — Mr. Wheatcroft will be pleased to'know that the
Cheddar Pink grows freely on garden walls at Corston, and at the Rectory here,
where it forms wide-spreading patches. Many years ago I planted several slips
on the walls of my garden, and these have flourished exceedingly, but I have
never known a single plant grown from seed. I do not think that a single seed
of the many thousands that are annually ripened on my walls ever germinates. I
cannot explain this, as I understand the plant grows from seed in other places. I
have observed the same with regard to common broom ( Cytisus scoparius), which
when rooted here becomes unusually large, but, though its seeds ripen freely,
never produce a single seedling. I am almost certain that I saw the Cheddar
Pink growing on the walls at the southern side of Fountains Abbey, about the
beginning of Tuly last. I could not make a close examination, as it was more
than twenty feet above me, but from the appearance of the leaves, and the size
and colour of the flowers, I had little doubt but that it was Dianthus ctcsius. If
so, it must have been planted there.
Stanton Prior Rectory, Bath. W. S. Browne.
The Cheddar Pink grows readily on any rough wall amongst mortar and lime-
stone. It sows itself, and spreads year by year on my garden wall, and so does
Unaria alpina, with various other weeds, including a lilac and a cherry tree,
sown by birds, and blossoming freely every year. I should be glad to send a few
seeds, or seedlings, of the Cheddar pink to any member of the Selborne Society,
if the supply is equal to the demand.
Winscombe, Somerset. THEODORE COMPTON.
Birds and Bonnets. —Perhaps a woman may be allowed to say that it
seems that men do not grasp the fact that when May comes artificial flowers come
in with a rush, and that when October comes, feathers come in with a rush ; so
these men think in summer, “ How many women are wearing flowers, and how
few are wearing birds. What a good thing the fashion has changed.” Mean-
while, I suppose, the slayers of birds are doing their work, and then before the
winter season sets in the spoil is brought out.
Now comes the difficult part of the subject. First : what feathers may we
wear? Secondly: if we do not wear feathers in winter, what are we to wear
instead ? Suppose an ardent Selbornian wishes to discourage the wearing of
feathers of many kinds, is it not incumbent on him to propose some good sub-
stitute? If the strong temperance folk prohibit such and such pleasant drinks, we
might say that they ought to provide substitutes for what they have taken away.
Again, many ladies, I suppose, do not know to what bird a wing or plume belongs,
nor do the girls in the milliners’ shops, nor, perhaps, the men ; and if ladies do
SELBORNIANA.
147
not, women of a lower class cannot be supposed to know. Those who see fit can
take refuge in total abstinence. The fact remains that ostrich feathers are not
suitable for every-day wear in our climate, nor cheap enough for many women.
Silk tufts, pompons, do not stand weather as hard plumage does, I think. Arti-
ficial flowers, generally, are not so suitable for winter wear as a stronger ornament
— I will not say feathers ! Let me hasten to assure you that I do not wear birds,
or feathers, or wings.
In conclusion, let me show by an extract from the letter of a member of our
Society, what ignorance and thoughtlessness exist in the less educated class of
girls. Writing in December, 1889, Mrs. D — says: — “Yesterday, when I was
explaining about birds’ wings and Selborne Society to Matilda, she said, ‘ Oh !
do they kill them, then, ma’am? I thought they died of themselves.’ Probably
many people think just as little about it.” Susan P. Hawes.
[The Editors, not feeling competent to advise in this matter, invite the
assistance of lady contributors.]
Insects as Ornaments of the Garden. — Nature Notes has evidently
readers in many lands. Seiior Don Hugo Rowlatt, Bella Vista, Minas de Rio
Tinto, Provincia de Huelva, Spain, writes to us as follows : — -“The interesting
article by Mr. W. F. Kirby in the July issue has attracted my attention, partly
because insects, more especially butterflies (of which this article principally treats)
have been my hobby for years, and also because I have been brought into contact
with that gentleman and his kindness, when visiting the splendid entomological
collection at South Kensington.
“ The destruction of the grand old English hedges is indeed to be deplored, as
also the clearing of forests with their own peculiar flora and fauna, but, as he
observes, it is useless to regret. However, it does not seem to me that we should
be improving our opportunities by introducing foreign insects as he suggests ;
doubtless they could be acclimatised, and would please the eye, but is it not liable
to result in a hopeless tangle?
“ He quotes the various beautiful plants brought from foreign climes, but is not
this promiscuous importation daily engendering confusion in the localizing of both
native and foreign specimens? It cannot be denied that most brilliant and vivid
forms of insect life contribute greatly to the attractions of the warmer countries,
and the Insectarium at the Zoological Gardens is certainly a step in the right
direction, as showing and instructing 11s in the insect forms and products of other
lands, but nothing more. Let it cease there. Why upset the balance of nature?
No, rather let us form breeding beds (as suggested), but let them be of native
plants for rearing native insects, which are daily decreasing for want of their
proper food plant. Then may we hope to see the beautiful Peacock ( Vanessa Io),
the lordly Red Admiral ( Pyrameis Atalanla), and that magnificent insect, the
Swallow-tail (Papilio Machaon), which cannot be surpassed, once more proudly
sailing through the sylvan glades or o’er the downy meadows.”
Imitations of the Note3 of Birds.— The Rev. Robert Hudson sends
us the following communication from Brighton : — “ Dr. Francis, of Richmond,
has sent you some lines in which the song of the American robin is imitated.
Have any of your correspondents referred to the Birds of Aristophanes, where
the notes of birds appear to be wonderfully reproduced ? I copy the following
if you care to print them : — Epopopopopopoi ; Io io ito ito ito ito : Trioto trioto
totobrix ; Toro toro toro toro tix ; Kikkabau kikkabau ; Toro toro toro lililix. ”
The trilling of the song of small birds is represented, and was no doubt very
effectively produced on the Athenian stage.
Perhaps some classical scholar might collect a few passages from the Greek
poets, which would interest modern readers. In Euripides’ play of “ Ion,” there
is a beautiful hymn of the young priest of Diana, when he goes to his duties at
early morning to cleanse the building and drive away the birds, this office being
esteemed not a menial one, but conveying much honour and distinction. He sees
the flocks of birds rising from the plains, the marshes and the sea ; some swans
fly close and seem about to settle in the temple area, and to each the priest in
his enthusiasm appeals, not to desecrate the temple of his divine mistress.
I4§
OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c.
The object of the Selborne Society is to unite lovers of Nature for common
study and the defence of natural objects (birds, plants, beautiful landscapes, &c.)
against the destruction by which they are constantly menaced. The minimum
Annual Subscription (which entitles the subscriber to a monthly copy of the
Society’s Magazine) is 2s. 6d. All particulars as to membership may be obtained
from the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
At the last three meetings of the Council of the Selborne Society the subject
of leaflets and placards has been under discussion. As our readers know, a very
large number of leaflets have been issued by the Society and also many broadsides
or notices in large type protesting against wanton destruction of plants and
animals. These have been very successful both in arresting injury and in procur-
ing new members for the Society. But many of the leaflets and notices are out
of print, and others are for various reasons obsolete. A sub-committee has
been appointed for the purpose of producing new leaflets and re-issuing some
of the old ones, bringing them, where necessary, up to date. The sub-com-
mittee will be pleased to receive from members suggestions for leaflets to be
issued, and from the branches copies of any local leaflets or notices protesting
against destruction, which may have been found useful. MSS. or printed matter
(not necessarily to be published) bearing on this subject may be sent either to the
Secretary of the Society or to the editorial department of Nature Notes.
Some of our readers have enquired as to cases for binding the vols. of Nature
Notes. The question has been considered, but before finally deciding on the
expense, we should be glad if those who would like to have such cases would be
kind enough to send post cards to that effect, so that we might have some idea of
the number required.
The difficulty, or rather impossibility, of printing the many contributions
which are kindly sent to us still continues. We have received several queries
from contributors as to the fate of their MSS. In many cases the articles have
been retained in the hope of utilising them in some future number ; but the
continual supply of new matter has frustrated our intention. We have determined, '
therefore, to return most of the postponed contributions to those who were good
enough to supply them. We shall try in future to acknowledge and, when
necessary, return contributions in all cases ; as we should be very sorry that the
influx of interesting communications which have reached us should be checked
by the impossibility of printing them all. Much more could be done in this way
if the Magazine were enlarged ; but the subscriptions to the Magazine Fund do
not warrant this.
We find it necessary to remind our correspondents again how necessary it is
that their MSS. should be legible, especially in the case of proper names and
scientific terms. We should also be glad if correspondents would write only on
one side of the paper, and if they would carefully distinguish private advice and
admonitions to the Editors from the matter which they are desirous of seeing
inserted in Nature Notes.
It is particularly requested that subscriptions and letters bearing on the general
business of the Society, should not be forwarded to the Editors, but to the Secretary
of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi. Editorial communications
should be addressed to the Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
IFlatuve IRotes :
^Tbe Selborne Society’s flDaga3tne
No. io. OCTOBER 15, 1890. Vol. I.
OCTOBER.
HE ever-shortening days remind us distinctly that the
days of summer are being rapidly left behind us, and
that winter is coming on apace. The boisterous vigour
of March ; April smiling through its tears ; May so full
of promise ; the glorious months of June, July, and August, the
fruitful September — have all received at many hands due recogni-
tion o£ their charms, while December brings with it year after year
the joys of home life, the reunion of the family, the angels’ song
of peace and goodwill to men. As to January and February,
October and November, the general feeling appears to be that
they are periods to be lived through as endurably as may be, but
that toleration is as much as they may hope for: the lyre of
the poet is unstrung and as effectually packed away till the
longer days as the cricket bats and lawn tennis paraphernalia.
This lack of appreciation springs we think, from the fact that
so many of the writers and others who mould public opinion are
dwellers in the town. No one who has not lived the year round far
from the smoke, busy traffic and bustle of city life, can at all realize
that the sky may be as blue in January as in June; while the
snow, instead of being the foul mixture that is such an unmiti-
gated nuisance in big towns, is spread over everything in a broad
sheet of glittering whiteness that is almost dazzling in its purity,
while at other times in the clear atmosphere of the country,
when every twig of tree and bush is laden with hoar frost, it is a
peep into veritable fairyland.
The nature-lover finds that no season of the year is without
its attractiveness, and the autumn days, as they merge through
October into winter, bring with them their special charm. The
keener “ bite ” in the air has a tonic power of exhilaration that
makes the sharp exercise at least as pleasant as the more leisurely
stroll beneath the burning sun of July, and on every side we
may still encounter objects of interest.
ISO
NATURE NOTES.
Though we may find various species of fungi all through the
summer, they are especially characteristic of autumn, and no one
who has allowed indifference or prejudice to blind his eyes can
have any notion of the variety and beauty of the forms they
assume: some are purely white, and like branching coral; others
have their branches an intense orange yellow ; others again have
their disks as strong a scarlet as a guardsman’s tunic ; while the
great majority are of more subdued colour and of every possible
tint of yellow, russet, purple, and brown to black. Far more of
these than is at all generally realized have edible value, and tons of
despised “ toadstools ” that would supply wholesome food, perish
unregarded each recurring autumn. The white coral-like Clavaria,
for instance, that we have referred to is not “ a thing of beauty ”
alone, but is, when stewed with a little ham and parsley, and
seasoned with a touch of pepper and salt, as dainty a dish as need
be set before the most exacting of gourmands. Fungi vary in form
and size as much as in colour, and may be looked for in almost
every possible position — some nestling among the long grass and
dying bracken, some standing boldly erect on the open ground,
others springing from decayed wood and fallen timber, and others
again on lofty tree trunks. Almost all quickly perish and lose
their beauty after gathering, and though there is no more charm-
ing ornament in a country house than a large plateau laden with
various kinds embedded in moss, the charm is a very short-
lived one.
October, again, is the time when the changing tints of autumn
foliage are in perfection. The strength of colour in a beech
wood is something entirely beyond representation or descrip-
tion ; no pigments in the artist’s box can reach the intensity
of its orange in the sunlight, no descriptive epithet convey
any idea of its wonderful beauty. The autumn tints of many
trees are suggestive of decay and a falling away from their sum-
mer charm, but the beech, instead of fading tamely out, is
even more beautiful in October than when clothed in its robe of
summer verdure. The variation of tint in the woodlands is
very great ; each tree, each shrub, each plant has its own colour.
The maple will be found a mass of tawny yellow, the black bryony
a trail of bronzed purple, the herb Robert a clump of crimson.
We do not of course imply that no two different plants we can
find are of the same tint, nor that each plant always has its own
livery. The maple does not vary to purple any more than the
ripening wheat does, and anyone who has noticed the matter
carefully could name all the trees and bushes in a hedgerow half
a mile away by their differences of autumnal tint. While the
nuts and blackberries have been mostly sought out, the hedges
of October are laden with other fruit- — the rich hips of the wild
roses, the clustering berries of the hawthorn, the dark purple
bunches of elderberries, the long festoons of the hop and of the
red-berried bryony, the fruits of the guelder rose, holly, privet,
the dogwood and many others, and even when the frost and the
OCTOBER.
I5i
wind together have stripped the foliage away, the fruits ordinarily
remain undisturbed, and here and there the curious teazel-heads,
dried and dead, stand boldly out from the lower herbage.
Though the fields yellow with charlock and scarlet with
poppies are now but memories of the past sunny days, and even
the graceful foxglove has expended itself to its last bell, a bota-
nical ramble in October is not by any means a hopeless quest.
To say nothing of the beautiful meadow saffron, or autumn cro-
cus, that may occasionally be found — and which if found at
all will generally be in profusion — there are many of the summer
flowers that still linger on, flowers perhaps that when in their
summer abundance we passed by almost unheeded, but which
now are fully appreciated. In looking over past records we find
amongst many other October gatherings the upright crowfoot,
the creeping crowfoot, the ordinary red poppy and the wild mig-
nonette, the rock rose, the white and red campions, the meadow
crane’s bill, the dove’s foot and the herb Robert, furze, the purple
clover, the burnet-saxifrage, the fools’ parsley, lady’s bedstraw,
field scabious, bur-marigold, mallow, chamomile, pimpernel, eye-
bright, forget-me-not, borage, hare-bell, fumitory, shepherd’s
purse, wood violet, avens, stork’s bill, bush vetch, agrimony,
daisy, meadowsweet, silverweed, tormentil, honeysuckle, mil-
foil, nipplewort, dandelion, white and purple dead nettle, ground-
sel, ragwort, black knapweed, sowthistle, clustered bell flower,
centaury, bindweed, comfrey, mullein, and toad flax. To these
many others could readily be added, and only a feeling of respect
for the patience of our readers prevents our multiplying examples
in this catalogue of names. We have even found a belated dog-
rose flower now and then — we see note of a specimen gathered on
October 23rd one year — while an occasional primrose at times
anticipates the far-off spring, and may already be found in
flcwer ; our earliest record, we see, is September 15th. Of
course many of these flowers are found only very exceptionally,
and even when found in most sheltered positions are often
wanting in the sturdiness of growth and brilliancy of colour
that we should expect to find at a more seasonable time.
The swallows will mostly have gone south, but occasional
specimens may be seen well into October, and while many of our
birds will have left us their places will be taken by the winter
migrants. We must remember that it is not emigration merely,
but immigration as well — that “ we welcome the coming ” as well
as “ speed the parting guest.”
The bright sunshine also brings out several of our old summer
favourites, who naturally regard hibernation as a thing that need
not yet be troubled about while the days continue so pleasant, and
the gardens and hedgerows so bright and attractive. The brilliant
clouded-yellow butterfly, in its rich colouring of deep yellow
and black, may often be seen in October, as may also the equally
beautiful red admiral, the peacock, and the delicate sulphur
yellow brimstone butterfly, as they flit along the hedgerows,
152 NA TURE NO TES.
hover over the flower beds, and generally make the best of the
mid-day warmth.
Even when, towards the end of the month, the trees grow
barer and are finally stripped of their foliage, a new interest
arises in the study of their ramification. Each tree is as distinct
in the character of its branching as in the form of its leaves, and
an oak, a beech, an ash, or an elm, are as recognisable in January
as in July.
An old writer declares that “he who in all things eyes a
Providence shall never lack a Providence to eye,” and we may
say equally that he who goes out to seek interest and beauty
in nature shall never fail in his quest. As the year travels its
appointed round each recurring season brings with it interest
and beauty of its Own.
“Could we but open and intend our eyes
AYe each, like Moses, should espy
E’en in a bush the radiant Deity.”
The commonest weed contains within itself enough study for
a lifetime, and is an epitome of all the laws of plant-growth, an
autograph from the hand of the Creator, and as perfect in its.
fitness for its work, and in its obedience to law, as the mighty
planets circling through infinite space. All times, all places,
contain abundant evidence of Divine wisdom, and even the
pebble at our feet, could we but unlock all the history wrapped
up in it, would carry us back to the childhood of the world, and
reveal to us mighty changes in progress some few millions of
3’ears before the sons of men sprang into existence at all. Those
who wander forth and find nothing to interest them, owe the
loss not to nature but to themselves, while the love of nature is
one of the most lasting of pleasures. In fifty years one's tastes
change in many ways, and of the things that fascinated at the
beginning few remain unimpaired at the end of that period ; but
an appreciative love and study of nature only deepens as time
goes on, and an interest once developed in this direction is
ordinarily a possession that endures and brightens the whole
life.
F. E. Hulme.
“ RESTORATION.”
[We have much pleasure in printing the following letter from
Mr. Thackeray Turner, who has done so much good work as
Secretary of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Build-
ings. In the programme of Nature Notes we referred to this
Society as being “ in spirit closely akin to our own. We have
the same foes to contend with, and many tastes in common.
The man who loves every stone of the old abbey, beautiful even
in its ruins, and reverently garners the legends of its ancient fame,.
“ RES TOR A TION .” 1 5 3
will strive to preserve also the trees and flowers that gather round
its walls, and the birds that have found in its desecrated altars
* a nest where they may lay their young.’ ” This paragraph was
written in accordance with a suggestion of Mr. G. A. Musgrave,
to whom the Selborne Society owes its being. Mr. Musgrave
has always contended that our Society should number among its
objects the preservation for the reasonable use of the public of
spots endeared to memory by beauty or association, and the pro-
tection of objects of antiquarian interest. At the suggestion of
Mr. Musgrave (who is now co-trustee of the Society with Sir
John Lubbock) words to that effect were inserted in the Rules
of the Selborne Society at the last Annual Meeting. But while
we are in thorough sympathy with the general aims of the
Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings, we cannot, of
course, always endorse its action in the case of individual build-
ings, nor be responsible for the strong opinions which it some-
times expresses concerning erring “restorers.”]
It appears to me that one of the chief reasons why so many
ancient buildings have been and are being destroyed throughout
the country, by what is called “ restoration,” is that the people
concerned are completely ignorant of the point of view held by
the members of your most excellent Society. They fail to see
the wonderful effect which nature has had upon such buildings ;
how she has taken them and clothed them, and made them
belong to their surroundings, and become a part of the earth,
giving them a delicacy and variety of colouring, and softening
crude forms and textures in a manner which must make any
modern builder feel that his work ought not to be judged until
Time has laid his hand upon it.
H ow charming it is when rambling through the country to
come upon a well-wooded churchyard, with its church, which has
been growing under the hand of man from the time of the Con-
quest, or possibly long before., all covered with lichens and
mosses, and the windows filled with horny-looking old glass ; and
on the other hand, what a shock one receives upon entering an
old churchyard, such as that at Selborne, to find that the ancient
church has been “ restored,” and in the place of lichen-covered
walls and roofs, are to be found walls of newly dressed stones
all neatly pointed with black mortar, new glass in all the win-
dows, and blue or purple slates on the roofs, with perhaps a
bright-red jagged tile ridge to finish the agony.
What would Gilbert White have said if he had seen this
noble church in its latter days! And as far as I know, there is
not left an ancient church in his neighbourhood which has not
been “ restored.” I should like to induce Selbornians to study
our ancient buildings, both ecclesiastical and domestic. So little
effort is needed to make a beginning, and when once started, it
will be found a most fascinating study. Let them but learn
sufficient to enable them to date the different portions of a build-
154
NATURE NOTES.
ing within, say fifty years, and they will soon find themselves
tracing the history of the building and seeing its different stages
of growth ; and this will bring them to raise their voices and pens
in protest when a “ restoration ” is proposed, for they will know
after studying “ restored ” and unrestored buildings what the
process means. They will prefer the damaged but veritable
Norman capitals on the north side of the nave of the church of
Christchurch, Hants, to those on the south side which are the
work of the carver of to-day. They represent his view of what
he believes Norman carving was like. He may have been
interested in the work, but certainly we are not ; and are we not
justified in grieving over the original work which has gone to
make way for his new ?
Ancient buildings are undying records of the past. It is
always sad to see them dwindling away under the hand of Time,
but it is maddening to see them being destroyed and falsified,
and left as lying records, through the ignorance and folly of man-
kind. How it is that more have not listened to the telling wrords
of Ruskin on the subject is strange, and yet this is so, and it is
proved by the fact that the Society for the Protection of Ancient
Buildings only numbers about four hundred members. It may
be that its work is not known, and therefore I will as its Secre-
tary, and one who does know, explain that the Society’s com-
mittee— composed of hard-working professional men — meet
every week, and so long as its funds hold out they are prepared
to send down and survey any ancient building, and give its
custodians a careful, written report explaining how the build-
ing in question can be repaired, saved from decay, and rendered
fit for use, without entailing the inevitable destruction which
follows upon “restoration.” The Committee often has plans
and specifications for church repairs sent for them to give an
opinion upon, and when I say that in spite of no time being
lost the weekly Committee meetings seldom last for less than
two hours, it will be seen that the Society has undertaken no
light task. Indeed I am often astonished at the perseverance of
some of its members, who have clung to it and worked for it for
over thirteen years. Thackeray Turner.
9, Buckingham Street,
Adelplii, London, W.C.
THE EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE OF THE
SELBORNE SOCIETY.
HERE is only a step between the sublime and the-
I ridiculous, and I cannot but think that many people
take this backward step in considering the aims of
the Selborne Society, who, if they would but look
closer at it, wrnuld see that, if not sublime, it is at any rate-
ED UCA TIONA L I NFL UENCE.
155
very far from the infatuated, windy institution which from their
point of view it seems to be. This false idea would be often
dissipated, I believe, if the principles upon which the Society
works were more understood, and for this reason I shall try to
state plainly what I understand these principles to be. Before
I do this, I must mention briefly what are the recognised
objects of the Society, as the principles may seem vague and
intangible without some practical realisation of this kind. It
is our endeavour: — (1) To preserve from unnecessary destruction
such wild birds, animals, and plants as are harmless, beautiful,
or rare. (2) To discourage the wearing, and use for ornament, of
birds and their plumage ; except when the birds are killed for food
or reared for their plumage. (3) To protect places and objects
of natural beauty or antiquarian interest from ill-treatment or
destruction ; and (4) to promote the study of Natural History.
The need and advantages of the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, the Commons Preservation Society, and
other kindred institutions, are disputed by few even of those
who pride themselves on their sound common-sense and freedom
from sentimentality ; but it is not at all so easy to realise that
there is a gap between these which needs to be filled, and
which, if less evident, is hardly less important. The work
of these Societies often consists in defending legal rights and
claims ; whereas it is the small pieces of thoughtlessness and
Philistinism — which are too insignificant in themselves to be
punishable by law, and which yet, combined, constitute a real
(though too often unappreciated) evil — to which the Selborne
Society chiefly devotes its attention. It strives to supplement
and amplify the work of others by arousing a sense of indi-
vidual responsibility, care, and consideration.
In this nineteenth century in which we live, the world is too
full of men and only too empty of all that man needs and
desires ; and it is a mere truism to say that this state of things
is becoming daily more oppressively apparent and universal.
Unless we, who are able to enjoy Nature — still more or less
perfect and unspoiled — can make up our minds to forego those
strange pleasures of destruction and possession (which latter
pleasure, unfortunately, frequently necessitates the former) we
must acknowledge to ourselves the sad fact that every succeed-
ing generation will have less to enjoy and more for which to
blame those who have preceded them. Against this blindly
selfish tendency of human nature the Selborne Society
earnestly protests. Much of its work in this direction is con-
fessedly prophetic — if I may coin such an expression — and aims
at preserving to later times some of the pleasures of our
own. It is evident that this work of preservation must be very
largely due to individual effort, for no Society as such can
ever produce the desired effect ; and therefore it is that each
member of the Selborne Society is in himself and by himself
a distinct addition to the power of the Society for good.
156
NATURE NOTES.
I have already said that to many minds the mere act of
destruction seems to give pleasure. To others, the motive for
destroying may be fear or fashion, but, whatever be the cause, it
is certain that in man's relation to the rest of creation, the
economy of nature is grievously neglected. To the majority of
people it seems little short of folly to use carefully that which
seems to be so liberally'' provided. It is so difficult to realise the
worth and value, the expense — to translate the idea into the
language which is most readily understood — of life, that many of us
fail to see the waste which we are causing. Especialtywith regard
to birds and flowers is the waste most dangerous and useless ;
and the Selborne Society endeavours to draw public attention
to this fact, and so to check the disease of -wastefulness from
which we are already suffering.
The birds’ lives which are sacrificed, neither for utility nor
comfort, but to satisfy woman’s craving for adornment, are-
legion, and by their destruction man and nature often sustain
a double less, for not only are the birds’ lives taken, but the
crops, of which they are the natural protectors, are sacrificed.
Truly some lives are saved by this system, those of the Hessian
fly and the maggot, for example. Perhaps we ought to be thank-
ful for these !
Briefly, the Selborne Society may^ be said to be humanitarian,
economical and humane. Humanitarian, because it tries to
provide happiness and pleasure for the greatest possible number
of men ; economical, because it discourages that wastefulness
which is so natural among men and so contrary to their own
interests ; and humane, because it considers the lower creation
as too valuable to be sacrificed to man’s lowest passions and
desires.
Isabel Fry.
[In an accompanying letter Miss Fry says, that as she has dwelt almost exclu-
sively on the cultivation of individual right feeling, with a view to the formation
of a sound state of public opinion, she hopes some one else will before long deal
with the more active work of the society in its corporate capacity. We hope soon
to avail ourselves of her suggestion.]
ENGLISH BIRD NAMES.
HE following lists have been sent by various correspon-
dents. We have omitted from them certain names
which seem to be in general use, and have prefixed an
asterisk to those not in Mr. Swainson’s Folk Lore of
Biitish Birds.
From South-West Surrey ; sent by the Rev. Gerald S.
Davies, Godaiming : —
ENGLISH BIRD NAMES.
157
“Puckeridgef
* Blood lark ...
Titlark ...
“Longpod ...
“Chaffey
Nettlecreeper
Galley bird
Nightjar
Tree pipit
Meadow pipit
Longtailed tit
Chaffinch
Whitethroat
Green woodpecker
From North Marston, Bucks ;
Leighton Buzzard : —
* Redwing felt
Gor-crow ...
“Thresher ...
*Thin thresher
* Water washdisher
* Yellow washdisher
“Chink, and *Chink chawdy
*Dicky
“Heckle or Heekle
Kedtail
Molly-herne
Bum-barrel
Green linnet
sent by Mr. H. G. Ward,
Redwing
Carrion crow
Song thrush
Missel thrush
Water wagtail
Yellow wagtail
Chaffinch
Wren
Green woodpecker
Redstart
Heron
Long-tailed tit
Greenfinch
From Appleby, Westmoreland; sent by Miss A. J. Heelis : —
Spinkie
Yellow-hammer
“Tinny oolet
Owl
Dawp
... Carrion crow
“Dykie
... Hedge sparrow
“Mountain throstle
... Missel Thrush
“Long-neck...
Heron
Teufit
Plover
Bessie - ducker (pronounced
“ dooker ”)
Water ouzel
Norfolk names sent by “ J
W. M” : —
Dow
... Wood pigeon
Fuller
... Fieldfare
*Dow-fulfer
Missel-thrush
From Swaffham, Norfolk ;
sent by the Miss Harrisons
Bloodalf or Bloodelf
Bullfinch
King Harry \
Draw-water j
Goldfinch
Golder
... Yellow-hammer
“Billy owl ...
... Barn owl
“Hedge creeper ...
Hedge sparrow
“Denshman...
... Carrion crow
| Mr. Swainson says : “ In many places (e.g., in the South of England and in
some parts of Ireland) it is considered that animals either become blind or are
infected with disease after being sucked (as they are supposed to be by the night-
jar— hence its name, goat-sucker). The country people in West Sussex call this
complaint ‘ puck ’ or ‘ ptickeridge ’ — perhaps from Puck, a malignant sprite — and
the bird itself ‘puck-bird.’ ”
158
NATURE NOTES.
From the Rev. G. C. Green, Ivybridge, South Devon : —
Hickmal or Hickymall ...
Tiddletope
*Gray bird ...
Hoop
Blue tit, Great tit, Marsh tit, or
Cole tit
Wren
Either Song Thrush or Redwing
Bullfinch
“ This name was the only name by which this bird was known to the common
people about here until within the last thirty years. I have an old churchwarden’s
book of two hundred years old or more in which there constantly appears the entry
of money paid for Hoops’ heads during the last century and earlier.”
Miss Isabel Fry writes : —
“ A member of the Bayswater Branch of the Selborne Society informs me that
the Peewit in Ireland is called by the country people 1 Phillip a weeke.’
E. H. writes : —
“ Board Schools will prove the destruction of so many interesting local forms
of speech and nomenclature that the suggestion of recording in Nature Notes
some still surviving peculiar names of animals and plants seems very valuable.
“ The Hampshire 1 Blood-lark ’ resembles the Leicestershire ‘ Scriveling-lark ’
(the Yellow-hammer), not only in not being a lark at all, but also in the name
being given with reference to the eggs, which in the case of the ‘ Scriveling-lark ’
look as if they were scribbled over by the finest of steel pens. The bird itself,
apart from its eggs, is (or rather was) known as the Goldfinch ; while the Gold-
finch itself was called the ‘ Proud Tailor ’ (pronounced ‘ teeler ’).
“ The Swift was always the ‘ Deviling,’ and was mysteriously spoken of as
‘ one of the Seven Whistlers.’ Other Leicestershire names were —
Whinchat ... ... ... ... Utick
Green woodpecker ... ... Roin (or rind) tabberer, Rain-
bird or Wood spite
“ I cannot identify the various ‘jugs ’ ; Bank-jug, Hedge-jug, and Bottle-jug,
but the name referred to the form of the nest.”
N. S. W. writes : —
“ In Gloucestershire the Longtailed Titmouse is called a ‘ Mum-ruffin ’ ; the
Hedge-sparrow a Blue Isook ( ? Isaac)f — can any of your readers tell me why? The
reason for the Chaffinch being called a Twink one can see, or rather hear, for he
says ‘ Twink ’ continually.”
[In the article in our last number on “English Plant Names,” the following
initials were wrongly given : — Miss N. J. Ileelis ought to have been Miss A. J.
Heelis, and Mr. T. G. Ward ought to have been Mr. H. G. Ward. The names
from Craven in Yorkshire were sent by Miss Isabel Brown.]
+ Mr. Swainson gives “Blue Isaac” for Gloucestershire; “Isaac,” or
“ Hazook ” for Worcestershire, and “ Segge ” for Devon. These names, he
says, “are from the Old English heisugge — see Chaucer, ‘ Assemblie of
Fowles,’ 612, where the cuckoo is called the
‘ Murdrer of the heysugge on the braunch
That brought thee forth.’”
159
A BOOK FOR NATURE LOVERS.
Wild Nature Won by Kindness, by Mrs. Brightwen, Vice-President of the
Selborne Society. London (T. Fisher Unwin). In a recent issue of Nature
Notes we drew attention to the number of members of the Selborne Society who
are at the present time writing books inculcating the principles which we all desire
to uphold and disseminate. There is not one of these publications more likely to
give pleasure to all true Selbornians than the volume before us. Mrs. Brightwen
is well known as an ardent supporter of many good causes ; but there can hardly
be any into which she throws her heart so thoroughly as she does into the work of
our own Society. The fact that she mentions her connection with it on the title-
page of her delightful little book is some evidence of this ; but far stronger proof
is found in the contents of the work. She tells us that for twenty years of vari-
able health, the companionship of the animal world has been her constant solace
and joy, and she now wishes to convey to others a little of the happiness she has
enjoyed all through her life in the study of Natural History. This indeed she
does most effectually. She gives us a series of biographies of wild creatures
which in various ways have come into her hands, and tells of their habits and
adventures in a bright, easy style ; so that it is almost impossible not to become
interested in their fates — indeed, often to take much more interest than we find in
the careers of those “ featherless bipeds ” who are generally the sole subjects of
biography. To be a pet of Mrs. Brightwen’s does not necessarily entail captivity.
She seems to live amidst beautiful surroundings, where every harmless winged,
and fourfooted, and creeping thing is not only unmolested but cherished. And
she is evidently rewarded by an amount of tameness and confidence in her pro-
tection which we often read of in legend or history, but which in our times is so
rare that too incredulous sceptics declare it to be impossible.
The most remarkable instance of this power of attraction is seen in the story of
the snake who glided in through the window of the drawing-room in whicl^ she
sat, and coiled itself round upon her dress, where it seemed to go to sleep. It
made no objection to being stroked and handled, but when taken outside and
placed upon the lawn returned again and again to the friend whom it had chosen.
Some of Mrs. Brightwen’s favourites were denizens of her garden, who through
constant attention and kindness became almost domesticated. The titmice,
robins and squirrels thus became members of the family, all behaving with mar-
vellous docility to their mistress, although occasionally they fought fiercely with
each other, Robin meeting Robin in sanguinary duel, Tits flying at each other
sometimes like feathered furies, while one Squirrel thrashed another so severely
that the conquered one lost half his ear, and had to be sponged and doctored as
if he had come off second best in the prize-ring.
Starlings, Wild Ducks, Jays, Cuckoos and many others became pets on account
of some accident or loss of parents, which would have caused their deaths had
there not been some friend to come forward and substitute artificial for natural
nurture. Of all these very interesting anecdotes are told, and the different birds
are invested to a remarkable degree with an individuality which shows how care-
fully their habits were studied. But Mrs. Brightwen was on familiar terms with
many creatures which seem much more unlikely to be tamed than those men-
tioned. Roman Snails, Egyptian Beetles, Butterflies, Spiders, and even an Ear-
wig (!) shared her interest, and behaved with wonderful propriety during their
pleasant imprisonment. Some really startling instances of intelligence and attach-
ment are given of animals from whom no one would have expected such qualities.
There is only one creature upon whom Mrs. Brightwen never succeeded in
making any impression — Fluff, the Guinea-pig. “He is the only instance of an
animal I have ever known who seemed to be literally without a single habit,
apparently without affection, without a temper good or bad, with no wishes or
desires except to be let alone to doze away his aimless life.”
The sketch we have given leaves but a very faint impression of the varied
beauties of the book. The account of the cat who carefully tended a young star-
ling ; the sensational adventures of the delightfully pugnacious ‘ ‘ Rab Minor ” — he
would have been dear to the author of the greater “ Rab” — are exactly the
things to delight youngsters. Indeed we know of few books better suited for a
i6o
NATURE NOTES.
children’s library or for a prize given by those admirable institutions, the Bands of
Mercy. There is one reason for which this work will be much more acceptable to
young people than many similar ones. Although it is written in a spirit of deep
religious feeling, there is none of that obtrusive sermonic element which makes
many children’s books so very distasteful to those for whom they are intended.
“Why, it’s only a big ‘ track,’ with a lot of pictures shoved in ! ” said an unappre-
ciative boy lately of an illustrated book on Natural History in which the narrative
element was very distinctly subordinated to the didactic. “ I wish people wouldn’t
tell you the good things you ought to think when you see anything pretty,” said a
little girl surfeited with perpetual drawing of morals, “ it would be ever so much
nicer to think things yourself.” We have much sympathy with these juvenile
critics, and we can assure them that they will find in Wild Nature Won by Kind-
ness a real book of charming (though true) stories, with plenty of fun here and there.
Almost every chapter has some humorous incident in it. The story of the Ameri-
can lady who boasted that “ her tame oysters followed her up and downstairs” is
delicious ; so also the account of how Rab Minor buried the hymn-book in the
garden, whereupon the cook remarked that he had more religion in him than half
the Christians — though indeed, as our authoress adds, “ that reasoning was not
apparent to anyone but herself.” But the funniest story is of the irreverent non-
Sabbatarian bees, who swarmed on Sunday evening, and then sought to make
amends for their offence by accompanying their owner to church, where she sat in
mute agony lest they might commit a violent assault upon the minister and con-
gregation.
There are three chapters in the book— “Taming of Our Pets,” “Feeding
Birds in Summer and Winter,” and “ How to Observe Nature ” — which we would
gladly see reprinted as separate pamphlets and distributed by the Selborne
Society. They are full of practical wisdom, and would prevent much thought-
less cruelty. But indeed the whole book is one which cannot but make both
young and old have more love for all God's creatures, who are all (what is so often
forgotten) their own fellow creatures, and think with more wonder and reverence
of Him “who made all these.”
BIRDS AND BONNETS: A LADIES’ SYMPOSIUM.
In response to the invitation given in last month’s Nature Notes, we have
received several letters from lady contributors on this subject, which is of peculiar
importance just at this season of the year, when ladies have not yet selected their
winter bonnets. We append extracts from this correspondence in the order in
which they have been received.
“Joan of Arc” says: — “Your correspondent, Susan P. Hawes’ question—
‘ If we do not wear feathers in winter, what are we to wear instead ? ’ irresistibly
reminds me of a question once asked me by a young officer, whose regiment was
then leaving the country town in which we lived — ‘ What will the M- — people do
when the — th have gone away ? ’ I considered for a moment, and then replied
innocently enough, ‘ I suppose they will have to do as they did before the — th
came here.’ I had no intention of laughing at him, though the hearers gave me
credit for doing so, I am afraid.
“ Now I suppose that twenty years ago ladies were able to manage without
birds in their hats, for I do not think the (to me) ugly fashion had begun then.
Surely with all the variety of leaves, berries, and flowers — the making of which
gives employment to so many poor women and girls — to say nothing of velvet and
ribbons — which wear very' well — we could again contrive to get through our
winters without this profusion of birds — I counted seven in one hat in a shop
window the other day.
“ As to the other part of the subject, as to what feathers are allowable, surely it
would not take us long to learn which birds are used for food, and if we prefer
BIRDS AND BONNETS.
1 6 r
eathers to flowers, those of such birds as we see at the poulterer’s ought to satisfy
us. Nobody imagines that the tiny humming birds, goldfinches, or birds of
paradise are killed for anything but their plumage ; and in these days of ‘ higher
■education for women ’ — of which we hear more than we see — the better educated
amongst us ought to set their faces against this heartless fashion, thus doing some-
thing to remove the stigma of thoughtlessness so often attached to our sex.
“ In the Daily News, which is always in sympathy with theSelborne Society, I
read only the other day, that unless measures were speedily taken to stop the
wholesale slaughter in India of the paddy birds, shiploads of which are sent to
Europe for the use of milliners, there is serious danger of the total destruction
of the rice crops — ‘ paddy ’ — by insects which are the natural food of these
birds. If this happens then of course famine follows, with dreadful loss of
life. Surely' if these things were properly understood, educated Englishwomen
would have few doubts about the question ‘ What shall we wear in our bonnets?’
but would determine at any rate not to wear what might lead to such terrible
results. Some of us may be thoughtless or blind followers of fashion, but I can-
not believe that we should be so utterly heartless. ”
The following is the paragraph referred to by “Joan of Arc” : — “It is the
opinion of local authorities that nothing can save the beautiful birds of India from
complete destruction but a prohibitive tax upon the export of their skins and
feathers. Such is the demand for the adornment of ladies’ caps, bonnets, and
even dresses in Europe, America and elsewhere, that the time is believed to be
ripe for this decisive remedy if India is not to be deprived of its feathered
songsters or the crops of the ryot left to the mercy of the insects on which they
feed. In the Punjab, in Bengal and in Madras the harmless paddy bird, the
oriole, the roller and the little sunbird, with wings flashing with metallic hues,
are all being exterminated for the sake of their wings and tails, and birds’
feathers, closely packed, are going away from Indian ports in shiploads.”
A letter on this subject was written to the Council of the Selborrie Society at
its last meeting by Miss Ada Smith, Secretary of the Wimbledon Branch.
A Bird Lover writes : “ I maintain feathers may be worn, and without the
slaughter of the birds. I have just had a black felt hat trimmed with black
ribbons and two wings, the colours of which are emerald green, prussian blue
and scarlet, all natural colours and blended and softened as only nature can
blend, and all from my ‘double-fronted amazon parrot,’ who discarded them last
autumn when he put on his new suit. I collected the feathers and then arranged
them, the right wing and left wing feathers in proper order, laying them over-
lapping each other as a wing does, dropped Judson’s liquid glue between each
quill, let them remain until quite dry with a light weight on them to keep them in
place, and then mounted them with a thin bit of cardboard glued behind the
quills and bound over with a bit of soft dark cloth. The milliner I look mine to
was surprised at the beauty of the feathers and wondered where I got such
lovely wings — very much more lovely, certainly, to my mind than some poor little
distorted, mis-shapen goldfinches!?) she had for sale ; and there is the pleasure of
knowing that my parrot will be able to furnish many more such wings, instead of
being once killed and done for, besides the far deeper satisfaction
“ ‘ Never to blend our pleasure or our pain
With sorrow to the meanest thing that feels.’
“ Could not our Zoological Gardens and many bird fanciers and aviarists
furnish quantities of moulted feathers to be thus made up, besides the hosts of
private people who keep pet birds and could thus save their feathers? Amongst
our poultry there are lovely feathers — guinea fowl, the fancy water fowl, Egyptian
geese, &c. ”
A. O. II. writes to the same effect: — “ Could not many feathers now wasted
be utilized, without any cruelty to the original owners, by simply keeping them
when the bird moulted ? How many persons keep rare, foreign birds, and their
beautiful feathers are cast away with the waste seed and sand. I have a box full
of feathers, beautiful bright greens, blues and yellow, belonging to a small parrot
still living. I keep1 Joseph’s’ cast-off finery, because it is too beautiful to
destroy, but it is useless to me. I tried to dispose once of them to a milliner,
1 62
NATURE NOTES.
thinking real colours would be of more use than painted sham feathers, but she
said it was not her work. So the ‘ coat of many colours,’ lies in a box upstairs, as
I know not how to use it, and am unwilling to toss it into the dust-hole. I tried
to dispose of them in The Bazaar but got no answer, yet fan-makers and others
use feathers ! ”
“A Lady Milliner (member of the Selborne Society)” leads us to suppose
that the methods suggested by the last two writers are already in use among
bonnet-makers. She writes as follows ; — “ Miss Susan P. Hawes has apparently
forgotten that one of the chief objects of the Selborne Society is to promote the
study of Natural History amongst the very people whose ignorance she deplores.
It takes much time and money to educate ‘smart ’ people, their friends and their
milliners up to the pitch of being able to distinguish between the wing of an
albatross and that of an Aylesbury duck, but we are confident from our know-
ledge of past successes that this may be done. Most of the small birds now ex-
hibited in the milliners’ shops are built up out of the plumage of birds used for
food in this country, and much credit is due to those persons who have introduced
this industry, and the thanks of the Selborne Society are certainly owing to the
ladies conducting the ‘ Ladies’ Columns’ in our illustrated and other journals, as well
as to the editors and proprietors of such monthlies as the Queen, Lady, Ladies' Pic-
torial, Le Follet, Lrc. — all of whom have expressed strong opinions against the
wearing of plumage obtained by wasteful or cruel means. Many ladies of ac-
knowledged beauty and of great mental power in the little world of London
manage to dress in the most perfect taste without running up bills for ‘ osprey,’
robins, kingfishers, terns and humming birds. Will not they tell their puzzled
sisters ‘ How its done ’ ? ”
Miss L. Hinchclitf says “ Considering the high attainments of science and
art combined, as exhibited in all the lovely colourings and varieties of shades in
ribbons and velvets, surely a substitute for birds or their plumage is hardly a
necessity ! I am very fond of pretty things, and by no means an advocate for
‘ sombre tints ’ alone, still I do not think our hats and bonnets need suffer one
iota, or be any the less charming for the absence of either birds or feathers.
Flowers certainly have had a good run during the spring and summer months, but
though many of these would hardly be considered suitable for the coming season,
I do not think for that reason we need banish them all. Only the other day I
saw on a milliner’s table a lovely spray of barberries ; their rich purple bloom in
contrast to the rather stiff, autumnal green leaves, struck me as charming, and
looking at them from a practical standpoint, I certainly thought they had a much
more ‘weather-proof’ air about them than many of the feathers and birds with
which they were surrounded.”
The most practical suggestions on this subject come from Miss Agnes Fry-,
Treasurer of the Bayswater Branch : “ As this is a question which requires some
discernment and knowledge of the hat trimming trade, and milliners are, if not
the most discerning, certainly the best informed people on this subject, would it
not be well to refer this question to them ? And would it not be possible for the
Selborne Society to offer a money prize for the most satisfactory and novel solution
of this difficulty ? London milliners might not be unwilling to send specimens of
their skill to a small exhibition, as it would be a sort of advertisement of their
wares, and the prize might be awarded either by some of the ladies on the
Committee of the Selborne Society, or by some experienced milliners, or a com-
mittee of both. Though the competition would have to be made known by
sending circulars to as many shops as possible, I do not see that the necessary
expenses would be great, and I think that many members of the Society would, if
necessary, be willing to contribute to such an object. It may, however, be of more
immediate utility to state that I believe that Hamilton & Co., in Regent Street,
have resolved to use no bird trimmings in the hats they sell, and as this shop is
well known for taste and elegance, ladies who wish to keep to the principles of
the Selborne Society, and at the same time to have pretty hats, might safely be
recommended to go there.”
Mrs. Brightwen sends us the following extract from a letter to her by Mrs.
Knight, of All Saints’ Vicarage, Derby, who very rightly wishes that the in-
formation should be verified. We can hardly believe that such revolting
barbarity is actually practised. If the account can be corroborated, we cannot
SELB0RN1ANA . 163
think that any one worthy of the name of woman would degrade herself by
wearing ornaments procured in so horrible a manner.
“ You know those bright red little birds (whole birds) which they put in
ladies’ hats? They are dyed sparrows(! !) mostly prepared in France. But the
point is this — that in order to preserve the feathers in the best possible condition
the birds are killed in the most horridly cruel way. They are put in a cool oven,
which is gradually heated till they are dead. This was told us by a woman who '
sells the birds and hats ! Now, can anything be done first to verify the fact and
then to make it public, with a view to putting a stop to such terrible cruelty ? ”
SELBORNIANA.
Books of Feathers. — Much interest has been shown in Mrs. Brightwen’s
article on this subject in our last number. So many wishes have been expressed
to see the books referred to, that Mrs. Brightwen has consented to allow them to
be exhibited at the Annual Conversazione of the Ealing Natural History Society,
to be held on the 25th of this month. One of our correspondents, Mr. Edward
Simpson, suggests that the idea of such books may lead to results far different from
those intended by its originator : — “Much though Mrs. Brightwen may deprecate
the slaughter of rare visitors and native birds, all ladies may not be so careful to
inquire whether the birds were ‘ picked up dead in the garden,’ or ‘ found lying
on the sea shore.’ They will find it easier to ‘ask no questions for conscience’
sake.’” Mr. Simpson is perfectly right to warn us against an evil which may
possibly arise ; and we would add our strong protest against any such abuse of
Mrs. Brightwen’s suggestion, which would, we feel sure, cause her the greatest
pain. But we do not feel as much apprehension on the matter as he does. Only
those bird lovers who have a considerable amount of skill and knowledge could
attempt such designs successfully ; and it is not such persons that would be base
enough to destroy the things they love for the purpose of displaying their know-
ledge and skill.
Partly to assuage Mr. Simpson’s fears, and partly for our own gratification, we
reprint the following paragraph on the subject from the Daily News. We may take
this opportunity of saying that the Daily Neus (as is incidentally noticed by a cor-
respondent on another page) is conspicuous among the daily papers for its “ sound-
ness ” on all matters connected with the love and study of nature, and has always
given the most valuable aid to the Selborne .Society in its work : —
“ A lady ornithologist has come forward to tell 11s how she has been accustomed
to make up * books of feathers ’ somewhat after the fashion in which enthusiasts
for botany compile a hortus siccus. As her communication is addressed to that
zealous friend of the animal world, the Selborne Society’s Nature Notes, we
need hardly say that the practice, as here explained, involves no wanton destruc-
tion of the birds. Thus, the woodpecker and nuthatch, who contribute feathers
to the pages of the lady’s album, were picked up dead in her garden. The
samples from the dove and budgerigars were simply moulted feathers. The birds
having done with them, the album maker felt at liberty to turn them to her own
uses. A favourite parrot died, and ever since then a tribute from his wings has
furnished a welcome memento of an old companion. Birds used for food again
supply a great variety. Of these are wild ducks, pheasants, partridges, and all
species of wild fowl. Then the lady picked up a fine white barn owl in a wood
in Cornwall, a dead sea-gull at Brighton, a guillemot on the beach at Bourne-
mouth, and, still rarer, a stormy petrel lying near it. Thus was the blank album
gradually filled with interesting examples of the plumage of British birds, without
hurt to the conscience of an enthusiastic disciple of Gilbert White. There is
surely many a worse way to ‘ help waste a sullen day ’ than that of making a
feather book ’ in accordance with this lady’s practical directions.”
NATURE NOTES.
164
Removal of Sky Signs. — This subject also has aroused much attention,
and several cuttings from newspapers relating to it have been sent to us. From
these we select the following received from Miss Agnes Martelli. Luckily we are
not called upon to discuss either the ethics or the expediency of boycotting ; but
it is curious to note with what a light heart the Queen recommends it as a punish-
ment for contumacious sky-signers in England “ The excitement and indigna-
tion aroused by the erection of sky signs has not been expressed too soon. The
public have been informed by a well-known writer — Luke Limner — that a soap-
selling firm had already contemplated disfiguring the beautiful scenery of the
glens, mountains and lakes of Scotland with these hideous erections, thus
destroying the beauty that attracts and gives pleasure to tens of thousands of
tourists, and profit to thousands of residents. Our most beautiful buildings have
already been disfigured. St. Paul's was apparently the first of our grand national
buildings to suffer ; but Messrs. Hudson, with an amount of graceful courtesy
which does infinite credit to their good taste, and we have no doubt will do the
greatest benefit to their business, have, in deference to the strongly- expressed
wishes of the public, ordered the sign to be taken down — a praiseworthy proceed-
ing, which has been followed by Messrs. Carrick and Coles, the well-known
outfitters at Uxbridge, whose sign, raised forty feet above the roof, dominated
over the town and destroyed its picturesque appearance from every point of view.
This, though costing ^169 to erect, they have courteously ordered to be removed,
candidly stating that its erection was an. error in judgment on their part, and that
they wish to be in accord with public opinion — a graceful act which, we have no
doubt, will be much more to the advantage of their business than the offensive
sign, which would have been a perpetual annoyance to the inhabitants of the
town and surrounding district. Other tradesmen are neither so courteous nor so
wise. A flaring-red sky-sign, marring the beautiful view with its hideous outline,
has been erected close to Lincoln Cathedral, and although the supports have been
destroyed by some indignant inhabitant, it has been re-erectcd by the proprietor.
To the persons whoso persistently outrage public taste by disfiguring the sky and
the views which are the common property of all, ordinary arguments are addressed
in vain ; any appeal to that courteous consideration for the comfort of others,
which is the true characteristic of a gentleman, is thrown away on people who
have not even the conception of such a character. One argument, however, is
infallible — it is that which is addressed to Ithe pocket. If the public persistently
refuse to deal with those persons who disfigure all that is beautiful in our cities and
our country, the whole of these outrages on good taste will soon be removed. In
some instances this has already been done, and the proceeding has been anything
but satisfactory to the offenders. It only requires a continuance of the pressure
to ensure the removal of these disfigurements. If all these persons whose good
taste is outraged will indicate to the offenders that their support and custom will
be withdrawn as long as the objectionable signs are employed, the matter is at an
end. In the meantime we may announce that Mr. J. 15. Ililditch, of 11 and 12,
Cheapside, suggests the active co-operation of all interested, and is willing to take
charge of any correspondence and receive the names of supporters until some
concerted action can be organised to abolish the evil.”
Devastation at Cheddar Cliffs. — Just as we are going to press we have
received a letter calling our attention to this matter from Miss Dangar, Lynd-
hurst, Ealing. She encloses the following letter from the Globe which had escaped
our notice : — “ Is there none to preserve the Cheddar Cliffs from the brutal
destruction that is going on in their midst ? Already a hideous scar has been
made by the removal of the beautiful weather-worn grey surface. These cliffs
are almost unparalleled in England in sublime grandeur and majesty, and it
seems they will be sacrificed merely for the sake of some paltry gain from the pos-
-session of the stone for building purposes. Where is our sense for the beauti-
ful and sublime in Nature, that we can calmly sit still, and suffer the grandest
gorge in our country to be mutilated in this shameful manner, merely for the sake
of filthy lucre? Where is the Selborne Society in this matter? Have they no
influence to bring to bear on the author of such an outrage on Nature ? Or do
they not include the preservation of beautiful scenery among their other efforts ?
May I appeal, Sir, through your columns for the preservation of the ever famous
SELBORNIANA.
165
Cheddar Clifis from the profane touch of the workman’s tool ? — E. W. S. -\V. ” It is-
much to be wished that E. \V. S. -W. , and other such persons, instead of (or, at any
rate, in addition to) writing to the papers complaining that the Selborne Society
does nothing, would themselves write to the Selborne Society and ask it to do-
something. Every one who knows anything of the work of the Society is aware
that the preservation of beautiful scenery is one of the distinctive features of its
programme, and has been the subject of several articles in Nature Notes. The
Selborne Society has often been successful in saving, by timely interposition, beau-
tiful objects from threatened danger. But it is impossible to take cognisance of all
the “ brutal destruction” that goes on, unless instances of it are brought to the notice
cf the Society, and particulars given of the outrages complained of. We are much
obliged to Miss Dangar for having brought to our knowledge the impassioned,,
and, we hope, exaggerated, wail of woe uttered by E. W. S.-W. It shall be
laid before the Council of the Selborne Society at its next meeting — two or three
days from the time of writing — and steps will doubtless be taken to enquire into
he nature of the injuries done to the cliffs, and, if possible, to avert further
devastation.
Unkindness of Jackdaws to their kind.— On June 14th, 1890, I
found on the Freshwater Down, near the Beacon, a young jackdaw, apparently
friendless. It could not fly, but fluttered about helplessly. The wind was blow-
ing strongly from the cliff, and it was that, probably, which had carried little Jack
so far from his nest. I brought him to the house, and the footman fitted up a
box for him, into which I put some raw meat, a snail, and some bread, and add-
ing a cup of water, I said “Goodnight” to little Jack. Early next morning I
found that he had eaten nothing, so I opened his beak and fed him with soaked
bread and some fish, which I had been advised to try. Poor little Jack looked so
miserable that I thought he would be happier on the cliff ; I took him back ac-
cordingly, putting him down as near to the place where I found him as I could
remember. We then walked about three hundred yards away and watched. It
was not long before a jackdaw appeared from the cliff, and hopping cautiously
close to Jack had a good look at him, and flew back again. Very soon several,
others appeared — in all fifteen ; they formed a circle round the unhappy little bird,
but not one of them would approach nearer than ten yards. There was some-
thing about his appearance that they evidently did not approve of, and at length
they all flew away, leaving their friendless little comrade to his fate. I then carried
Jack further, and put him down in another place, but no one came or took notice
of him, so I was obliged to take him home. On the 1 6th we took him once more
to the Down to give his relatives one more chance of making friends with him,
but they would not go near him, so I decided to try to rear him myself, and
yet let him enjoy his freedom almost as much as he would on the Downs. When
we went out for a walk little Jack, who w'as fast becoming tame, perched on my
shoulder or wrist, and thence took his view of the world and things in general,
I fed him freely with raw beef — too freely, I fear, for one day he became sick and
rejected some little bits of meat. I had left him, as usual, in the housekeeper’s room
after our walk, when the housekeeper cried out that little Jack was in a fit. We
gave him brandy and water, also a pepper-corn, then applied cold water to his-
beak, but all in vain. The poor, wise-looking birdie died, and I buried him alone
among the flowers, where the jackdaws skim nightly athwart the sky to their home
in the cliff. E. Durham.
Imitations of the Notes of Birds. — Miss Blanche Pechele writes
from San Souci, Bellagio, Italy: — “I hasten to send you a French verse, which
imitates the notes of the lark’s song wonderfully. I copied the verse several years,
ago from a review of a book called ‘ The Letters of a Betrothed ’ : —
“ ‘ La genlille alouette avec son tire-lire.
Tire-lire et lire, et tire-lire et lire ;
Vers la voute du ciel, puis son val vers ce lieu
Vire ; — et desire dire
Adieu Dieu ! adieu Dieu 1 ’ ”
NATURE NOTES.
1 66
Tom-Tits. — Is it known whether these birds keep to one mate ? I cannot
help thinking so. I always keep a bone or piece of fat tied close to my window,
and the blue-tits and major-tits come constantly to feed there. A short time ago
the cock major-tit alighted on the bone and began to eat, then the hen came and
sat on the window sill, whereupon the cock pulled pieces of meat off the bone
and threw them down to the hen — there was not room for two on the bone. I see
the cock and hen constantly together, winter and summer.
N. S. W.
A Browning Query (p. 28). — Mr. A. J. Western sends us a communica-
tion from Mr. E. E. Davies, Hon. Secretary of the Browning Society, on this
subject. “ The following reply to a similar question is printed in the Browning
Society’s Papers for 1885 and 1S86: — ‘Surely the Polygonum Persicaria, or
spotted persicaria, is the plant alluded to. It is a common weed, with purple
stains on its rather large leaves ; these spots varying in size and vividness of
colour according to the nature of the soil where it grows. A legend attaches to
the plant, which attributes these stains to the blood of Christ having fallen on its
leaves, growing below the cross.’ ” [To this suggestion it must be objected that
the Persicaria does not grow in woods, and that its leaves are hardly developed so
early as May. A better solution is much to be desired.]
Bibliography of Gilbert White. — The Rev. Percy Myles is preparing
an annotated bibliography of all editions of Gilbert White’s works, and of books,
reviews, magazine articles, &c. , referring to White or to Selborne. He will be
much obliged to any members of the Selborne Society who will be kind enough to
help in this matter. All communications will be duly acknowledged.
OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c.
Selborne Society
The objects of the Society are : —
(a) to preserve from unnecessary destruction such wild birds, animals and
plants as are harmless, beautiful or rare.
(/') to discourage the wearing and use for ornament of birds and their
plumage ; except when the birds are killed for food or reared for
their plumage.
(c) to protect places and objects of natural beauty or antiquarian interest
from ill-treatment or destruction.
(d) to promote the study of natural history.
patroness.
HER ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCESS CHRISTIAN.
president.
THE LORD TENNYSON.
trustees.
Sir John Luisbock, Bart., F.R.S., M.P., &c.
C. A Musgrave, Esq., F.Z.S., F.R.G.S.
OFFICIAL NOTICES , &c.
1 6 7
Dfce*ipresi5cnts.
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of
Bath and Wells.
C. T. Beresford-Hope, Esq.
The Hon. Mrs. R. C. Boyle.
Mrs. Brightwen.
The Rev. Stopford A. Brooke, M.A.
James Bryce, Esq., M.P.
F. Dawtrey Drewitt, Esq., M.D.
Sir Mountstuart E. Grant Duff,
G.C.S.I., F.R.S.
Professor W. II. Flower, C. B., F.R.S.
The Rev. H. D. Gordon, M.A.
Edmund Gosse, Esq.
George Harley, Esq., M.D., F.R.S.
The Rev. Professor Henslow, M.A.,
F.L.S.
The Rev. J. Kirkman, M.A.
Sir James D. Linton, Pres. R.I.
Mrs. Martelli.
Mrs. Charles Mathews.
William Morris, Esq.
The Lady Mount-Temple.
Mrs. Musgrave.
R. J. Pead, Esq.
The Rev. H. D. Rawnsley, M.A.
H. D. Skrine, Esq., J.P., D.L.
The Very Rev. the Dean of Westmin-
ster.
Council.
James Britten, Esq., F.L.S.
F. Dillon, Esq., R.I.
Miss H. Hope.
Professor F. E. Hulme, F.L.S.
H. Barry Hyde, Esq.
The Rev. G. E. Mackie, M.A.
A. H. Macpherson, Esq.
The Rev. Percy Myles, B.A., F.L.S.
J. L. Otter, Esq., Hon. 7reas.
T. F. Wakefield, Esq.
W. White, Esq., F.S.A.
The Rev. Theodore Wood, F.E.S.
(With Representatives elected by the Branches.)
Ibon. Cvcasurer.
J. L. Otter, Esq., 3, Dr. Johnson’s Buildings, Temple, E.C.
Secretary.
A. J. Western, Esq., 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
LIST OF BRANCHES, WITH NAMES OF HONORARY
SECRETARIES.
Atalanta : Miss K. M. Wyatt, 20, Queen Square, W.C.
Bath : W. G. Wheatcroft, Esq., 13, Abbey Chambers, Bath.
Bayswater : Miss Isabel Fry, 1, Palace Houses, Bayswater, W.
Birmingham : Mrs. A. Smith, 78, Ilagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Bolton-le-Moors : Miss Heelis, Markland Hill, Heaton, Bolton-le- Moors.
Brighton : E. A. Pankhurst, Esq., 12, Clifton Road, Brighton.
Clapton : R. M. Wattson, Esq., 14, Narford Road, Upper Clapton.
Dorking : Miss E. Vincent, Riseholm, Dorking.
Dublin : Vacant.
Forest Ramblers : Percy Lindley, Esq., York Hill, Loughton, Essex.
Forth : Miss J. B. Waterston, 45, Inverleith Row, Edinburgh.
Guildford : Miss R. E. Powell, Piccard’s Rough, Guildford.
Haslemere : Miss A. M. Buckton, Weycombe, Haslemere.
Isle of Wight : Vacant.
Kensington : Miss M. Hope, 14, Airlie Gardens, Kensington.
Kent : Vacant.
Lakes : Miss Rawson, Fallbarrow, Windermere.
Liverpool : Miss B. Crosfield, 24, Ullett Road, Liverpool.
Lower Thames Valley, Richmond Division : Dr. G. Crichton, Twickenham.
,, ,, ,, Ealing : A. Belt, Esq., Mattock Lane, Ealing.
i68
NATURE NOTES.
Neston : Mrs. R. Bushell, Hinderton Lodge, Neston, Chester.
Northern Heights: Miss A. Martelli, 6, Prince Arthur Road, Hampstead.
Nottingham : Miss de Hersant, Belgrave Square, Nottingham.
Rape of Lewes : Miss Wyatt, St. Wilfrid’s Parsonage, Hayward’s Heath.
Rome: A. H. Spurrier, Esq., English College, Rome.
Rother Valley, Chichester : Miss Pigou, The Deanery, Chichester.
,, ,, Midhurst : Miss Richards, Eastbourne, Midhurst, Sussex.
,, ,, Petersfield Division: Mrs. Ticehurst, Petersfield, Hants.
Selborne and Liphook : J. M. Peake, Esq., Liphook, Hants.
Southampton & Bournemouth : Miss L. G. Bull, The Elms, Shirley, Southampton.
Tudor: J. J. Ogle, Esq., Free Library, Bootle-cum-Linacre.
Weybridge : Mrs. Lionel Beale, Caenwood Cottage, Weybridge Heath, Surrey.
Wimbledon and Putney : Miss Ada Smith, Walcot Lodge, Putney.
It was hoped that a full account of the Branches of the Selborne Society
might be given in Nature Notes with particulars of their officers, number
of members, income and work during the year ; but although circulars asking for
such information were sent out several months ago, some of the Branch Secretaries
have not yet sent in returns, and we cannot do more at present than print the above
list. With regard to members, the Lower Thames Valley Branch still holds the
highest place. It has more than 200 members. Next in order come the Northern
Heights, Birmingham, Haslemere, Bath and the Rape of Lewes, all above ico,
while Rother Valley, Kensington and Wimbledon very nearly reach that figure.
The Council would be very glad to hear from members who would undertake to
fill the vacant Honorary Secretaryships for Dublin, Isle of Wight and Kent. The
first Scotch and the first Continental Branch have been started during the year.
The Forth Branch is already in active operation, and we hope soon to hear
similar tidings of that at Rome. It is hoped that before long branches will be
started for Birkenhead, Bristol and the important county of Devon, where we
have many members, but no local organisation.
The only branches which have sent in accounts of meetings or excursions are :
in the Metropolitan district, Lower Thames Valley, Northern Heights and Clap-
ton ; in the provinces, Birmingham, Bath, Southampton and Tudor, which last is
a recently started and apparently very promising branch. Short notices of this
kind for insertion in Nature Notes would always be very welcome, but we
should be glad if Hon. Secretaries would bear in mind the excellent advice of Mr.
Skrine in our July number (p. 116), and remembering the very limited space in
Nature Notes, would enlist the sympathy of the local press. We shall be pleased
to print a list of local newspapers who are willing to set apart a Selborne column,
and we should be still more pleased if local Secretaries would undertake to supply
us regularly with such papers, carefully marking the portions of interest to
Selbornians. We find that the press does service to us (and we hope to them-
selves) in another way, by reprinting articles from Nature Notes. The article
of Professor Henslow on “ Mummy Wheat,” for example, was reprinted in
several papers, sometimes with, and sometimes (such is even editorial frailty)
without acknowledgment. We need hardly say that we prefer the former.
On account of the large space occupied by the list of Officers and by the
Ladies’ Symposium on “ Birds and Bonnets,” we are obliged this month to enlarge
the size of the Magazine, giving four additional pages. In spite of this it has
been found necessary to postpone several interesting communications, notably an
important article on “ Environment,” by Professor Henslow. Those contributors
whose letters we have not been able to insert, will kindly take this apology.
It is particularly requested that subscriptions and letters bearing on the general
business of the Society should not be forwarded to the Editors, but to the Secretary
of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi. Editorial communications
should be addressed to the Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
Zhc Selbome Society’s tffoagastne
No. ii. NOVEMBER 15, 1890. Vol. I.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT UPON
PLANTS.
N the first number of the Selborne Magazine I very briefly
sketched a theory of the Evolution of Plants, differing
widely from that which is connected with the name of
Mr. Darwin. Since that time I have published a
volume in the International Scientific Series on the subject, and
have secured the adhesion of a large number of naturalists in
our own country and abroad. I now lay the following account
of my views before the readers of Nature Notes with the hope
that some of the many Selbornians who are in the habit of
carefully studying nature, may be able to supply some facts which
will confirm the hypothesis I have suggested. I shall be equally
obliged to those who will give an account of observations which
appear to contradict it ; as my object is not to defend a theory
at all hazards, but by continual investigation to ascertain the
truth.
Let me first give in a sentence or two the main points on
which all evolutionists are agreed ; I shall refer only to the
vegetable kingdom. Concerning it the evolutionary belief may
be briefly summed up as follows : it was thought at one time
that all species of plants were fixed entities, and admitted of no,
or at least very little change ; so that “ varieties ” were restricted
and never transcended the limits of the characters by which the
species was recognisable — that the latter were, in fact, specific
creations. A more extended study of plant life has shown that
these views are quite untenable, and that all plants have des-
cended from pre-existing ones by “ descent with modification,”
as it is called.
Now, if one has become satisfied that evolution is the only
interpretation of existing life, the question arises : How have
plants become changed ? A very obvious phenomenon is that
i;o
NATURE NOTES.
plant-structures are in adaptation to their needs. For when one
studies the structures and functions of roots, stems, leaves,
flowers and fruits, it becomes perfectly clear that these structures
and their functions are in harmony with their surroundings ;
that is to say, e.g., the root is adapted for absorbing water,
mineral, and other matters from the soil ; that the stem is
adapted to support the plant or tree and convey the fluids up-
wards ; that the leaves are adapted to imbibe carbonic acid
from the air and to decompose it and then convert it into starch,
as well as to transpire or exhale large quantities of superfluous
moisture ; also to respire, as we do ; for it is as necessary for
plants to breathe as much as animals, and if they be prevented
doing so they will be asphyxiated too. Then, again, all the
minute details of the structure of flowers are so many adapta-
tions to the requirements of setting seed, by which the plant
can be reproduced.
Hence we can recognise two “ends” in plant-life, viz., a
healthy vigorous growth of the individual, and the production of
plenty of good seed on the event of its death. We soon see,
therefore, how every phase of its existence is in harmony with,
or “correlated” to its environment, and under that term is
included soil and its ingredients, air, moisture, temperature,
light, &c. ; and in the case of flowers, the visits of particular
insects, if they be required, as is often the case, if not, then it is
the wind, or else the flowers are so formed as to be independent
of both wind and insects, and are specially constructed to be
able to fertilise themselves. Such is the environment taken in
its widest sense, and we repeat the question : How has any plant
become adapted to its environment, so that all its various organs
can perform their several functions in perfect harmony with the
various features of this environment ?
There are two ways of answering this question. First, to
examine plants in nature which can, and often do, live under very
different conditions or surroundings; as, e.g., under water or on
land and in air, and watch them to see how they change.
These might be called natural experiments. We may also
cultivate plants in very different and artificially prepared soils,
&c., from those in which they naturally grow in the wild state.
Such will be artificial experiments.
Secondly, there is a line of argument of great value, which
will be emphasized further on by illustrations. It is, that when
innumerable cases occur of certain phenomena always re-appear-
ing under similar circumstances or conditions, we are justified
in drawing the conclusion that there is a distinct cause and
effect, even though we may not be able to verify our inference
or deduction by actual experiment. In many cases we can, it
is true, supply the conditions, and then we discover that we
can produce at will the same effects as those we see appearing
in nature under similar circumstances. This of course greatly
strengthens the argument, but it is not absolutely necessary for
the establishment of the truth.
THE ENVIRONMENT OF PLANTS.
171
As a good example of one of Nature’s experiments, let us take
the water Crowfoot ( Ranunculus aquatilis). This plant grows in
ponds and rivers, &c. In still water it produces very finely
divided leaves with almost thread-like divisions, all of which
are always entirely submerged ; but when the stem grows to
near the surface of the water, it develops ordinary leaves, heart-
shaped or rounded with a scolloped edge. These float on the
surface.
When we examine the tissues of these leaves micro-
scopically, there are the following differences : in the floating
leaves there is a superficial cellular skin or epidermis, which
is composed of a layer of colourless cells like flat boxes, with a
wavy contour all fitting tightly together like the pieces of a map-
puzzle. At intervals there are an abundance of “ breathing-
holes,” or stomata. They are composed of two oblong cells,
rounded at the ends and curved towards each other, leaving a
space between them for the circulation of air within and without
the leaf. The stomata are on the upper epidermis exposed to
the air. There are none, or at least very rarely one or two, here
and there on the lower epidermis in contact with the water. The
intermediate tissue contains the green granules called chlorophyll
grains.
In the submerged leaves there is no true epidermis ; the
outermost layer of cells, which represents it, is full of green
chlorophyll, and there are no stomata at all.
There are, indeed, several other differences which need not
be specified. The conclusion is that the one kind of leaf is
adapted to water, the other to float on the surface and to have
at least one epidermis adapted to air.
Now suppose the pond to dry up gradually during a hot
summer, so that the water all goes, leaving nothing but mud,
which is in the course of drying up too. What happens ? Our
Ranunculus becomes a terrestrial plant. It produces an abund-
ance of “ dissected ” leaves, very similar in appearance to the
submerged ones, but not at all identical in structure. The little
thread-like divisions now grow stouter and can stand erect in
air. They are a little flattened instead of being circular in a
cross section. They develop plenty of stomata, and possess a
true epidermis, which, as is usual with aerial leaves, has no
chlorophyll except in the cells of the stomata.
Here, then, we recognise two facts. One, that heredity
compels the plant to produce leaves like the submerged ones,
but the new environment compels it to construct the leaves for
an aerial existence. Sometimes only this sort of leaf is pro-
duced, and the Ranunculus then carpets the ground with a kind
of soft green pile. Sometimes it produces a certain number of
dissected leaves, and then suddenly changes and bears the
form of leaf which floats. Its habit was too strong to be lost.
As these leaves are already partially adapted to air, they do not
alter, their structure being just the same as when floating.
172
NATURE NOTES.
Here, again, heredity comes into play, for ordinary leaves of
plants and trees have stomata chiefly or only on the lower and
not the upper side. Hence the fact that the water Crowfoot
has them on the upper and not the lower is clearly an adapta-
tion to their floating on water, because the latter element pre-
vents their formation on the lower side.
If the aerial plant be now transformed back again to water
and submerged, all the “ aerial ” leaves perish, but it throws out
fresh “ aquatic ” leaves instead. Hence one cannot avoid the
conclusion that in some way or other an aquatic medium is
the direct cause of one set of structures, and the aerial that of
another set. Of course it is not only the difference between
water and air, but all the concomitant circumstances associated
with these two media respectively, which make up the environ-
ment and take effect upon plants. Thus the greater amount of
light in air than in water acts most powerfully in regulating
the structure of the tissues ; the difference in the amount of
carbonic acid, &c., all, no doubt, assert their influence; so that
the different effects produced in plants are the result of the
combination of several phenomena acting together.
In the continuation of this subject I propose to deal with a
theoretical origin of Floral Structures.
George Henslow.
(To be continued..')
[We have much pleasure in inserting the foregoing able article from Professor
Henslow, who is an eminent scientific authority, and a valued supporter from
its foundation of the Selborne Society, of which he is a \ ice-President. It
must not, however, be supposed that Nature Notes is in any way committed to
Evolutionist principles. An article on the other side, written with equal know-
ledge and a similar absence of the polemical spirit, would be just as willingly in-
serted in our columns.]
THE PRESERVATION AND ENJOYMENT OF
OPEN SPACES.
N the July number of Nature Notes I gave a short
account of the functions of the three Societies having
for their object to promote the preservation and enjoy-
ment of open spaces — the Commons Preservation
Society, the Kyrle Society, and the Metropolitan Public Gardens
Association. The movement took its rise in the necessity of
securing for public use the beautiful commons which lie on. the
outskirts of London, but it has taken effect in many directions
since the formation of the Commons Preservation Society in
1865. I will briefly indicate the several questions which have
arisen from time to time.
And first as to common land. Commons are beset by three
dangers. The}' may be arbitrarily inclosed by the lord of the manor
PRESERVATION OF OPEN SPACES. 173
under some claim of right. In this case the fight must be fought
in the Law Courts, and it must be fought by local champions
and with local weapons. The Open Space Societies cannot
appear as litigants, but they all, and particularly the Com-
mons Preservation Society, give advice and aid to the com-
moners in such case. Secondly, commons may be inclosed"
on the recommendation of the Board of Agriculture (Suc-
cessors to the Inclosure Commisioners). Here the sanction
of Parliament must be obtained, and the Commons Preserva-
tion Society carefully watches every proposal of the kind, with
the result, as I have already stated, that inclosure is prac-
tically at an end. Thirdly, commons may be appropriated
by railway companies, promoters of water-works and other
industrial undertakings. Some years ago a railway engineer
eagerly sought for common land in the country he had to
traverse, and took his line through every tract of open waste he
could find, for it was cheaper to buy such land than inclosed land.
Many commons round London have been sliced and marred by
railways — Wandsworth and Tooting Commons and Banstead
Downs are notable sufferers. Wimbledon, Clapham and Hamp-
stead have been saved from 'a like fate only by strenuous
opposition. In those days the public generally had no notice
of the intention to carry a line through common land ; it was
only by accident that the proposal was discovered before it was
too late. Now, in consequence of an alteration in the standing
orders of Parliament — made at the instance of Mr. Shaw Lefevre
and the Commons Preservation Society — promoters of railways
must give notice in the London Gazette of every proposal to take
common land. Since this change every attempt seriously to
encroach has been defeated, and railway engineers are recog-
nising that it is a dangerous and costly step to threaten land
which is open to the use and enjoyment of the public.
The principle has indeed been extended far beyond common
land. Disused burial grounds and square gardens have been
brought within its scope. Only this year the London and North
Western Railway Company were defeated in an attempt to
take part of Euston Square, and in 1889 the Midland Company
were allowed to acquire a small piece of a burial ground at St.
Pancras only on condition that they gave the County Council an
equivalent in land, or in money to be spent in acquiring other
land. Whole districts also have been protected from disfigure-
ment by railway companies. Several attempts have been made
to carry railways through the Lake district, but at the instance
of the Open Space Societies they have been defeated, and similar
protection has been accorded to the New Forest.
This is only one instance of the broad and at the same time
reasonable spirit in which the Open Space Societies have inter-
preted their duties. The Commons Preservation Society, moved
to the work and aided by the Society for the Protection of Ancient
Buildings, a few years since defeated an endeavour to demolish
1/4
NATURE NOTES.
the interesting and venerable buildings of the London Charter-
house, and to build over the gardens and quadrangles with which
Thackeray familiarised all England. Staple Inn, again, and
Barnard’s Inn — two of the Inns of Chancery which once played
an important part in the education of lawyers — have been, so
far, saved from the hand of the destroyer mainly through the
exertions of the same Societies. And at the present moment the
Open Space and Ancient Building Societies are seeking to pre-
vent the sacrifice of Emanuel Hospital, Westminster — Lady
Dacre’s kindly foundation — to that spirit of false utilitarianism
which sometimes intrudes into the management of ancient
charities.
The attempt to manage Crown lands with a view to
pecuniary profit alone has also been stoutly opposed by the
Open Space Societies. Air. Fawcett was the first boldly to la)7
down the principle that in such a case as the New Forest the
interests of the nation were better served by the preservation of
a national pleasure-ground than by the slight increase of revenue
which might possibly arise from enclosure and tillage. At the
present moment it is sought to apply this principle to Sudbrook
Park, Richmond, an appanage to Richmond Park, to the full
enjoyment of which its preservation intact largely conduces.
Sometimes, however, there is nothing for it but to buy the
land which is required for the public enjoyment. In such cases
the first move is generally made by one or other of the Open
Space Societies, and a special committee is subsequently formed.
The splendid tract of land lying between Hampstead Heath,
and Highgate, Clissold Park, Stoke Newington, and the Lawn
at South Lambeth — for some years the home of the late Mr.
Fawcett — have thus been rescued from the builder, while a similar
movement respecting the Hilly Fields at Lewisham is not yet
assured of success. In these cases the rates, metropolitan and
local, the funds of the City parochial charities, and private
purses have all alike been laid under contribution, and skill and
judgment were required to adjust means to ends, and conduct
the purchase to a successful issue. Robert Hunter.
[To be continued).
SYMPATHY OF BIRDS WITH THE‘IR KIND.
HERE is no doubt as to the cruelty shown by wild
birds and beasts to suffering and feeble members of
their own kind. It is a factor, not to be ignored, in
the all-important law of the survival of the fittest.
We read an instance of it in Miss Durham’s interesting little
account of the deserted jackdaw in last month's magazine.
But, as Schrader well shows in his Prehistoric Antiquities of the
Aryan Peoples, we must not forget that man himself in his primi-
tive barbarous state did not scruple to kill (and often eat) use-
less infants, and feeble individuals of his own tribe.
SYMPATHY OF BIRDS WITH THEIR KIN D. 175
From several facts, however, which have come under my
notice I am inclined to think that cruelty is less common among
domesticated creatures — that they are even capable of showing
between themselves remarkable powers of sympathy.
I have two caged birds, a canary and a goldfinch, both
cocks, which are allowed to fly freely about the room by the
hour together. One day the goldfinch half stunned himself
against the window-pane, and became suddenly quiet. The
canary flew from a picture-frame across the room, saw at once
that something was wrong, and, perching itself on a flower-pot
near to its companion, looked at him with its black, bright,
anxious eye, and puffing out its feathers like a sick bird, moped
disconsolately — apparently out of pure sympathy.
A friend of mine, living near here, has a large aviary for
birds, and has told me many stories of their mutual affection,
even between birds of different tribes, and from widely distant
parts of the world. I give her own words : — “ I was living in
town a short time ago, and bought in February a pair of Java
sparrows (natives of Melanesia, China and Japan) and a pair
of avadavats (natives of Central Africa). I put them into a
large cage with some canaries. On looking at them all in the
evening, I missed the avadavats, and on closer inspection found
that the two Java sparrows were sitting close together, and had
each taken under its outer wing one of the avadavats for
shelter. For many nights I noticed that the little avadavats
sought the same kindly protection, and even in the day-time would
creep under the wings of the Java sparrows when the weather
was very bitter. . . . Zebra finches and silver-bills (natives
of Australia and of Africa respectively) are most affectionate to
each other, and will also take up with any other little forlorn
foreigner in the aviary, though often coming from quite different
parts of the world. I had a pheasant finch (from West Coast
of Africa and St. Helena) and a silver-bill who lived happily
together for three years, roosting always in the same nest at
night and often sitting on the same perch by day, pruning each
other’s feathers. . . . The silver-bill would often stand and
sing, whilst the pheasant finch sat beside, listening apparently
with great pleasure. Both these birds had lost their mates.
When the pheasant finch died, the silver-bill transferred its
affections to a lonely Indian spice-bird — also a widower. . . .”
Another friend of mine has a small aviary of birds in
London, in which lives a silver-bill which has long been
without one foot. It hops about cheerfully all day, but every
night a little friend, in the shape of an avadavat, roosts close
beside it on the same perch, to give it the support its injured
leg is incapable of doing.
These facts are, I think, interesting, and quite beyond mere
stories of pets. Perhaps they may elicit others from other
lovers of living things, to prove that even among dumb creatures,
adversity sometimes breeds kindness.
A. M. Bucktox.
i;6
MISS MARIANNE NORTH.
LL nature-lovers owe a debt of gratitude to the lady
who devoted great part of a lifetime to the production
of the extensive series of plant-drawings now accom-
modated, at her expense, in a gallery in Kew Gardens,
and presented by her to the public. Miss Marianne North, a
member of the Selborne Society, died on the 30th of last
August, and a lengthened notice of her life and work, from the
pen of her coadjutor, Mr. W. B. Hemsley, appears in the
Journal of Botany for the current month. From this we condense
the following sketch.
Miss North was born at Hastings in 1830, and early de-
veloped the great skill in painting flowers that has rendered her
name famous. Frequent travel gave her opportunities for
exercising this talent, until it grew into an all-absorbing passion.
Her father died in 1869, and from that time painting was Miss
North’s chief occupation. In 1871 or 1872 she visited North
America and the West Indies, and painted assiduously, spend-
ing more than two months in solitude in a lonely house amongst
the hills of Jamaica. Her next voyage was to Brazil, where she
was received with much distinction by the Emperor ; yet she
lived the greater part of the time in a deserted hut in the forest,
and her provisions were taken to her from a distance of eight
miles by a slave woman, who is commemorated in one of the
paintings at Kew. On the return journey Miss North called at
Tenerifl'e. Then followed a trip round the world, with stoppages
for work in California, Japan, Borneo, Java, Singapore, and
Ceylon, and thence homeward again. The same year she
returned to India, visiting the forests of the Himala}-as, the
chief places of note on the Ganges, and Bombay ; and during
her absence some five hundred of her paintings were exhibited
at South Kensington.
It was after her return from India that she first broached the
idea of presenting her collection to the nation, and arrange-
ments were made for the erection of a suitable building in Kew
Gardens at her expense. In order to render the collection more
nearly representative of the flora of the world, Miss North
next proceeded to Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and
the fruits of this long journey are perhaps the finest of the
collection, very fully illustrating the most striking features of
the marvellous Australasian flora.
During the hanging of the pictures in the gallery provided
for them, Miss North was there almost daily, superintending
alterations, painting the doors, the panels in the upper gallery,
or helping Mr. Hemsley in identifying the plants for the cata-
logue which he prepared to accompany the drawings. The
gallery was opened in July, 1882, and shortly afterwards Miss
North began to make arrangements to visit South Africa, Mada-
BIRDS AND BONNETS.
177
gascar, Mauritius, &c. She returned to England in the spring
of 1883, enfeebled by an attack of fever ; but, after a few months’
comparative repose, proceeded to the Seychelles, where she
painted the peculiar palms, screw-pines, and other characteristic
plants. In the meantime she had set the builders to work on a
new wing to the gallery at Kew to receive the new paintings. In
the autumn of 1884 she went to Chili. On her return, in 1885,
Miss North at once commenced hanging the new paintings,
which, including those from South Africa and the Seychelles,
are some two hundred in number.
Every London Selbornian doubtless knows the North Gal-
lery ; we trust that these brief remarks may bring it under
the notice of dwellers in the country, and induce them to make
a point of visiting it when they are next in town. Beautiful as
the drawings are, they are rendered additionally interesting by
the very excellent catalogue prepared by Mr. Hemsley, which
can be purchased in the gallery at a nominal sum.
It may be interesting to give some statistics of the contents
of the gallery. Out of about 200 natural orders of flowering
plants, as limited in Bentham and Hooker’s Genera Planta-
rum, 146 are represented in this collection of paintings, and
the plants depicted belong to no fewer than 727 different genera.
With regard to species, the number actually named is under
goo ; but as specific names have only been given to such as
could be identified with ease or without too great an expendi-
ture of time, this is considerably below the total number
painted. They are included in 848 paintings ; and when we
know that they were all painted between 1872 and 1885, and
that they by no means represent all the painting done during
that period, we can realise to some extent the intense applica-
tion of the artist. Miss North’s rapidity of execution was
as marvellous as her fidelity to nature.
BIRDS AND BONNETS: THE LADIES IN
PARLIAMENT.
So large a number of lady Selbornians have been anxious to speak on this
subject that vve are loath to consign to oblivion the eloquence of our fair con-
tributors, although after the present number we fear we shall be reluctantly
compelled to apply the closure. In the communications that have reached us
there has been a general consensus of opinion in condemnation of the artificial
birds whose use has been advocated by some members of the Selborne Society.
Miss Rosa Little, Baronshalt, Twickenham, puts the arguments against them
in a practical and forcible manner. She says : — “ When I was ordering a hat in
Richmond the other day the milliner said, ‘ Of course you will let me trim it with
Selborne birds?’ I do not know if this is the name by which these birds are
generally known, or whether she coined the name knowing me to be a member of
the Selborne Society; but at any rate she meant by the term ‘Selborne birds,’
to express that they were ‘ made ’ ones, not real. At first sight these ‘ made ’
birds may appear to be a way out of the difficulty so often discussed, as to what
to wear in winter hats and bonnets in place of real birds and wings, but a
moment’s reflection will show, I believe, that these ‘ Selborne birds,’ if considered
i/8
NATURE NOTES.
allowable by Selbornians, will prove to be the thin end of the wedge, will undo
much of the good that the Society has done, and will lead to a far greater de-
struction of small birds for millinery purposes than is, unhappily, the case at
present. I suppose there are very few persons with any taste who would care to
wear a bird so badly made that it is obviously an imitation. If, on the other
hand, the bird is made so like nature as to be mistaken for it (I heard two ladies
arguing the point in the milliner’s shop whether the birds were real or not), one
might just as well wear the real thing so far as example is concerned, unless
indeed the bird could carry a scroll in its mouth with the inscription for all to
read, ‘ I am a Selborne bird ! ’
“ Then there is the danger that people who at first were careful that the birds
worn should be ‘ made ’ ones, would become lax or indifferent. If the fashion
became general would the makers be content to use only the feathers of those
birds which are used as food ? As the demand for ‘ made ’ birds increased the
demand for variety would almost certainly increase also, and birds of brilliant
plumage would be slaughtered and re-‘made’ under the name of ‘Selborne
birds.’ I can hardly understand how anyone with the smallest love for nature and
the beautiful can see anything to admire in a poor little dead bird, or (what is
even worse from a merely aesthetic point of view), a bird made to imitate a dead
one, spread out on the top of a hat or bonnet. To put it on that ground alone,
who would wish to encourage so inartistic a fashion ?
“ When in Paris last winter I was struck by the comparatively small number
of birds and wings shown in the milliners’ windows, and on enquiring the reason
at one of the principal shops in the Rue de la Paix, was told there was very little
demand for them, and that many of the English and Americans belonged to a
Society which was against the wearing of birds and wings. Why cannot the
English and Americans in this country show a like spirit? ”
A. M. H., a member of the Bath Branch, is more intense in her denunciation
of artificial birds. She writes as follows : — “ In reading the letters in last
month’s Nature Notes on birds and bonnets, I am astonished that the writers
of some of them have not seen what a great mistake they are making. By their
ingenious devices to procure sham birds and wings, they are doing almost as
much harm as if they were wearing real ones. They are lending their influence
to promote the very fashion, which, as we are told in the very same issue, it is
one of our objects as members of the Selborne Society to discourage. If we could
label this made-up plumage ‘Sham,’ we should be all right, but the writers of the
letters for the most part congratulate themselves on the impossibility of distinguish-
ing them [the birds, presumably] from real ones. I shall be glad if you will kindly
insert this letter in your next issue, as surely the lady members of the Selborne
Society will be willing to renounce all birds and plumage when they see how they
are promoting a cruel and wicked fashion.”
M.F.L.S.W., Bidboro’, near Tunbridge Wells, condemns the use of artificial
birds, and suggests the following substitutes for Selbornians : —
“ Nothing could be more appropriate and pretty in a hat or bonnet than
berries or flowers of the wintry season. Mountain ash berries, holly, haws, are
all suitable for winter wear, and what can be prettier than the rosy hips when a
good imitation? Then there are the white snowberries, bright elderberries, and
many others, well-known in our gardens. Chrysanthemums of various colours
could well be worn, Christmas roses, snowdrops, and other winter flowers, and if
the milliners were repeatedly asked for such articles not always kept in stock, the
constant demand would result in the perfect manufacture of such novel and pretty
ornaments.”
A lady who is well known for her interest in this matter veils her identity
under the pseudonym of “ Asphodel,” and sends the following
“ Lines by a Person of Quality, written in the days’of Electric Wire,
“ Stiffly spread thy pointed pinions.
Steel-blue swallow, o’er my hat ;
Thou art one of Fashion’s minions —
Not alive — but what of that ? ”
We presume that the advocates of artificial birds would prefer the last line of
SELB0RN1ANA.
179
the first stanza of the “ Song by a Person of Quality, written in the year 1733,”
since it lays down the canon that
“ Nature must give way to Art.”
“Another Lady Milliner (member of the Selborne Society)” entirely dis-
approves of birds, whether real or artificial, as decorations for ladies’ headgear.
She says : — “ I have been quite horrified to see during my visits to the wholesale
houses the myriads of dead birds of all sizes and kinds which are exposed for
sale. The practice seems to be increasing , instead of, as some fondly hoped, on
the wane. In one house a large room was completely filled with little corpses.
Putting all questions of humanity aside, I find the decoration altogether wrong
from an artistic point of view. Birds are in most instances only beautiful when
on the wing ; when distorted and twisted into all kinds of shapes they are some-
times actually ugly, and certainly always out of place. Were a fashionable young
lady to have a live bird perch on her hat she would as likely as not swoon with
fright. I use no birds or wings, but find that feathers of poultry and game and
ostrich feathers make up most charming hats and bonnets.”
We hope we may be pardoned for publishing the fact that the writer of the
foregoing letter is Mrs. Browning, of 39, North Audley Street, who did such
good service for the Selborne Society as Hon. Secretary and Treasurer of the
Branch at Dublin, where she has unfortunately no successor. Mrs. Browning,
who is now, we regret to say, a widow with several young children, has adopted
what has become a fashionable profession — that of lady milliner and dressmaker.
Mrs. Joachim, Miss Buckton, and others of the most active supporters of the
Selborne Society take a great interest in the success of their fellow-member,
and have w ritten to us on the subject. From what we hear from them we would
most cordially recommend all ladies who belong to the Selborne Society to
consult Mrs. Browning on the subject at present under discussion.
Of the other letters on this subject which have reached us we can only print
the following most welcome announcement, which we have received from Miss
Ada Smith, Hon. Secretary of the Wimbledon Branch : — “If you could find room
in November Nature Notes, for the following little paragraph which I have seen
in a newspaper to-day, I think it might have weight, as the example of the
Princess of Wales is of great value. ‘ The use of feather trimming for winter
dresses has been decreed by the magnates of fashion. It is gratifying to know in
connection with this matter that the Princess of Wales has given orders that
nothing need be submitted for her inspection or that of her daughters in which
birds are used as trimming.’ ”
With this cheering “royal message” we’ are reluctantly compelled to finish
the debate, which has evidently had much interest for our lady readers, and for
which we are considerably indebted to that energetic Selbornian, Miss S. P.
Hawes, whose letter in the September number of Nature Notes gave rise
to it.
SELBORNIAN A.
Mr. G-. A. Musgrave on “Selbornian Propaganda.”— In your note
on a recent article on “ Restoration ” I see that you attribute to me, instead of
rightly to Mr. C. Roberts, F.R.C.S., the original introduction of the protection of
objects of antiquarian interest. In the extension of the aims of the Selborne
Society, it has always been necessary to avoid trenching upon the sphere of older
societies having special objects. By degrees it became possible to the Selborne
Society to secure the sympathy of these older societies, and assure them of any
assistance which might be possible through its increase in influential and
numerical strength.
I should like to take this opportunity of pointing out to many of our members,
who do not devote themselves to enlisting other members, that our success
depends mainly on our numerical strength, and on the extent of the area under
our influence. A few members in a village, and, as Lord Wolseley once said to
me, “ in every regiment ” would insure a constant and intelligent (because the
NATURE NOTES.
i So
guardians would be instructed through literature approved by experts in our
Councils) protection of the objects which certain sections of all classes of the
community seem ever willing to destroy. For a few paltry pounds, village greens,
open spaces in towns, commons, pleasant groves, time-honoured trees lovingly
protected by our ancestors through many a troublous time, are handed over to
the tender mercies of that brigand, the jerry builder, who, with his brick-thick
houses and his tinfoil pipes, preying on the savings of the working man, has the
audacity to prate of the improvements wrought by him in his own neighbourhood
— a neighbourhood in which, within the memory of man, country lanes and paths
and real stiles, hedgerows with flower-strewn banks, and trees with live birds in
them, existed and contributed to the wholesome recreation of townspeople.
All we have to do in the Selborne Society is, having good reasons for the
truth that is in us, to strive unceasingly to increase our numerical strength, and
then use it firmly, but with judgment. As long as we can get good volunteer
guardians it does not matter twopence whether they subscribe or not. We want
Selbornites everywhere, ever on the watch, always striving to prevent unnecessary
destruction, and ready to call in the aid of the Society, and through it, other
societies able to accomplish that which a few protestants, however earnest, cannot
succeed in doing.
Now is the time for enlisting subscribers to the Selborne Society for 1891.
The subscriptions will be due on New Year’s Day. Non-subscribers are not
entitled to receive the organ of the Society, therefore it is desirable that full mem-
bers should circulate Nature Notes and other literature published by the
authority of the Society amongst them.
Furze bank, Torquay. George A. MUSGRAVE.
The Bird-Pictures of H. Stacy Marks, R.A. — All lovers of birds —
and what true Selbornian is not fond of birds ? — should visit Mr. Stacy Marks’s
“ poultry show ” — as his exhibition of bird pictures is sometimes irreverently called.
To those who went to the exhibition of last year it will be sufficient to say that
this, as a whole, is in no wise inferior. The popularity of these little pictures is
evinced by the large number of them to which is affixed already the legend
“sold.” The various humorous groups of penguins will be found to be amongst
the popular favourites. The wonderful amount of individual character and ex-
pression that the painter is capable of imparting to his presentments of these
birds must be seen to be believed. One of the best of these is, perhaps, the
picture entitled “ Romeo and Juliet.” The comical figures of the gentle
Romeo below and the tender Juliet on her balcony are delicious in the extreme.
In “The Cut Direct ” the title accurately describes the contemptuous indifference
shown by one of these birds to his fellow. “ A Peace Maker ” depicts a trio of
penguins, the centre figure obviously interposing between the other two in the
interests of peace. Some of the portraits are so wonderfully human in their
expression that they resemble people we all know. One, for instance, purporting
to be an eagle, is a particularly striking likeness of the “ grand old man,” as
characteristic as any Mr. Furniss has given us in the pages of Punch. Whether the
Banksian cockatoo was purposely hung by the side of the old gentleman revelling
in a rare edition on ornithology I know not, but the facial resemblance is very notice-
able. No 96, “ The New Neighbour,” is more highly finished than the majority.
The inquiring attitude of the Adjutant gazing inquisitively at the Cape sea lion,
newly introduced into the neighbouring enclosure, is very provocative of mirth.
The sea lion, rather alarmed, is keeping well out of the reach of the investigating
beak of his neighbour. No. 48, “Pallas’s Sand Grouse” will give those who
have not seen this rave visitor to our shores an opportunity of making his acquain-
tance. As before, Mr. Stacy Marks has painted for us in all their glory, some of
the more brightly coloured of the birds. The skilled artist revels in rendering
these rich-plumaged gems of the air. Take, for example, the vivid colouring of
the red and yellow macaws (primary colours, O South Kensington !) or No. ill
“Heads, Military, Hyacinthine, and Blue and Orange Macaws.” In a most
interesting and racy preface to the catalogue Mr. Stacy Marks, while showing that
he is no rabid sentimentalist, takes occasion to refer to the wholesale destruction
of rare birds caused by the demand for the adornment of ladies’ caps, bonnets and
even dresses.
SELB0RN1ANA .
i S i
The readers of Nature Notes may be glad to know that Mr. Stacy Marks is
an active member of the Selborne Society, and has been instrumental in adding to
our ranks some influential members, amongst the number being Mr. Justice
Denman and Mr. Justice North. A. J. Western.
Guinea Pigs Rampant. — A most amusing “ tempest in a tea-pot ” has been
raging on this subject during the last month. It took its rise in a ludicrous misappre-
hension of a passage in Mrs. Brightwen’s charming book, Wild Nature won by
Kindness , which we are much pleased to hear has attained a very wide circulation.
As everyone who has read the book knows, it does not contain a description of
classes of animals, but a series of charming biographies of individual pets of the
writer. Two guinea pigs, Jamrach and Fluff, are mentioned therein. Under
peculiar circumstances of confinement, Fluff led a most inactive life, and was
about as amusing as a stuffed animal would be. Of him, and him only, Mrs.
Brightwen says : — “ He is the only instance of any animal I ever knew who
seemed to be literally without a single habit, apparently without affection, without
a temper, good or bad, with no wishes or desires except to be let alone to doze
away his aimless life.” This sentence (with its proper limitation to the individual
Fluff) we quoted last month in a review of Wild Nature in Nature Notes.
This review had the honour of being made the basis of one of the delightful
paragraphs in the Daily News which are so dear to Nature lovers. The D. N. para-
grapher clothed its dry bones with flesh and breathed into it his own spirit ; but in the
process possibly some of the precision of the original was lost, and the imperfections
of the unfortunate Fluff seemed to careless readers as if they were set down as the
badge of all his tribe. At any rate at once the din of war arose on all sides ; letters
poured in from outraged “ guinea-piggers,” who fiercely protested that cavies in
general had been grossly libelled. For many days members of the National Cavy
Club inundated the columns of the Daily News and other papers with details of their
pets. Many striking instances were given of their qualities, which assuredly prove
that they have habits — some of them most unpleasant habits ; they are not without
temper — for the tempers of many of them are horribly bad. On the authority of a
leading Cavian, we ar assured that “ they will fight tooth and nail with their dearest
friend ; they will take a piece out of your finger without the slightest provocation.”
Of a guinea pig with the innocent name of “ Babe ” it is asserted that she will “bite
you sharply and spring up into the air with a comical twist of her little body and
loud squeaks.” A Rugby Schoolboy hastens to announce that he possesses a
guinea pig who can when necessary “ make a delightful noise after the manner of
the cat !” None of these statements appear to us to go very far in the rehabili-
tation of the guinea pig as an amiable member of society, but even if it could be
proved that be was possessed of the highest intellect and all the virtues under
heaven, it would have nothing whatever to do with Mrs. Brightwen’s statement.
She had two guinea pigs ; one of them happened to be an extremely dull and un-
interesting little beast, and Mrs. Brightwen, with her usual candour, mentions
the fact. The construing of this statement into an “ attack upon guinea pigs ” is
one of the most absurd misapplications of ex uno disce omnes we have ever heard.
Just imagine what results this mode of argument would lead to if acted upon in
other cases. In one of Mr. Black’s novels there is represented a rollicking
Scotchman who has the greatest objection to be paid for his pictures, and who,
when the money is forced upon him, displays quite a profligate anxiety to lend it
to others. In the same book there is a calm, philosophical, water-drinking Irish-
man, who cultivates literature on a little oatmeal, and spurns with disdain the
offer of a loan from the aforesaid Scotchman. We have never heard that Mr.
Black has been violently attacked for his misrepresentation of national character,
or has been persecuted with indignant letters assuring him that there were other
Irishmen and other Scotchmen who did not answer to the description given in
his book. To take a humbler instance : did it happen (we are of course per-
fectly certain it never could happen) that some one member of the National
Guinea Pig Association had fallen so far below the N. G. P. A.’s standard of
propriety as to eat peas with his knife or to pull his mother-in-law’s nose, can we
suppose that all the other members of the Association would consider it their
duty to write letters to the paper immediately to assert that they understood
the use of their forks, and that their mother-in-laws’ noses were still intact?
1 82
NATURE NOTES.
But it is perhaps hardly fair to jest upon a subject of such national importance as
guinea pigs, and to speak lightly of a correspondence which conveys so serious a
moral. The moral is that before rushing wildly into print to repel imaginary
attacks it would be well to ascertain whether the attacks had ever been made.
We do not grudge the members of the N. G. P. A. the gratuitous advertise-
ment which they have manufactured for themselves ; but we think the least
they can do now is to procure Mrs. Brightwen’s book, to read what is written
therein (which they plainly have not done hitherto), and thus see for themselves
how absolutely without foundation is the charge by which they have gained a
brief notoriety. As it is evident that they have not learned to look before they
leap, we trust that before they enter into any similar causeless crusades they will
remember a word of warning, which might well be the motto of their society —
“ Cave.” The Writer of the Review in Nature Notes.
Sea and Sky Signs. — We congratulate all lovers of Nature on the action
of the London County Council in the matter of sky signs. It will doubtless lead
to early legislation for the suppression of these horrors. Miss Agnes Martelli
sends us a quotation which shows to what dire results sky signs may lead from
utilitarian, as well as aesthetic point of view : “ The terrible danger of these
structures in case of fire is apparent, and it is easy to imagine how the horrors of
the fire of a day or two ago would have been increased had a tottering, swaying
sky-sign threatened at any moment to crash down among victims and rescuers.
The likelihood of lightning being attracted by their many angles is another very
obvious peril, while their staunchest defenders — the makers and inventors — have
not ventured to deny in the least degree the supreme hideousness of the cum-
brous constructions.” Miss Martelli also calls our attention to an equal, if not
greater, abomination — the signs which are now displayed upon the sails of many
fishing and pleasure boats, and so make the ocean, instead of a thing of beauty
to the dwellers at our watering places, a hideous remembrancer of all the ills that
flesh is heir to, by bearing on its bosom innumerable advertisements of quack
medicines. Miss Martelli sends us an amusing correspondence from the Times
newspaper, between Mr. Arthur Severn, the well-known painter, and Mr. Beecham,
the far too well-known purveyor of patent pills. From it we extract the following
pathetic appeal from Mr. Severn : — “ Nature belongs to me quite as much as to
Mr. Beecham — indeed, more to me, as I am a painter of nature. A sail (as every
one knows) is one of the most beautiful objects the eye can rest on, especially that
of the dear old fishing boat. How am I, or any other artist, to tell its story, its
vvonderful story, of trial and strength and colour, if Mr. Beecham insists on
telling his ugly story of suggested stomach ache and pills ? If the nuisance of
this kind of advertisement is not stopped, there is no saying where it will end.
Nothing will be sacred ; our rocks, our houses, our streets, our sky — all are being
spoiled ; and soon, I suppose, a way will be found to advertise on the clouds !
Then, indeed, my occupation as a sunset painter will be gone, and my children
perhaps crying out for bread. ”
Cheddar Cliffs. — If Miss Dangar, or any other member of the Selborne
Society, would care to see commercial enterprise triumphant, I should advise a
visit to that stretch of the Wye known as the Long Reach, about a mile above
Chepstow Castle. The left bank of the river is here formed by a lofty range of
gray limestone cliffs, from the base of which a steep wood formerly sloped down to
the water’s edge. The rocks were once the home of the buzzard, the raven, and the
kestrel, and the wood gave shelter to numerous plants, including such rarities as
Geranium sanguineum, Sedum ru pest re and Carex digi/ala. A secluded path used
by the boatmen, and hence called the Fisherman’s Walk, led through the wood to
the church of the tiny parish of Llancant, where Sunday evening service was still
held in summer till about twenty years since. This wood has now almost entirely
disappeared under the hands of the same agent of civilization, whose advent at
Cheddar is apprehended — the quarryman. I may add that the artist will find a
pleasing contrast of colour between the uncompromising reds of the recent
excavations, and the sombre grays of the untouched cliff above them.
Westward Ho, Devon. II. A. Evans.
[We have been informed that “ E. U. S.-W.,” whose letter on the above sub-
ject we quoted last month, is a constant reader of this magazine. It is all the
OFFICIAL NOTICES , &c.
183
more wonderful that he was unaware that the Selborne Society “included the
preservation of beautiful scenery among their other efforts.” If in future he will
address any complaints on the subject to the Editorial Department of Nature
Notes, we can promise that his views will be fully ventilated. It was only by
chance that we heard from Miss Dangar of his letter to the Globe last month. The
matter was, as we promised, laid before the Council of the Selborne Society at its
last meeting, and has been taken up by the Bath branch. See next page.]
A Correction. — We find that the name in the paragraph, “ Imitations of
the Notes of Birds” last month, which we read as “ Blanche Pechele ” was that
of Mrs. Ilervey Pechell, a member of the Rape of Lewes Branch.
WORK OF BRANCHES, OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c.
The object of the Selborne Society is to unite lovers of Nature for common
study and the defence of natural objects (birds, plants, beautiful landscapes, &c.)
against the destruction by which they are constantly menaced. The minimum
Annual Subscription (which entitles the subscriber to a monthly copy of the
Society’s Magazine) is 2s. 6d. All particulars as to membership may be obtained
from the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
The List of Branches given in the last number of Nature Notes shows how
widespread are the ramifications of the Selborne Society, but shows also how
many districts are, as yet, without organisation. We have since received, as the
result of the appeal for new organisers and secretaries, some kind offers from
volunteers, which will be laid before the Council, and in most cases, no doubt,
gladly accepted.
It is the earnest desire of the Council that the Branches should be
represented at its meetings, and that they should communicate accounts of the
work which is going on in many quarters, for insertion in the Society’s organ.
It would be of immense advantage to the Selbornian cause if many of our
Branches would imitate the example of the Rev. Herbert Bull, of the South-
ampton and New Forest Branch. When kindly sending us an account of the
combined concert and lecture arranged by him, he says, “ It was a parochial
affair and the audience were Milford people only, but we hope to extend the
‘ Plan of Campaign’ to other villages in the district comprised by our Branch.”
We heartily wish Mr. Bull’s “ Plan ” every success, and hope that it may be
carried out in hundreds of parishes, and that many other clergymen in various
counties may be found to follow the example of those at Milford, who ate plainly
animated by the same enthusiastic love of Nature which was apparent in the
Plampshire worthies, Gilbert White, Keble, and Gilpin.
The meeting was admirably reported both in the Lymington Chronicle and
Hampshire Independent. From these papers we condense the following account, a
much fuller one than could usually be given in Nature Notes, as it may be
useful for those who wish to set about similar undertakings : —
“ A concert was given at Milford on Thursday, October 30th, in connection
with the local branch of the Selborne Society. The schoolroom was crowded
some time before the hour announced for the commencement, and among the
audience were Rev. H. M. Wilkinson, Vicar (in the chair), Mrs. Wilkinson,
Lady Ann Cosserat, Colonel Jenr.ins, Rev. H. Bull, the Rev. A. R. Miles, and
large parties from Mrs. Banks’ school and the Rev. R. B. Matson s. Between
the two parts a very interesting and practical address was given by the Rev. A.
R. Miles. He commenced by speaking of the special claim which the Selborne
Society had upon this county of Hants, for amongst Hampshire names we reckon
Gilbert White, of Selborne, from whose village the Society takes its name ;
Gilpin, of Boldre, the author of Forest Scenery ; Keble, whose sacred poems are
so full of beautiful illustrations from natural objects, and whose work at Hursley is
so well known. All these three were, like the lecturer himself, in Holy Orders.
With such names as patterns this county ought to strive to keep up a reputation
for the love of nature. It seemed a disgrace to civilisation that such a Society
184
NATURE NOTES.
should be needed, but civilisation is a great factor in the work of destruction con-
tinually going on. ‘ Civilisation ’ was doing away with many rare plants and
animals. Great harm had been done even in that neighbourhood, and the
Selborne Society wanted to preserve such objects not for the few, but for the
many. The late Mr. Wise in writing his history of the New Forest was assisted
by the Rev. H. M. Wilkinson. The book was published about 1862, and since
then the peregrine falcon, then not uncommon, had become scarce. This w'as
only an instance of how birds then common had now become uncommon. The
honey buzzard was getting very scarce. The British public was always offering a
great deal for rare birds’ eggs, and he was afraid that the temptation put in the way
of the Forest keepers to make money easily that way w'as sometimes too strong
for them. The common buzzard was also now scarce. The kingfisher used to be
frequently found at Queen’s Bower, but was now seldom seen. The British public
had invaded that part of the Forest, and possibly that had something to do with
it. The osprey and the heron wrere less frequently seen. We should all do
what we could to prevent them becoming rarer.
“ With regard to the preservation of old buildings, ruins, &c., there were many
interesting places in the neighbourhood well deserving of the attention of every
Selbornian, notably Christchurch Priory, Beaulieu, Netley, and Romsey Abbeys.
So far as concerned Beaulieu Abbey, that is in good hands, for the owner, Lord
Montagu, is the President of the Selborne Society in this district. But no one
can tell when such places may change hands or be threatened with destruction.
Should such an event come to pass the Selborne Society must be up and doing.”
Judging from the account given in the local papers the large audience was
most enthusiastic in its applause of the speakers and of an excellent musical enter-
tainment. We commend this account to the notice of the very large number of
clergymenjwho are members of the Selborne Society. They will find that such meet-
ings will not only further a good cause, but afford pleasure and instruction to their
parishioners. In connection with this subject, we would warmly recommend to
our readers the important letter of Mr. Musgrave in another column on “The
Selbornian Propaganda.”
From Bath we often receive interesting communications. It is one of the
oldest, most active, and influential of the Branches of the Selborne Society, which
always heartily co-operates with the Central Council in any good work that has to
be done. A resolution of that Branch has recently been received expressing its
entire concurrence with, and approval of, the action taken by the Council with
regard to what has come to be known as the “Grassholm outrage.” At the last
meeting of the Council the question of the devastation of Cheddar Cliffs was, on
the principle of devolution, relegated to the Bath Branch, as being most capable
of bringing local influence to bear on the matter. Mr. Wheatcroft, the Hon.
Secretary, has already taken the matter up, and we have no doubt that every
thing that it is possible to do in such a difficult matter will be done.
We may state here that we have received copies of the Bath Chromde, con-
taining the first of a series of papers on “ Ornithology in connection with Agricul-
ture and Horticulture,” by C. Parkinson, F. G.S. The idea is a good one, and
the present specimen on “Hawks and Falcons” is most interesting to Sel-
bornians, and well shows the utter folly of gamekeepers in their destruction of
the kestrel hawk.
We frequently receive applications concerning back numbers of the Selborne
Magazine ; in many cases we have been able to supply our correspondents with
the numbers required, but have not been able to secure a copy for January, 1888,
which is asked for by Dr. Evans, Treasurer of the Royal Society. Perhaps some
of our readers may be able to help in this matter. It may be useful to state that
Miss A. M. Buckton, Weycombe, Haslemere, has for sale two complete copies
of the volume for 18S9, and one copy each of February, September, and
November, in the same year.
It is particularly requested that subscriptions and letters bearing on the general
business of the Society should not be forwarded to the Editors, but to the Secretary
of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi. Editorial communications
should be addressed to the Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, \\ .
(Rat ute IRotes:
Ube Selbome Society’s flbaga3tne
No. 12. DECEMBER 15, 1890. Vol. I.
THOREAU.
HOREAU has been derided as a man of affectations,
and egregious egotism. Certainly some of his acts and
words suggest the poseur. A man who sets up as
hermit less than two miles from his native town, and
near a highway, who aggressively declares his personal relations
with Nature to be of more interest than his relations with human
society, is liable to the charge of playing for effect.
He was, however, in the main lines of his conduct, of singular
sincerity. Incidentally (by self-confession an uncurbed lover of
paradox) it may be allowed it pleased him to make people
stare. As for his egotism, it must be remembered that the only
certainty which a transcendentalist recognises is “ the ego.”
Henry David Thoreau was born at Concord, Massachusetts,,
in 1817. He was of mixed French, Scotch, and English an-
cestry. His father was a pencil maker. He himself learned
how to make pencils, and after his father’s death carried on
the business in a fashion. He also practised surveying. But
his attention to business was occasional only. He, early in life,
definitely decided that Nature was the mistress he must serve,
and as a few peas and beans and water sufficed his bodily
desires, his mistress had little cause for jealousy. Thoreau
maintained that six weeks’ labour produced enough for a year’s
need.
He habitually avoided the society of his fellow-men and was
under little obligation to others for his intellectual equipment.
To this, however, an (exception, and it is a large one), must be
made. He and Emerson were great friends, and the seed of Emer-
son’s sowing fell on friendly soil. For sometime in his earlier man-
hood he lived in Emerson’s house. During this visit Emerson wrote
to Carlyle : “ Henry Thoreau is full of melodies and inventions.”
is 6
NATURE NOTES.
By some curious process the pupil unconsciously acquired the
manners and tone of voice of his master. But Emerson’s main
influence was in waking the hidden fires of Thoreau's own deep
and self-sufficient nature. Emerson was in turn himself im-
pressed, for we are told that “he delighted in being led to the
very inner shrines of the wood god by this man, clear-eyed and
true, and stern enough to be trusted with their secrets.” Then
was the time of the New England transcendentalists. Thoreau
hated systems and the labelling of men, but in the essential
principles of transcendentalism — the inward guiding light and the
spiritual symbolism of natural phenomena — was his faith fixed :
“ I hear beyond the range of sound,
I see beyond the range of sight,”
he sings. The practical teaching of the transcendentalists was
simplicity of life, and that each should think for himself and labour
with his own hands ; the political teaching, the exaltation
of the individual and depression of the state in its controlling
power.
Thoreau loved the country round Concord, and believed that
it contained all of wild life sufficient for the interpretation of
nature. So Richard Jefferies believed of Wiltshire. The Con-
cord district was an epitome of nature’s presentments, and
Thoreau’s desires stretched no further. Once he went to Canada.
This was his grand tour.
The experiment of seclusion at Walden pond was made in
1845. His purpose was “ to front only the essential facts of life.
To reduce it to its lowest terms, and if it proved to be mean,
why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it and
publish its meanness to the world, or if it were sublime to know
it by experience.” It will be observed that the relationship of
man to man was an irrelevant factor in forming a true estimate
of the value of life.
So he built his hut by Walden pond, sowed his beans (hoed
them too), and let his “ consciousness ” ferment. Every morning
he bathed. He cultivated about two-and-a-half acres, and “ when
my hoe tinkled against the stones that music echoed to the woods
and the sky, and was an accompaniment to my labour which
yielded an instant and immeasurable crop.”
He took long walks in all weathers, and in the deep snow
would “keep an appointment” with a birch tree ten miles off.
But some days he devoted entirely to contemplation, when he
could not afford “ to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment
to any work whether of the head or hands.” He rvould then
sit in his doorway rapt in reverie. At such times he said
(contesting the charge of idleness) that he “ grew like corn in
the night.”
His food was almost strictly vegetarian, his drink water, nor
■did he use tobacco. “ Simplify, simplify,” was his cry. His
motive, however, was not ascetic, not to mortify the flesh, but
T MORE A U.
1 87
to improve and sharpen the senses. His keenest pleasures were
sensuous, and his faculties of sight, smell and touch abnormally
acute. But there was a deeper meaning in sensuous perception.
“ I have been thrilled to think that I owed a mental perception
to the commonly gross sense of taste, that I have been inspired
through the palate, that some berries which I had eaten on a
hillside had fed my g°nius.”
Thoreau’s life at Walden was not strictly secluded. He re-
ceived a few visitors and sometimes went to Concord to get a
little work. Of misanthropy he made no profession, though he
“ never found the companion that was so companionable as soli-
tude.” His hut was supposed to be a station on “ the great under
ground railway ” for runaway slaves. The only political question
which stirred him was abolitionism. After two years of hermit
life Thoreau believed that its purpose was satisfied. He was no
longer a “ parcel of vain strivings,” but had evolved a theory that
life is not a hardship but a pastime if one lives simply, and that
life it was which gave him content. The chief points in this
theory were that the maintenance of life to advance in the direction
of one’s dreams brings peace.
His love of nature was absorbing. In wildness he saw the
preservation of the world. His power over animals seemed
magical, and only matched by that of St. Francis of Assisi. He
did not regard animals as aliens, but as possessing “ the character
and importance of another order of men.” Human sympathy
and innocence many animals readily perceive, presumably from
minute characteristics of behaviour, and for this reason, per-
haps, his presence was not disturbing. Thoreau also knew how
to sit still. Birds, reptiles, and fish would transact their busi-
ness round him. One of his most surprising feats was to thrust
his hand in the water and bring up fish, which lay placidly there-
in. His hermitage was inhabited by birds, squirrels, hares and
moles. Snakes coiled round his leg. Often he rescued and
protected foxes from the hunt.
His fascination over children (probably for the same reasons)
was as complete as over -wild animals, and one of his great de-
lights was to lead a band of boys and girls to pick huckleberries.
A boy who stumbles and scatters his fruit he consoles by the
explanation that nature provides such losses for next year’s
crop.
His view of nature -was optimistic. Everything is working
to some wise and gracious end. Joy is the condition of life.
No man living in the midst of nature with average senses should
be melancholy. “ Nothing can rightly compel a simple and
brave man to a vulgar sadness. While I enjoy the friendship
of the seasons I trust that nothing can make life a burden to
me.” Each individual should develop in his own place and
under the natural conditions of that place. “ I think nothing is
to be hoped from you,” he says, “ if this bit of mould under
your feet is not sweeter to you than any other in this world or
in any world.”
i8S
NATURE NOTES.
Of Thoreau’s writings, “ Walden,” is perhaps the most
interesting. But all his writings, and the story of the manner of
his life, however great dissent from his doctrines may be, have a
deep psychological interest.
His life was short. The Poet-Naturalist died in his forty-
fifth spring.
I would end with these words of his: “ I think the most
important requisite in describing an animal is to be sure that
3'ou give its character and spirit, for in that you have, without
error, the sum and effect of all its parts known and unknown.”
J. L. Otter.
A VILLAGE NATURALIST.*
In Memoriam : William Greenip ( rural postman ), a close observer of
Nature : obiit November ist, at Keswickl\
God sometimes fills a poor man’s patient heart
With His own reverent love and constant care
For all the things He hath created fair, —
Birds, flowers, the wings that fly, the fins that dart, — -
And therewithal by Nature’s winsome art
Leads him to heights of philosophic air
Where clamour dies, Heaven’s ether is so rare,
And bids him walk with gentleness apart.
F'riend ! such wert thou : the Newlands valley dew,
The star o’er Grisedale’s purple head that shone,
Were not more silent, but each stream and glade,
Each bird that flashed, all dusky moths that flew,
All flowers, held commune with thee. Thou art gone :
And Nature mourns the tender heart she made.
H. D. Rawnsley.
THE PRESERVATION AND ENJOYMENT OF
OPEN SPACES.
(Continued from p. 174.)
ERE is a branch of the open space movement which
still remains to be noticed. It has been well remarked
that footpaths convert all rural England into one great
open space. It is not surprising then that the Commons
Preservation Society, at a recent meeting, formally determined
to bring footpaths within the scope of its work. After carefully
* Although the following has already appeared in the Spectator of November
15th, we reprint it in our columns by kind permission of the author, a well-known
Selbornian.
PRESERVATION OF OPEN SPACES. 189
considering the law on the subject, and the points in which it
may advantageously be amended, it has drafted a Bill which
will no doubt, sooner or later, furnish matter for discussion in the
House of Commons. The main object in view is to emphasize
the duty of local authorities to put the law in motion wherever
a footpath, reputed to be a public way, is shut up or obstructed.
At present the duty usually falls upon individuals, and as the
existence of a public right of way depends mainly upon the
extent and nature of its use, in case of litigation many witnesses
must be called, and the expenses are considerable. There are
moreover one or two highly technical doctrines on the subject
of footpaths which are often abused to the public detriment,
and which the Society seek to abrogate. Hitherto, however,
it has been found that more is done for the protection of public
rights by quietly enforcing the law as it is, and thus educating
public opinion, than by new legislation ; and perhaps the most
important advance in the protection of footpaths is that which
was first suggested by the Kyrle Society. A local society is
formed, the ordnance maps of the districts are obtained, and
every footpath is carefully walked and examined, and its course
traced on the map, while a record is made of the state of the
path and the character of the gates and stiles. Application is
then made to the local authority to restore stiles and put up
guide-posts, and generally to assist the public in the assertion of
its rights of way. A very good example of such a society is the
Northern Heights Footpath Association, which has its head-
quarters at Hampstead and meets at the house of Mr. Edmund
Maurice. Without being driven to actual litigation in a single
instance, the Association has restored to the public many paths
which were rapidly falling into disuse, and the series of maps
which it will shortly publish will probably induce at the same
time both a larger use and a more vigilant guardianship of the
rural ways of the neighbourhood.
I should not omit to say that there is a National Foot-path
Preservation Society, which like the Commons Preservation
Society, gives advice and aid in the protection of footpaths. I
am not personally acquainted with the nature of its work,
which, however, has been already described in the June number
of Nature Notes.
Closely akin to foot-paths in the pleasure they afford to the
wayfarer, are the green strips by the road-side, still happily
common in rural England. In many places these have been
inclosed through a spirit of greed on the side of the landlord,
and through ignorance and supineness on the part of the public.
As a rule the right of way of the public extends from hedge to
hedge, and though certain summary remedies against encroach-
ment apply only to the distance of fifteen feet from the crown of
the road, any inclosure or obstruction on the green sward by the
side is unlawful, and may be prevented by the proper legal pro-
cedure. There have been some notable cases in which this
190
NATURE NOTES.
area has been enforced — c.g., on the great road near Ascot, and
cn the road from Southampton to Salisbury in the neighbour-
hood of the New Forest. It is, however, desirable to simplify
the procedure and to put roadside strips, so far as obstructions
are concerned, on the same footing as metalled roads. This
object the Commons Preservation Society hope to attain by
legislation at the first convenient opportunhy.
In towns the equivalent of the wayside strip is a line of
trees edging the street, and a movement, fostered by all the
Open Space Societies and headed by Mr. Shaw Lefevre, has
recently taken shape to supply London with suitable boulevards.
A means of doing this exists in the rule that in a metropolitan
thoroughfare no projection beyond the general line of buildings
can take place without the consent of the London County
Council. The Metropolitan Board carelessly threw away this
great power of improving London, and allowed one-storey shops
to be run out in many places. The County Council are not
likely thus to betray their trust. The front courts or gardens
between the house line and the road being valueless property,
could at a trifling expense be acquired for the public and con-
verted into avenues and tree-planted side-ways. A committee
to further such a treatment of the great thoroughfares of the Pen-
tonville, Euston and Marylebone Roads has lately been formed.
Another movement of a different kind has arisen during
the last year. Those working amongst the poor have been
struck by the lack of cricket and football grounds, and the conse-
quent difficulty of popularising healthy outdoor games amongst
the wage-earning population of London. Captain John Sinclair,
of the County Council, has with great perseverance and tact
got together a representative body under the name of the London
Playing Fields Committee, and much information as to the
demand for, and supply of, playing fieldshas been collected. So
far as the Committee succeed merely in forming cricket grounds
on existing open spaces, the Open Space Societies have little
direct interest in the matter — indeed it may be their duty to
oppose an excessive application of such a treatment ; but as a
new argument for the necessity of ample open spaces round
London the movement may be warmly welcomed.
At the extreme opposite wing of the army marches the
Selborne Society. That it is warmly interested in the preserva-
tion of open spaces it would be waste of time to prove ; the
movement for saving Sudbrook Park from the builder originated
in the Lower Thames Valley Branch of the Selborne Society.
But it views open spaces less as affording means of exercise and
as reservoirs of fresh air than as store-houses of natural beauty.
Its object is to prevent the disappearance of wild nature before
the drill-sergeant of tillage and building. An open common,
where the very grouping of furze, turf and heather is the uncon-
scious work of centuries of use, a wild wood where natural forces
are allowed undisturbed sway, even a great park where tree-
A VISIT TO LAKELAND .
191
forms may be studied in unrestrained development, is a bit of
nature which the Selborne Society would preserve, as it would
preserve a rare fern or a bird visitor to our shores. It is entirely
at one, therefore, with the Open Space Societies in such work
as the exclusion of railways from the Lake District, the protec-
tion of the New Forest, and the guardianship of foot-paths and
roadside strips. Each of the Societies we have named — the
Commons Preservation Society, the Kyrle Society, the Metro-
politan Gardens Association and the Selborne Society — is an
expression of the need of man to be in touch with nature, and it is
a striking testimony to the reality of that need that it should
have expressed itself in so many different forms. It would
perhaps be a mistake to sink the individuality of each agency in
the attempt to produce one large and powerful body. But there
can be no doubt that constant intercourse between the several
Societies would be most beneficial, and Nature Notes might
perhaps be made the means of communication. Every
“ interest ” now-a-days has its organ in the Press. The Open
Space Societies have hitherto relied on the popularity of their
work to command sufficient attention from the general news-
paper. They have not been disappointed. But it is worth
consideration, whether there should not be something like an
official record of the progress made in the work of preserving
open spaces and natural objects, now that that work has so many
branches. Not only would such a publication chronicle results,
but it would afford a convenient means of discussing and further-
ing new projects. Robert Hunter.
Note. — In the foregoing paper my design has been to give a general view of
the movement for securing to the public the enjoyment of open spaces and natural
beauty, and I have naturally only alluded to societies which have worked on
national or, at least, Metropolitan lines. I am far, however, from under-rating
the valuable work of local societies ; in some cases the central bodies have acted
as the advisers, in others as the allies, of such societies. Foremost among them
may be mentioned two societies formed to protect the New Forest : one consisting
entirely of land-owners and commoners, the other of wider scope more recently
founded by Mr. Auberon Herbert. Of equal importance is the Lake District
Defence Society, which has played an important part in saving the mountains and
valleys dear to poets and painters from profanation at the hands of railway
promotors and other speculators. Then, in former days the Wimbledon Common
Committee and the Hampstead Heath Committee, and more recently the Heath
Extension Committee and the Banstead Common Committee, have raised large
funds and fought hard fights ; and many other committees formed to protect
particular commons might be named. Local effort is essential to the protection
of open spaces, and local effort is seldom of much value unless it takes the definite
shape of a society or committee. — R.IL
A VISIT TO LAKELAND.
S I have recently spent seven weeks in the English
Lake District, it has occurred to me that Selbornians
may be interested in hearing the result of my observa-
tion as to plant destruction in the portions of Lakeland
which I visited. I may mention that I divided my visits into
192
NATURE NOTES.
three periods, spending a little over' a fortnight at Ambleside,
Keswick and Glen Ridding (Ullswater), respectively.
I had heard a great deal about fern destruction in the Lake
Country, and had been led to believe that I should have great
difficulty in finding anything like rare plants in the neighbour-
hood of the ordinary tourist routes. As upwards of twenty
years had passed since my former visit to the district, I provided
myself with Mr. Baker’s admirable Flora, and determined to see
for myself whether some of the rare plants were to be found at
the stations mentioned in the Flora. I am pleased to be able to
say that I found nearly every plant I sought for in the locality
indicated by Mr. Baker. It must be admitted that this affords
tolerable evidence that no very serious amount of plant de-
struction has been going on since the date of publication, 1885.
I believe it is the ferns only that have suffered in any appreciable
degree, and that the fern destroyers are chiefly the fern dealers.
It is the rarer species, such as the Flowering Fern ( Osmunds
regalis L.), and the Forked Spleenwort ( Asplcnium septentrionale
Hull), that are most preyed upon. I found two favourite lake
ferns, the Oak Fern ( Polypodium Dryoptcris, L.), and the Beech
Fern ( Polypodium Phegoptcris, L.), in tolerable plenty, the Parsley
Fern ( Allosorus crispus, Bernh) in abundance. I also found that
lovely little Filmy Fern ( Hymenophyllum Wilsoni, Hook.), in, at
least, half-a-dozen localities. I happened to be at Ambleside
on the August Bank Holiday, when some three or four thousand
“ excursionists ” visited that easily accessible town. I observed
these “excursionists” closely; I am pleased to be able to record
the fact that I saw no plant destroyers amongst them.
I made a point of paying a visit to “Stock Ghyll” (the
favourite resort of excursionists) on the following day. I found
that graceful little plant, the Wild Balsam ( Impatiens Noli-me-
tangere, L.), and the White Foxglove or Giant Bell-flower
(i Campanula latifolia, L.), growing within a few yards of the
path the tourists must have trodden to get a view of the Stock
Ghyll Force, in full bloom and apparently unmolested. I have
often heard that there are many plant lovers among the artisans
of Lancashire. Perhaps this may in some way account for
their conduct towards the Lake Flora on this Bank holiday, for
doubtless the majority of these “excursionists” hailed from
Lancashire. Be this as it may, for one fact, and that alone, I
can vouch, which is that very little, if any, plant destruction
took place at Ambleside on the day named. I think you will
agree with me that the facts I have related are encouraging, and
that Selbornians may take heart and persevere with the good
work they have begun. One word as to the “ trade” of the fern
dealer. A friend, who resides in the neighbourhood of Winder-
mere, informed me that the fern dealer's business is not nearly so
“ brisk ” as it was a few years ago, and that some are even lament-
ing over the fact that their occupation is fast going. Has the
Selborne Society had anything to do with this ? This is a
PUGNACITY IN MALE BIRDS.
193
question which naturally arises. I have no data upon which to
found an answer. I shall be delighted to receive one from some
one who resides in the Lake District.
Before I close this rather lengthy letter, I feel that I must
inform such of our members as are not acquainted with the fact,
that, thanks mainly to the exertions of two of our members, Miss
Frances Power Cobbe, and the Rev. H. D. Rawnsley, a memorial
is about to be (perhaps by this time has been) erected on Helvel-
lyn, to the memory of that faithful dog, “ a sort oiyallar tarrier ,”
as I heard him described in Lakeland language, who guarded
his master’s body for some three months after the life had passed
out of it, owing to a fall from one of the Helvellyn cliffs. The
following quotation from Wordsworth’s poem, “ Fidelity,” will
best recall the incident to the minds of your readers : —
“ But hear a wonder, for whose sake,
This lamentable tale I tell !
A lasting monument of words
This wonder merits well.
The dog, which still was hovering nigh,
Repeating the same timid cry,
This dog had been through three months’ space
A dweller in that savage place.
“Yes, proof was plain that since the day
On which the traveller thus had died,
The dog had watched about the spot,
Or by his master’s side :
How nourished here through such long time
He knows Who gave that love sublime,
And gave that strength of feeling great
Above all human estimate.”
W. G. Wheatcroft.
Bath, lyth Novembey, 1890.
PUGNACITY IN MALE BIRDS.
IjprOTTfl N “Darwinism” Dr. Wallace pronounces against that
jKJ branch of Darwin’s theory of sexual selection which
gSgl depends upon tire display of decorative plumage by
' 1 the males and the choice of the most beautiful by the
females. The display by the males is undoubted, as all ob-
servers will testify. That of the goldfinch is a good typical ex-
ample, and I believe that it is customary with most of the species
of our birds whose males are differently coloured to the females.
And where the colours are alike in both sexes the display is
often of the vocal accomplishments of the male, which might
afford a field for choice. But if sexual selection depends pri-
marily upon the struggles of the males, there is, as Dr. Wallace
shows, very little room for the theory of choice by the females.
194
NATURE NOTES.
I am sorry that this theory should have to be relegated to the
background, for it is a very pretty theory and appeals to our
civilized human nature. But it is undoubtedly true that all
the male birds, whether polygamous or not, fight when occasion
arises, and the strongest wins.
As one of the many instances which I have observed of this
fighting between otherwise gentle and peaceable birds, I will
give a short description from my note-book of a disgraceful
scene I Avitnessed between tAvo males of our smallest British
bird : —
“April 15th, 1889. — I have just been Avatching two golden-
crested A\Tens fighting. They first attracted my attention
by getting up from the ground almost under my feet, and
engaging again and falling to the ground. Then rising again
one chased the other into a yeAV tree near, where I had a good
close view of them as they challenged each other, ruffling their
feathers, shaking their bodies, singing and dancing about Avith
crests erected, the sun shining on the orange-coloured crests —
such a pretty sight. After they had been talking big at each
other for some minutes the hen arrived on the scene, and a
desperate fight ensued, the tA\ro cocks falling to the ground in
fierce embrace, rolling ewer each other occasionally, but for the
most part lying still on the ground with their clawrs buried in
each other’s feathers for about a minute.
“The hen Avas close by them on the ground, mewing about
and looking very much concerned at the affray. Her pale yelloAV
crest contrasted notably with the rich orange of the males.
After getting up, reneAving the combat in a currant bush, falling
again and struggling on the ground, they rose and had a chase
round the yew trees, the hen folloAving to see the fun, and
presently Avent off and were lost to AueAV.”
Aubrey Edwards.
THE BOOKS OF RICHARD JEFFERIES.
The re-issue in cheaper form of Mr. Richard Jefferies’ works will introduce
them to a fresh class of readers, and in this way will tend to the spread of
the principles which animate the Selborne Society. 'NYe are glad, there-
fore, to call attention to the most recent additions to the series — not with
any intention of noticing them at the length to which they would be entitled
if new, but to remind our readers of their existence and to suggest their
suitability for Christmas-boxes. This is especially the case with Bevis : The
Story of a Boy , of which Messrs. Sampson, Low & Co. have issued a hand-
some illustrated edition in one volume. It is just the book for an intelligent
country lad, or for boys who, although living in towns, have nevertheless strong
country sympathies. The adventures of Bevis and his companion are not, in-
deed, of the kind usually clear to the writer and reader of “boys’ books”;
but they are not on that account less interesting— indeed, we think the possibility
and vraisemblancc will in many cases render them additionally attractive. Readers
of Mark Twain will be reminded from time to time of the adventures of Tom
CHILDREN’S COLUMN.
195
Sawyer and Huck Finn ; and, although the experiences of Bevis and Mark
are less broadly comic, they are nevertheless not wanting in quiet humour.
Messrs. Longmans have done well to bring out at a moderate price these
essays — the last we shall ever have from his pen — of Richard Jefferies.* It is un-
necessary to describe or criticise them : they differ in no respect, save perhaps in
the wide range of subjects, from other volumes by the same author, and, like them,
are reprinted from various magazines. Here, as in his former works, we have the
same almost photographic representation of country scenes ; the same faultlessly
accurate rendering into words of country sights and sounds. He has no theory to
propound, no pet ideas to be supported. “The more thoroughly the artificial
system of natural history ethics is dismissed from the mind,” he says, “the more
interesting wild creatures will be found, because while it is adhered to a veil is held
before the eyes, and nothing useful can ever be discovered.” Unlike many
preachers, Mr. Jefferies follows his own advice, and it is this that gives his books
their peculiar charm ; many have imitated him, but none successfully.
Jefferies was a true Selbornian ; evidences of this are of frequent occurrence,
scattered up and down the pages of this and his former books. “ The wild flowers
go to London fromall parts of the country, bushels and bushels of them. Nearly two
hundred miles away, in .Somerset, a friend writes that he has been obliged to put
un notice-boards to stay the people from tearing up his violets and primroses, not
only gathering them but making the flowery banks waste ; and notice-boards have
proved no safeguard. The worst is that the roots are taken, so that years will be
required to repair the loss ” (p. 200).
One or two slips in names may be noted for correction in a later edition. “The
white cotton of the plant tree" (p. 178), the poplar is evidently intended ; and
for “ the blue comfrey to which the bees and humble-bees come in such numbers ”
(p. 218), borage should be substituted. Such mistakes are so rare in Mr. Jefferies’
writings that they attract immediate attention. F.very lover of nature should add
this volume to his collection.
Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. have re-issued the illustrated edition of what is
perhaps the author’s best-known work, The Gamekeeper at Home, in a five-
shilling volume ; and also, at a somewhat higher price, his Hodge and his Masters.
This is a less known work, and deals with a somewhat wider range of subjects
than Mr. Jefferies’ other books. The author deals with the landowner and the
agricultural labourer from a social, not from a political, standpoint ; ami he writes
with one who has intimate knowledge of the classes he depicts. The picture he
gives us is not a pleasant one, although it is not characterised by the entire
absence of any lighter shades which marked that powerful but hopeless story, A
Village Tragedy , but it is full of interest, and deserves to be read carefully by
those who would obtain a knowledge of the agricultural outlook at the present day.
We would gladly dwell longer upon these interesting volumes did space
permit, but we must be content with advising our readers to obtain them for
themselves.
CHILDREN’S COLUMN.
Natural History Society for Children. — Miss R. C. Chichester, of
Arlington Court, Barnstaple, writes : — “ Having noticed among children, even in
a part of England where nature is more attractive than elsewhere, great ignorance
in the simplest subject of natural history, I determined to start a Natural History
Society for the girls of our village school. I think some of your young readers
may like to hear how it has, so far, succeeded. The Society is not yet a year old,
but already the children seem to take a greater interest in the banks and hedges
around them. The parish being a thinly populated one, our members are few,
but, notwithstanding the distance that some have to come, scarcely any missed
regularly attending the fortnightly meetings held last summer. Weather permit-
Field and Hedgerow , being the last essays of Richard Jefferies : London, Longmans.
ig6
NATURE NOTES.
ting, I usually take them for a walk, pointing out various objects in the lanes and
fields, and they are told to gather a certain number of flowers, which are sub-
sequently dried, and on wet days are arranged in a book which each child has
given them. Already there is a noticeable improvement in the neatness of their
books — they now never forget to gather a leaf as well as the flower. I never
allow the whole plant to be taken, not wishing to exterminate rare species, as
might be the case if the children were allowed to take the root as well. By writing
the names under each specimen the children soon learn what to call them. Not
only botany, but geology, or any other subject, when explained to the girls in a
simple attractive way, interests them, especially when they can be illustrated by
things that they see in their walks. A peep through the microscope is a great
treat, and they are always eager to bring an object to examine. But I think
even if the children look to the meetings for amusement rather than instruction, still
in lime they will grow to take more interest in natural history for its own sake,
and will appreciate the many beauties of nature to be found in their native Devon.
This year I hope to give the elder ones books in which to write the first blossom-
ing of plants, the appearance of migratory birds, &c., so that each may compare
notes, and I hope by and by if our Society continues, and is as successful as it
promises to be, to arrange for lectures during the winter months. I may add that
each child is given, on joining the Society, a card of admission which contains a
promise to abide by the rules. These rules are obliged to be short and simple, but
they strictly forbid the wanton destruction of any living creature, and the taking
of birds’ nests by any member of the society.”
A Musical Cat. — I have lately become acquainted with a musical cat,
about whom I thought the children would like to hear. It is a black and white
tom cat, and very large for his age, which is nine months. A very musical
gentleman and his wife often visit the house, and Imp is very fond of them, and
keeps as near them as he can. If they do not begin playing very soon after their
arrival, he runs to the place where the violins are kept, and scratches the cases
until some one gets them out. Once when the music had stopped for some while,
and Imp had not had enough, he got on the keyboard of the piano and attracted
attention by the noise he made walking over it. His favourite place when listen-
ing to the music is in his mistress’s lap, w ith his head usually towards the per-
former ; the whole time his ears go backwards and forwards, and he seems to be
perfectly wrapped up in it. Once he had caught a mouse and was playing with it
when he heard the violin beginning, and rushed off, leaving mousie to escape.
He found the door of the room closed, so he sat on the mat with his ear close to
the door, until some one finding him so let him in. Jake.
SELBORNIANA.
Destruction of Ferns.— We are much gladdened by Mr. Wheatcroft’s
cheering news from the North, contained in bisjarticle “ Visit to Lakeland,” p. 191,
and much inclined to answer in the affirmative his question — Has the Selborne
Society had anything to do with this ? Mr. Wheatcroft, writing later, says, “My
friend, writing from Ambleside, observes, ‘You are quite right in regard to the
business of the fern dealers not being so brisk as formerly. The old man who used
to deal in them largely has told me several times that the trade was not worth the
trouble. Of course at one time it was very profitable. He has now left the
district, but I believe gave up the fern business entirely some time before leaving.
Two days ago I had some conversation with a man who is much interested in ferns
and he told me the same thing. Some years ago there were three or four persons
at least who gave their whole time during summer to the business. Now we
have not one. The excursionist is content to take home a handful of some
common variety of plant, and the botanist, unless he has some one to show him
the habitat of the rare kinds, has not time, as a rule, to hunt for himself.’ This
SELB0RN1ANA.
197
is the experience of a man who has, I believe, spent the whole of his life in the
Lake District and is a close observer.”
Unfortunately we have a very different account of the operations of the fern
stealers of the South. The Rev. H. D. Gordon, who never ceases in his efforts
to protect the birds and plants of Sussex, sends us the following letter, addressed
to him by Miss Richards, the Hon. Sec. at Midhurst (Rother Valley) Branch of the
Selborne Society : — “ Can you do anything to save our poor ferns ? i.ast Monday
I saw on the high road between Trotton and Terwick a man, who looked like a
London rough, with a cart containing three enormous hampers. The cart was
drawn up to the side of the road, and the man was in the hedge pulling up ferns
as fast as he could ; and I have no doubt that in the course of the afternoon he
filled his baskets (each one of which was as large as the baskets they use for gather-
ing hops in) and sent them off to London, while he himself went off to ‘ fresh
woods and pastures new.’ It is sad, especially when one knows how very little
chance there is of one of those ferns living for more than a few weeks. All round
Midhurst the hedges have been stripped of ferns, though I hear that rare varieties
were formerly to be found in the neighbourhood.” Mr. Gordon fully corroborates
Miss Richards’ account of devastation, and reiterates her query, “ What is to be
done?” To this question it is very hard to give a direct reply. We fear it is
hopeless to apply coercive measures to these depredators in most cases. Judging
from Mr. Wheatcroft’s statement, it seems that the best method of averting
such spoliation would be to extend the influence of the Selborne Society. It
would be well, also, if our members would resolutely refuse to patronise the
itinerant hawkers who make desolate so many spots and exterminate some of
our most beautiful plants.
Wanton Destruction of Rare Birds.— Mr. G. T. Rope, from whom
we often receive valuable communications as to the evil deeds of bird
destroyers, writes that in the district round Wickham Market, in Suffolk, the
Wild Birds’ Preservation Act is almost a dead letter. The same tidings reaches
us from several other quarters. Perhaps one reason why legislation in this direc-
tion is so inoperative is the fact that those whose duty it is to carry out the laws
are sometimes to be counted among the most active law-breakers themselves.
Correspondents often remind us that the “magistrates, officers and gentlemen,”
who are entitled to fix the hardly honourable appendage “ late of Grassholme,” to
their names, are not by any means such unique specimens as we had at first fondly
supposed. In other cases, while not breaking the letter of the law, they set an
evil example in their efforts to exterminate some of our rarest and most beautiful
birds. For example, Lieut. -Colonel Watson writes to the Field as follows : — “ A
gentleman possessing large farms on Lavington Downs, boasted to me that he had
shot two ‘ beautiful wild peregrines ’ last October, and two more last spring.
These were destroyed, not because they were suspected of doing harm to the
hares and few partridges concealed in roots and deep covert, nor for the purpose
of being put in a glass case, but simply to be cast aside into the nearest hedge.
In Ireland a gentleman living at Cappoquin, and a magistrate , ravages the coast
for miles for peregrines’ eggs, and those of that beautiful and rare bird the Cornish
chough, only for the ignoble purpose of sending them to an egg dealer in York for
sale.” On the other hand, we hear of several instances in which the spread of
Selbornian principles has proved a check to such wanton and cruel destruc-
tiveness. For example, Mr. R. M. Watson, the Hon. Sec. of the Lea Valley
Branch of the Selborne Society, tells us of a gentleman residing in his district,
who on hearing of a white sparrow having been seen on his grounds, took the
peremptory and prohibitive step of locking up all the guns in his establishment,
and thus securing for the little albino comparative immunity from attack. It may
be mentioned that a plump and perky albino hedge sparrow has for several days
presented himself among the crowds of starlings, blackbirds, thrushes and
robins who are in receipt of out-door relief at the windows of The Grove, Great
Stanmore. Contrary to the usual belief that birds so markedly peculiar in colour
are persecuted by their fellows of orthodox hue on account of their unconventional
garb, this plucky little bird holds his own most defiantly, and refuses to be repelled
by any of his more powerful brethren.
NATURE NOTES.
198
A Sociable Kingfisher. — Is the kingfisher a shy bird ? I always con-
sidered it to be so until some time ago whilst seeking for larva of the elephant
hawk moth, the food of which (willow herb and ladies bed straw) is to be found
growing on the banks of streams in various parts of the country. Having finished
my search, I sat down on the bank of the stream, the vicinity of which abounded
with dragon flies and various other insects. It being a glorious day I was tempted
to linger, so for amusement I converted the telescope handle of my insect-net into a
fishing rod and tried my luck. I had been seated but a few minutes, and my
attention was absorbed in watching a pair of green sandpipers, when a fine large
kingfisher came flying up the stream towards where I was sitting. I expected on
seeing me it would dart aside and regain the stream higher up ; but on it came,
and to my surprise and pleasure actually alighted on the rod I held in my hand
over the stream. (I may slate the stream was not more than four to five feet at
its widest part.) I scarcely breathed for fear the slightest motion should frighten
it away, w'ondering how long it would remain in its novel position. It looked at
me in a friendly sort of way, as much as to say, “ I am not at all frightened : we
understand each other ” ; and began to plume its feathers with its long pointed
bill, the lovely hues glistening in the sunshine metallic green, merging into blue, then
into a beautiful golden bronze, more like a visitor fresh from the tropics than an
inhabitant of our northern isle. Having leisurely cleaned and stroked out its
feathers with its long beak, it gave itself a shake, then with another finishing
pluming, it resumed its flight up stream, alighting on the stump of an old pollard
willow overhanging the brook ; almost directly after I noticed it plunge into the
stream, then in a moment bring up a small fish, which it soon disposed of. It
then flew further up, where I lost sight of it round a bend in the stream.
James E. Whiting.
Bees or Flies? — I was walking in the Lake District one hot August day
watching the numerous insects that were busy with the flowers. I had been
speaking at breakfast of the Grass of Parnassus ( Parnassia paluslris) and some
one had suggested that the so-called false stamens, with their fan-like groups
of filaments, giving to the flower the appearance of having as numerous stamens
as a ranunculus, were for the purpose of deceiving the bees. But the question
now occurred to me : “Is the flower fertilised by bees or by flies ? ” I began to
examine the flowers by the wayside and to notice which were visited by bees
and which by flies. I soon found that colour had something to do with it. There
were harebells, foxgloves, knapweed and other blue or red flowers, and these
were exclusively taken up by the bees — the flies keeping away from them, while
the hawkweeds and other yellow flowers had only flies as their guests ; so that it
would seem that bees, which visit yellow flowers when there are no others, prefer
blue and red flowers when these latter are present, and that the flies, unable to
compete, have to confine themselves to the yellow flowers. But what about white
flowers ? These seemed at first to be visited by both, but further investigation
shewed that while the meadowsweet and other scented white flowers attract
the bees, they leave those without scent, such as yarrow, to the flies. I thus
formed the generalisation that blue, red and scented white flowers are fertilised by
bees, but that yellow or scentless white flowers are chiefly fertilised by flies, and it
seemed to me probable that the scentless white parnassia would be found to
be visited rather by flies than bees. I soon came to a swamp where the flower
grew in profusion, and was greatly pleased to find that nearly every blossom had a
black fly nestling among its stamen-like filaments. I have since often seen bees
visiting yellow flowers, but it has always been when there were no blue or red
flowers in the neighbourhood. H. A. Nesbitt.
Frogs and. Toads. — In this neighbourhood (Liphook) toads and frogs are
not regarded with as much horror as they are in many places. True it is that
some of the villagers do not quite like touching them, not because they fear the
poor reptiles spitting fire, but that “folks does say they might poison you.”
There are many stories told of them, on which many superstitions are founded.
They are supposed to be great weather prophets, and not only to foretell rain and
fine, but also heat or cold. If a frog looks a brown colour it is a sign of a wet
OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c.
199
day ; if it is green then a fine day may be expected. If they spawn in the middle
of ponds, a good harvest and favourable hay season may be looked for ; if at the
edge of the water it denotes a wet, cold summer. If when walking over the
commons you hear “ t’ toads quirkin’ ’mid t’ bushes,” be certain the morrow will
bring a hot, sunny day. There are a few who do believe in poison of frogs and
toads, and they account for it in this way. It is because the frogs “ take in ” all
the poison from water. If one be placed in impure water, it will, in a short
time, render it pure and even fit to drink, although it itself becomes more
poisonous from having absorbed so much, and will harm anything it spits upon.
Everyone must know the white froth which surrounds the lava of Cicada spwnaria,
and which was so plentiful in our gardens and hedges this summer. This is
known by the name of “ toad-spit,” and it is by many firmly believed to be such ;
therefore any plant, or part of the plant on which it occurs, “ had best not be
touched.” One report states that a frog’s mouth is “ made up,” or fastened, for
half the year ; and another saying is, that if a person holds a little frog between
their hands until it dies (which the poor thing would soon do), the said person’s
hands will never perspire again. Frogs are also used medicinally in Yorkshire,
for if a child with whooping cough be allowed to suck a small one for a few
moments, it will at once be cured, but a piece of thread must first be fastened to
the creature’s hind leg to prevent it slipping down the patient’s throat ; because
if a frog got into anyone's inside it would never die but continue to grow until it
reached a fabulous size.
W. M. E. Fowler.
A New British Snail. — A field in Isleworth produces a variety of Helix
cantiana, differing from the type only in size, the greatest diameter being about
fourteen millimetres. This form is the var. minor, of Westerlund (definable as
similar to the type, but maximum diameter fifteen millimetres or less), but the name
minor being preoccupied by Moquin-Tandon (1855) the Isleworth form, which
has not hitherto been recorded for Britain, may he called var. nana.
Syon Lodge, Isleworth. AnnieS. Fenn.
WORK OF BRANCHES, OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c.
The object of the Selborne Society is to unite lovers of Nature for common
study and the defence of natural objects (birds, plants, beautiful landscapes, &c.)
against the destruction by which they are constantly menaced. The minimum
Annual Subscription (which entitles the subscriber to a monthly copy of the
Society’s Magazine) is 2S. 6d. All particulars as to membership may be obtained
from the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, \V. C.
Miss A. B. Harrison, Whitmores, Beckenham, Kent, has kindly undertaken
the Secretaryship of the Kent Branch, and we hope that it will before long be
re-organized on a firm footing. May we take this opportunity of pointing out to the
lion. Secs, that now is the time to hand over to their respective Branches any out-
lying members that they may have acquired during the year.
From various quarters news reaches us that Selbornians are not inactive during
winter time. The lecture season has (as some irreverent foreigner said of the
English summer) set in with its usual severity, and the various Branches of the
Selborne Society seem determined to add their quota to that of the other organiza-
tions by which the British public is enlightened and amused during the long winter
evenings. The Bath Branch of the Selborne Society has arranged to give three
lectures at the Literary and Scientific Institution. The circumstance is noteworthy
from the fact that the enthusiastic and venerable naturalist, the Rev. Leonard
Blomefield, will inaugurate the series with an address on “ Records of a Rookery.”
200
NATURE NOTES.
The rev. gentleman is a marvel of mental and physical vigour, being one of the
nonagenarians still surviving in our midst. Later on J. W. Morris, Esq., F. L.S.,
will lecture on “ The Balance of Life in Nature.”
The Bath Branch is one of the very oldest departments (of the Selborne
Society. The Tudor Branch is, we believe, the youngest of a fast growing family,
but already displays as much activity as its seniors, judging from the following
account of its proceedings. On the 30th of October the Secretary of the Tudor
Branch of the Selborne Society (Mr. J. J. Ogle) delivered a lecture on “ Some
Notable Nature Lovers ” in the Peel Road Presbyterian Church, Bootle. The
lecturer took as typical lives those of Gilbert White, Thomas Edward (the Scotch
naturalist), Charles Kingsley, and William Wordsworth, and was listened to with
the greatest attention for an hour and and a half, with frequent outbursts of
applause. At the close Mr. Ogle was asked to give another lecture at an early
date. The second winter meeting of the Tudor Branch took place in the Students’
Room Free Library, Bootle, on Friday, November 14th. The Vice-President
(Mr. Hugh Reid) read a paper on “ Plant Life,” which was illustrated by the
President (the Mayor of Bootle) by means of an optical lantern. Twenty-three
members and visitors were present ; two new members were enrolled. The winter
programme includes papers on “ Selbornian Books,” “Some Aspects of Mrs.
Browning’s Nature Poetry,” “ The Work of a River,” “ The Life History of a
Crab,” “ Nature as seen by Charles Dickens,” “Some Lowly Forms of Vegetable
Life,” “Field Operations as described by Virgil in the Georgies.” We shall
always be glad to have programmes of such courses of lectures for publication in
Nature Notes, and also reports of the lectures themselves, extracts from which
our readers would doubtless be glad to see.
Mrs. Packham sends, through the Rev. H. D. Gordon, the copy of a magazine
for January, 1S88, required for Dr. Evans, which has been forwarded. Mr. Cyril
J. Turner, of Hurst Road, Bexley, kindly writes as follows: — “I have all the
numbers from the commencement unbound, and shall be pleased to give them to
any subscriber who wishes to make up volumes.”
We have several articles in hand (many of them in print) by the Rev. F. O
Morris, Rev. II. D. Gordon, the Rev. Professor G. Henslow, Mr. Archibald I„.
Clark, Mr. Aubrey Edwards, Mr. A. H. Macpherson, Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell,
&c. ,&c., for which we are quite unable to find room in the present number. Some
of these articles we hope to print in the number for January, 1891, in which an
addition of four pages will be made to the magazine. In that number we also
hope to publish an account of the present most satisfactory position of the Selborne
Society, and of the methods by which its magazine has secured, and hopes to con-
tinue its great and unforeseen success. In all probability the funds at our disposal
will enable the magazine to be permanently enlarged from January, 1891, onwards.
This is the only mode by which it will be possible for us to do justice to the articles
of our kind contributors, and to give such accounts of the rapidly progressing
ramifications of the Selborne Society, as our readers would naturally desire.
We cannot close this volume without returning grateful thanks to the kind
friends at Great Stanmore and Richmond by whom, with accuracy and celerity,
the index was compiled.
It is particularly requested that subscriptions and letters bearing on the general
business of the Society should vot be forwarded to the Editors, but to the Secretary
of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi. Editorial communications
should be addressed to the Rev. Percy Myles, i, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.
v
January, 1890.
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HAMPSHIRE LOCAL NAMES.
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Un Chat Fidele.
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SELBORNIANA.
A Browning Query.
The Spelling of Yellow Hammer.
Note of the Cuckoo.
The Milliners Scheme of Creation.
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Mildness of the Season.
A Bad Example.
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NOW COMPLETE:
GOULD’S BIRDS OF NEW GUINEA and the Papuan Islands, with
320 magnificent hand-coloured plates. Twenty-five Parts,
price £3 3s. each nett.
JUST PUBLISHED:
ASIATIC BIRDS, selected from the “ Birds of Asia ” of the late John
Gould ; Fifty-four magnificently coloured plates , with descriptions , impl.
folio, half morocco extra, gilt edges. price £12 12s. nett.
Complete in one volume, 4to cloth, with numerous woodcuts, by
J. G. MILLAIS and others :
SEEBOHM’S GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION of the PLOVERS.
SANDPIPERS, SNIPES, and their Allies. price £2 12s. 6d. nett.
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KEULEMANS. price £5 Ss. nett.
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tions of their EGGS ( besides woodcuts). Six Parts royal 8vo.
price £6 6s. nett.
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Thirteen Parts 4to. price £12 12s. nett.
MR. GOULD’S GRAND ORNITHOLOGICAL AND OTHER
WORKS :
A complete descriptive Catalogue of this Series (the most remarkable ever produced in the
annals of Natural History) consisting of 43 volumes imperial folio, containing 3158 hand-
coloured plates, will be sent post free on application.
The Advertisers would also call particular attention to their
SECOND-HAND STOCK as being especially rich in all classes
of Works on NATURAL HISTORY.
LIBRARIES PURCHASED.
London: 136, Strand, W.C. and 36, Piccadilly, W.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON,
Scientific ^Booksellers & publishers,
28, Essex Street , Strand , LONDON.
Just Published: Parts / &= 2, Jo, 6 coloured plates , js. each part , post free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To be completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.’’ — E. P. BlCKNELL of the American Ornithologists’ Union.
Crown Svo , with one Plate , Cloth (published js . 6d. ), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist, — J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
Farrell's British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published , each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of W. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98.— Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
E n tomo/ogists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.,
BIRDS' EGGS & SKINS,
British and Foreign Butterflies
and Moths.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7A, Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, London, W.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Factories— 34, Ridinghoitse Street Ogle Street , ll \
TRADE SUPPLIED.
TWO NEW BOOKS ON BIRDS.
Demy Svo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
of Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
FORD.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy Svo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
D is.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“Yarrell’s History of British Birds,”
Fourth Edition.
Gurney & Jackson,
1, Paternoster Row
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICADA OR TETTIGIIM.
(FROGHOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Bucktox, F. R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured
Drawings. In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo. Parti. 8s. (Ready.)
Xo coloured monograph of the British Cicaiho exists, and it is even believed that no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litho-chromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author’s notice, each species being illustrated by one or more
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek ami
Latin poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed by some
-species, and other subjects connected with the economy of fhis interesting but difficult group of Rliyn-
chotnus insects. Mr. Buckton's name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labour
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY & Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by P. G. IIamertox. Published Monthly,
price Half-a-Crown.
rj^HE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor and
1 Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1890 as a convenient opportunity for the
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will be abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The wrapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to the noble appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 3b plates and about 1">0 minor Illustrations. Price 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON: SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
NOW READY.
JUbe Cflercjv Inst for 1890
(FORTY-NINTH YEAR),
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., Si, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.
nature notes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms mall Newspapers .
Periodicals, and Magazines.
No. 3.
March 15, 1890.
C“0;NTENT5 .
RIGHT OF WAY ASSERTED AT GLEN DOLL.
By George Murray, F.L.S., &c., of the British
Museum.
THE MIGRATION OF THE WOODCOCK.
By the Rev. H. D. Gordon, M.A.
THE BEAUTIES OF EPPING FOREST IN
DANGER.
By G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S.
OSTRICH FARMING.
By W. Tyndale and Miss A. M. Buckton.
THE DAFFODIL: AN ANTHOLOGY.
ae -r-^cklSORNC
g^ocieTYS
BGH’ZtiNC
BOOKS FOR NATURE LOVERS.
Lady Lindsay’s “ About Robins."
Lady Wilde’s “ Contributions to Irish Lore."
Mrs. Houstoun’s “ Sylvanus Redivivus.'
Dr. Emerson's “ English Idyls."
Mr. J. C. Walters’ “ In Tenuyso?i-Land."
“ The Field Club."
Mr. F. A. Knight’s “ Idylls of the Field."
Mr. Worsley Benison’s iC Haunts 0/ Nature."
Magazines, &c.
SELBORNIANA.
A Plea for the Primrose.
A Browning Query.
The “ King Horny.”
Peculiar Blackbirds.
“ Chevisaunce.”
Hampshire Local Names.
The Note of the Cuckoo.
Appearance of Birds, Flowers, &c.
OFFICIAL NOTICES, WORK OF BRANCHES, &c.
NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.
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ON
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Magnificently Illustrated in Colours, Uniformly Printed in Imperial Folio
Size, and comprising :
The Birds of Europe, with 449 coloured plates ...
5 Volumes.
The Birds of Australia, with the supplement, 681 coloured
plates
The Mammals of Australia, with 180 coloured plates ...
8 Volumes.
3 Volumes.
A Century of Birds from the Himalayan Mountains,
with 80 coloured plates
The Birds of Great Britain, with 367 coloured plates ...
1 Volume.
5 Volumes.
The Trochilidae, or Humming Birds, with the Supple-
ment, with 419 coloured plates ...
6 Volumes.
The Ramphastidae or Family of Toucans, with 52 coloured
plates
1 Volume.
The Trogonidae or Family of Trogons, with 50 coloured
plates
1 Volume.
The Odontophorinae or Partridges of America, with 32
coloured plates
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1 Volume.
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with 320 coloured plates ...
S Volumes.
FORMING TOGETHER 43 VOLUMES IMPERIAL FOLIO
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Natural Historj’, besides others in General Literature.
A Copy, Post Free, on Application.
London: 136, Strand, W.C. and 36, Piccadilly, W.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON,
Scientific 35ooftsellers & flMiblisfoers,
28, Essex Street , Strand , LONDOdV.
Just Published: Parts 1 &r> 2, ^to, 6 coloured plates , js. each part, post free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To bo completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.” — E. P. Bicknell of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Crown Svo, with one Plate, Cloth (published js . 6d. ), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist,— J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
^ arrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published , each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of W. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98.— Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
TWO NEW BOOKS ON BIRDS.
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
£ n tomoiogists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.
Demy 8vo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
OF Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
ford.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy Svo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
£1 Is-
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“ Yarrell’s History of British Birds,”
Fourth Edition.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7 a, Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, London, W.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Gurney & Jackson,
Factories— 34, Ridinghoust Street <Sr Ogle Street, IV.
1, Paternoster Row
TRADE SUPPLIED.
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICAM OR TETTIGIIM.
(FROGHOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured
Drawings. In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo. Part I. 8s. (Ready.)
No coloured monograph of the British Cicada1 exists, and it is even believed that no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litho-chromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author’s notice, each species being illustrated by one or more
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek and
Latin poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed by some
species, and other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of Rhyn-
cliotous insects. Mr. Buckton’s name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labour
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY 8c Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by P. G. HAMERTON. Published Monthly,
price Half-a-Crown.
rpHE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor and
J[ Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1S90 as a convenient opportunity for the
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will be abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The wrapper will bear a new device, anil the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to the noble appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 3ti plates and about 150 minor Illustrations. Price 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON: SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
N" O W READY.
ICbe C[lenj£ Hist foi* 1890
(FOETY-NINTH
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., 51, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.
Mature Motes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms in all Newspapers,
Periodicals , and Magazines.
No. 4.
PRICE TWOPENCE
1b. Sotberan 8. Co.’s
FINE ILLUSTRATED WORKS
ON
NATURAL HISTORY.
THE COMPLETE SERIES OF
MR. GOULD’S WORKS,
Magnificently Illustrated in Colours, Uniformly Printed in Imperial Folio
Size, and comprising :
The Birds of Europe, with 449 coloured plates ... ... 5 Volumes.
The Birds of Australia, with the supplement, 681 coloured
plates ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 Volumes.
The Mammals of Australia, with 180 coloured plates ... 3 Volumes.
A Century of Birds from the Himalayan Mountains,
with 80 coloured plates ... ... ... ... ... 1 Volume.
The Birds of Great Britain, with 367 coloured plates ... 5 Volumes.
The Trochilidae, or Humming Birds, with the Supple-
ment, with 419 coloured plates ... ... ... ... 6 Volumes.
The Ramphastidae or Family of Toucans, with 52 coloured
plates ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Volume.
The Trogonidae or Family of Trogons, with 50 coloured
plates ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Volume.
The Odontophorinae or Partridges of America, with 32
coloured plates ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Volume.
The Birds of Asia, with nearly 500 coloured plates ... 7 Volumes.
The Birds of New Guinea and the Papuan Islands,
with 320 coloured plates ... ... ... ... ... 5 Volumes.
FORMING TOGETHER 43 VOLUMES IMPERIAL FOLIO
(the Most Remarkable Series ever Produced in the Annals of Natural History).
FULL PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION,
As also Catalogue of Other Works now in Progress or Recently Completed.
SOTHERAN’S PRICE CURRENT OF LITERATURE:
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London: 136, Strand, W.C. and 36, Piccadilly, W.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON
Scientific booksellers & publishers,
28, Essex Street , Strand , LONDON. .
Just Published: Parts 1 Sr 2, 4 to, 6 coloured plates , js. each part, post free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To be completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.” — E. P. Bicknell of the American Ornithologists’ Union.
Crown Svo, with one Plate , Cloth ( published js. 6d. ), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist, — J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
arrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published, each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of W. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98.— Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
TWO NEW BOOKS ON BIRDS.
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
E n to mo !o gists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7A, Princes Street,
Cavemlish Square, London, TV.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Factories— 34, Ridinghousc Street Ogle Street , IV.
TRADE SUPPLIED.
Demy Svo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudoi.f
of Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
ford.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy Svo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
£1 is.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“YarrelPs History of British Birt^,”
Fourth Edition.
Gurney &. Jackson,
1, Patennostep Row
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICADAS OR TETTIGIID/E.
(FROGHOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured
Drawings. In Eight Parts. Demy Svo. Parti. 8s. ( Ready .)
No coloured monograph of the British Cicada' exists, and it is even believed that no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, eacli containing on an average ten litho-chromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author’s notice, each species being illustrated by one or more
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek and
Latin’ poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed by some
species, and other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of Rhyn-
chotous insects. Mr. Buckton's name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labour
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY & Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by P. G. Hamertox. Published Monthly,
price Half-a-Crown.
rpHE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of Its existence, the Editor and
Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1S!*0 as a convenient, opportunity for the
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will he. printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will he abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The. wrapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to the noble appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may he obtained from the publishers.
Sow is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 30 plates and about ISO minor Illustrations. Price 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON : SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
NOW It II A. 1) \ .
JUbe C(len}v> Hist for 1890
(FOBTY-NINTTH ‘NriE.A.IR),
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY k CO., Si, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.
fiature IHotes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
• 1 :
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms in all Neivspapcrs,
Periodicals, and Magazines.
No. 5.
CkBORNC
ocieTYS
BGH’ZdNC
TH€.Kev.P6RCY.MYLe5.1^.F.U.s. endJpMC5.P)K'!TTGN.FUS
PRICE TWOPENCE.
lb. Sotberan 8. Co.'s
FINE ILLUSTRATED WORKS
OX
NATURAL HISTORY.
THE COMPLETE SERIES OF
MR. GOULD’S WORKS,
Magnificently Illustrated in Colours, Uniformly Printed in Imperial Folio
Size, and comprising :
The Birds of Europe, with 449 coloured plates 5 Volumes.
The Birds of Australia, with the supplement, 681 coloured
plates ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 Volumes.
The Mammals of Australia, with 180 coloured plates ... 3 Volumes.
A Century of Birds from the Himalayan Mountains,
with 80 coloured plates ... ... ... ... ... 1 Volume.
The Birds of Great Britain, with 367 coloured plates ... 5 Volumes.
The Trochilidae, or Humming Birds, with the Supple-
ment, with 419 coloured plates ... ... ... ... 6 Volumes.
The Ramphastidae or Family of Toucans, with 52 coloured
plates ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Volume.
The Trogonidae or Family of Trogons, with 50 coloured
plates ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Volume.
The Odontophorinae or Partridges of America, with 32
coloured plates ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Volume.
The Birds of Asia, with nearly 500 coloured plates ... 7 Volumes.
The Birds of New Guinea and the Papuan Islands,
with 320 coloured plates ... ... ... ... ... 5 Volumes.
FORMING TOGETHER 43 VOLUMES IMPERIAL FOLIO
(the Most Remarkable Series ever Produced in the Annals of Natural History).
FULL PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION,
As also Catalogue of Other Works now in Progress or Recently Completed.
SOTHERAN’S PRICE CURRENT OF LITERATURE :
The forthcoming No., for May 20th, will contain many rare and choice
Works from recent important sales, besides numerous good Books in
Standard Literature ; also a separate and extensive collection of Works
on Political Economy.
A Copy, Post Free, on Application.
London: 136, Strand, W.C, and 36, Piccadilly, W.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON
Scientific booksellers & publishers,
28, Essex Street , Strand, LONDON.
Just Published: Parts 1 &= 2, 4to, 6 coloured plates, js. each part , post free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nebrling. To be completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.”— E. P. BlCKNELL of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Crown 8vo, with one Plate, Cloth (published js . 6d. ), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents: — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist, — J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
Yarrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published, each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of W. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98. — Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
Entomologists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.
J, T. CROCKETT,
7A, Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, London, W.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Factories — 34, Ridingiiousc Street Ogle Street , IE.
TRADE SUPPLIED.
TWO NEW BOOKS ON BIRDS.
Demy 8vo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
OF AUSTRIA. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
ford.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy Svo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
£1 is.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“ Yarrell’s History of British Birds,”
Fourth Edition.
Gurney & Jackson,
1, Paternoster Row
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICADA OR TETTIGIM.
(FBOOHOPPERS AMD GRASSFLIESJ
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured
Drawings. In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo. Part I. 8s. ( Ready. )
No coloured monograph of the British Cicada- exists, and it is even believed that no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litho-ehromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 330 in
number, most of which have come under the author's notice, each species being illustrated by one or more
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and talcs told by ancient Greek and
Latin poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed bv some
species, and other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of Rhvn-
chotous insects. Mr. Buckton's name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labmu
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY Sc Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by V. G. HamerT'OX. Published Monthly,
price Half-a-Crown.
rpHE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor and
I Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1S‘)0 as a convenient opportunity for tin-
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will be abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chrokicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at. the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The wrapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to the noble appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 3t> plates anil about 150 minor Illustrations. Trice 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON: SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
NOW READY.
Kbe C(leiT}£ Inst for 1890
yeaei,
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., 51, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, I.C.
IRatuve IRotes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand^. W.C.
__ _ . -v •
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms infill Newspapers,
Periodicals, and Magazines.
9
No. 6.
June 14, 1890.
PRICE TWOPENCE,
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1‘fers &
INCLUDING
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jllert) an& |£3ottn&
"SSooR department.
Old and Second-Hand Books. —
The Stock is now, as it has been for
many years, of unusual extent and
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Standard Books and New Publi-
cations.— All the Standard Works,
particularly those necessary for an
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(pp. 380 ), cloth , price y. 6 d., post free.
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♦
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«
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O EXECUTORS, SOLICITORS, & OTHERS The
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Just Published : Parts r &•* 2, 4. to, 6 coloured plates , js. each part, post free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To be completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.” — E. P. Bicknell of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Crown 8vo , with one Plate , Cloth (published js . 6d.), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist, — J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
Yarrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published, each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC EOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of W. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98.— Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
TWO NEW BOOKS ON BIRDS
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
Entomologists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.
•
Demy 8vo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
OF Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
FORD.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy Svo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
fl IS.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“ YarrelPs History of British Birds,’’
Fourth Edition.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7 a, Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, London, TV.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Gurney & Jackson,
Factories — 34, Ridingkousc Street ir Ogle Street , IV.
1, Paternoster Row
TRADE
SUPPLIED.
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICAM OR TETTIGIIM.
(FROGHOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured
Drawings. In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo. Part I. 8s. (Ready.)
No coloured monograph of the British Cicada' exists, and it is even believed that no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litho-chromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author’s notice, each species being illustrated by one or more
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek and
Latin poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed bv some
species, and other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of Rhyn-
cliotous insects. Mr. Buckton’s name is well knowp to entomologists, and this book represents the labour
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY & Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE- PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by P. G. Hamerton. Published Monthly,
price Half-a-Crown.
rpHE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor and
L Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year IS90 as a convenient opportunity for the
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will be abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The wrapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to the noble appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 36 plates and about 150 minor Illustrations. Price 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON: SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
ISTOW ll II A. I) Y .
fflbe C(lerg£ lust for 1890
CFOiRTir-^iirTTie: yeab,
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., SI, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.
IRatuve Botes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms in all Newspapers,
Periodicals, and Magazines.
No. 7.
July 15, 1890.
H€ !^ekT5ORN0
ocieTYS
-i.viBGB’ZiNC
1
Gditgd
£Eo
STENTS .
THE PRESERVATION AND ENJOYMENT OF
OPEN SPACES.
By Robert Hunter, M.A., of the Commons Preservation
Society.
THE] PLANT ALLUSIONS IN THE POEMS OF
MATTHEW ARNOLD.
By the Right Hon. Sir [Mountstuart Grant Duff,
G.C.S.I., F.R.S.
THE CHEDDAR PINK.
By Frederic N. V llliams, F.L.S.
INSECTS AS ORNAMENTS OF THE GARDEN.
By W. F. Kirby, F.L.S., F.E.S., of the British
Museum.
NORTHUMBRIAN PLANT NAMES.
By D. D. Dixon.
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
SELBORNIANA.
A Sea-Bit d’s Rock and its Brutal Visitors.
The Earliest Cuckoo.
“ Porriwiggles.'’ _
Sparrows and Mice.
Birds Singing as they I ly.
Tame Birds and Beasts.
Continental Selborniana.
Musical Mice.
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ETC.
Xontion :
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PRICE TWOPENCE,
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'33ooftselTerjs &
INCLUDING
GOULD’S ORNITHOLOGICAL WORKS AND OTHER WORKS
IN NATURAL HISTORY.
|>ec0tt6--Bcm6 'gSooB
^eparfmenf.
■glem an6 'g3ourt6
'gSooR department.
Old and Second-Hand Books. —
The Stock is now, as it has been for
many years, of unusual extent and
variety, and is receiving constant
additions. A Monthly Catalogue
has now been issued for over forty
years. Specimen Number gratis.
Complete General Catalogue , large 8 vo.
Standard Books and New Publi-
cations.— All the Standard Works,
particularly those necessary for an
English Library, together with the
new books issued by the leading
publishers, are kept constantly in
stock.
(pp. 380 ), cloth , price 31. 6 d., post free.
^libraries anb Books Bought.
fSJggg O EXECUTORS, SOLICITORS, & OTHERS The
Advertisers, who have the largest Stock of Second-hand
L Books in London, are at all times prepared to INSPECT,
VALUE and PURCHASE Libraries or smaller Collections of Books
either in Town or Country, and to give the utmost value in cash.
Experienced Valuers promptly sent.
Removals without Trouble or Expense to Sellers.
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Code:— UNICODE.
glofoniaC an6 foreign
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■^ooR6in6tng
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Export Orders for America, the
Colonies, India, and Foreign Lands
executed with intelligence, care
and promptness : any discretionary
powers will be exercised with
judgment, and with every regard
to the interests of Customers.
To this Department the Advertisers
direct particular attention, as they en-
joy unwonted facilities for executing
binding of the highest class at very
moderate prices, as well as every
description of plain strong bind-
ing, suitable for Lending Libraries,
Mechanics’ Institutions, Clubs, &c.
136, Strand, W.C. and 36, Piccadilly, W.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON,
Scientific Booksellers & ipublisbers,
28, Essex Street , Strand ’ LONDON.
Just Published: Parts r 2, 4to , 6 coloured plates , js. each part , post free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To be completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.” — E. P. Bicknell of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Crown 8vo, with one Plate , Cloth (published js . 6d.), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist, — J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
Yarrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published, each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of W. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98.— Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
Entomologists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7 a, Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, London, W.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Factories— 34, Ridinghouse Street Sr Ogle Street, IV.
TRADE SUPPLIED.
TWO NEW BOOKS ON BIRDS
Demy 8vo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
of Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
FORD.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy 8vo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
D is.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“Yarrell’s History of British Birds,”
Fourth Edition.
Gurney & Jackson,
1, Paternoster Row
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICAM OR TETTIGIM,
(FROGHOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured
Drawings. In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo. Part I. 8s. ( Ready .)
No coloured monograph of the British Cicada1 exists, and it is even believed that no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litlio-chromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author's notice, each species being illustrated by one or more
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek and
Latin poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs" possessed by some
species, and other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of Rhvn-
chotous insects. Mr. Buckton’s name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labour
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY & Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by P. G. Hamerton. Published Monthly,
price Half-a- Crown.
riiHE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor and
Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1S90 as a convenient opportunity for the
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will be abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
Tile Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The wrapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to the noble appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 36 plates and about 150 minor Illustrations. Price 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON: SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
NOW READY,
IUbe C(letrj£ Xust for 1890
(FOETY-NINTH YEAH),
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., 51, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.
IRatuve IRotes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms in all Newspapers.
Periodicals, and Magazines.
No. 8.
CLiTSORNG
OciCTYS
T-HeKevPeRcrY. My ues. f us. e nd. Jrm €5 ,P>ri t tc n . f us .
PRICE TWOPENCE,
H. SOTHERAN & Co.,
'SBoolise tZcxs &
INCLUDING
GOULD’S ORNITHOLOGICAL \A/ORKS AND OTHER WORKS
IN NATURAL HISTORY.
giecon6=Bcm6
department.
■glem an6 ^23oun6
"gSooR deP<*rfmenf.
Old and Second-Hand Books. —
The Stock is now, as it has been for
many years, of unusual extent and
variety, and is receiving constant
additions. A Monthly Catalogue
has now been issued for over forty
years. Specimen Number gratis.
Standard Books and New Publi-
cations.—All the Standard Works,
particularly those necessary for an
English Library, together with the
new books issued by the leading
publishers, are kept constantly in
stock
Complete General Catalogue , large 8vo. (pp. 380 ), cloth , price 3s. 6d., post free.
libraries anb Books Bought.
O EXECUTORS, SOLICITORS, & OTHERS The
Advertisers, who have the largest Stock of Second-hand
Books in London, are at all times prepared to INSPECT,
VALUE and PURCHASE Libraries or smaller Collections of BOOKS
either in Town or Country, and to give the utmost value in cash.
Experienced Valuers promptly sent.
Removals without Trouble or Expense to Sellers.
Telegraphic Address : — Bookmen, London.
Code -.—UNICODE.
gk>CcmiaC art6 foreign
department.
'§3oo££un&mg
depcvrfrrtertf-
Export Orders for America, the
Colonies, India, and Foreign Lands
executed with intelligence, care
and promptness : any discretionary
powers will be exercised with
judgment, and with every regard
to the interests of Customers.
To this Department the Advertisers
direct particular attention, as they en-
joy unwonted facilities for executing
binding of the highest class at very
moderate prices, as well as every
description of plain strong bind-
ing, suitable for Lending Libraries,
Mechanics’ Institutions, Clubs, &c.
1S6, Strand, W.C. and 36, Piccadilly, W.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON,
Scientific Booksellers & publishers,
28, Essex Street , Strand , LONDON.
Just Published: Parts 1 &* 2, 4. to , 6 coloured plates , js. each part , post free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To be completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav MuetzeL 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
•observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.” — E. P. Bicknell of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Crown 8vo , with one Plate , Cloth (published js . 6d. ), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist, — J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
Yarrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published , each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of W. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98. — Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
Entomologists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7A, Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, London, W.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Factories — 34> Ridinghouse Street Ogle Street, IT.
TRADE SUPPLIED.
TWO MEW BOOKS ON BIRDS
Demy 8vo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, i8s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
of Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
FORD.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy 8vo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
£1 is.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“Yarrell’s History of British Birds,”
Fourth Edition.
Gurney & Jackson,
1, Paternoster Row
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICADAS OR TETTIGIIDiE.
(FROG-HOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,.
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de Frauce. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured
Drawings. In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo. Part I. 8s. ( Ready. )
No coloured monograph of the British Cicada1 exists, and it is even believed that no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litho-chromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author’s notice, each species being illustrated by one or more-
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek and
Latin poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed by some
species, aud other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of" Rhyn-
chotous insects. Mr. Buckton’s name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labour-
and observation of many years.
'MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY &l Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by V. G. Hamerton. Published Monthly,
price Half-a-Crown.
PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor and
| Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1S90 as a convenient opportunity for tlio
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will be abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive f uller notice than hitherto.
The wrapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to the nobie appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 36 plates and about 150 minor Illustrations. Price 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON: SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
NOW EEADY.
JTIbe C(ietT}£ Hist for 1890
CFOIRT'y-IlTIIDTTIH: YEAE),
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,.
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., 51, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.
IRature IRotes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms in all Newspapers,
Periodicals, and Magazines.
John Bale & Sons, Steam Printers, 87-89, Great Titchfield Street, W.
o. g.
September 15, 1890.
^Bomtents .
HC !r^eiil5ORN0
OciCTYS
RGH’Z.'lNC
jl THE PROTECTION OF PLANTS IN SWITZER-
LAND.
By James Britten, F.L.S., of the British Museum.
BOOKS OF FEATHERS.
By Mrs. Brightwen, Vice-President of the Selborne
Society.
FIELD PATHS SIXTY YEARS AGO.
Selections from William Howitt, by Mrs. Hill.
THE BLACK-HEADED GULL.
By Miss W. M. E. Fowler.
ENGLISH PLANT-NAMES.
TWO BOOKS ABQUT CATS.
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.
SELBORNIANA.
The Grassholm Outrage.
“ Sky Signs."
Papyrophagous Slugs.
Sluggish Gymnastics.
The Cheddar Pink.
Birds and Bonnets.
Insects as Ornaments of the Garden.
Imitations of the Notes of Birds.
OFFICIAL NOTICES.
3Lon5on :
H. SOTHERAN & Co.
136, Strand, W.C. & 36, Piccadilly, W.
Manchester : 49, Cross Street.
T-HeKcV.FeR^Y. NTyUCS-1^. FU.S, end JpMC5.T?)RiTTCN . FUS.
PRICE TWOPENCE.
H. SOTHERAN & Co.,
'SSoo&sefferB & 1^u££ts^ers,
INCLUDING
GOULD’S ORNITHOLOGICAL WORKS AND OTHER WORKS
IN NATURAL HISTORY.
§eccm&=Bcm6 'gSooft
^eparlmenf.
■glett) a«6
■gSooR T>eparfmenf.
Old and Second-Hand Books. —
The Stock is now, as it has been for
many years, of unusual extent and
variety, and is receiving constant
additions. A Monthly Catalogue
has now been issued for over forty
years. Specimen Number gratis.
Complete General Catalogue , large 8m
Standard Books and New Publi-
cations.— All the Standard Works,
particularly those necessary for an
English Library, together with the
new books issued by the leading
publishers, are kept constantly in
stock.
( pp . 380 ), doth , price 3 s. 6 d., post free.
Xibrarics anb Boobs Bouobt.
0 EXECUTORS, SOLICITORS, & OTHERS The
Advertisers, who have the largest Stock of Second-hand
Books in London, are at all times prepared to INSPECT,
VALUE and PURCHASE Libraries or smaller Collections of BOOKS
either in Town or Country, and to give the utmost value in cash.
Experienced Valuers promptly sent
Removals without Trouble or Expense to Sellers.
Telegraphic Address: — Bookmen, London.
Code -.—UNICODE.
gioComaC an6 foreign
ipeparfmenf.
^oo&BmMng
5>eparfmmf.
Export Orders for America, the
Colonies, India, and Foreign Lands
executed with intelligence, care
and promptness : any discretionary
powers will be exercised with
judgment, and with every regard
to the interests of Customers.
To this Department the Advertisers
direct particular attention, as they en-
joy unwonted facilities for executing
binding of the highest class at very
moderate prices, as well as every
description of plain strong bind-
ing, suitable for Lending Libraries,
Mechanics’ Institutions, Clubs, &c.
136, Strand, W.C. and 36, Piccadilly, W.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON,
Scientific JBoofcsellers & flMiblisbers,
28, Essex Street , Strand, LONDON.
Just Published: Parts 1 2, 4to, 6 coloured plates, js. each part , post free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To be completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
•observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.” — E. P. Bicknell of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Crown 8vo, with one Plate, Cloth (published js . 6d. ), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist, — J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
Yarrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published , each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of W. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98.— Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
TWO HEW BOOKS ON BIRDS
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
Entomologists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7A, Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, London, W.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
■factories— 34, Riding house Street cr Ogle Street, IV.
TRADE SUPPLIED.
Demy 8vo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
of Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
FORD.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy 8vo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
£1 is.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“Yarrell’s History of British Birds,”
Fourth Edition.
Gurney & Jackson,
1, Paternoster Row
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICADA OR TETTIGIIM.
(FROGHOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia*
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured
Drawings. In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo. Part I. 8s. (Ready.)
No coloured monograph of the British Cicada1 exists, and it is even believed that no adequately illus-.
trated monograph exists of Enropean species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litho-cliroino plates and letterpress, illustrating the-
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this,
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author's notice, each species being illustrated by one or more-
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek and
Latin poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed by some-
species, and other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of Rliyn-
chotous insects. Mr. Buckton's name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labour
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY & Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by P. G. Hamerton. Published Monthly,
price Half-a-Crown.
TlHE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor ami
Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1S90 as a convenient opportunity for the
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will be abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The wiapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. Tliese-
alterations will contribute to the noble appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 36 plates and about 150 minor Illustrations. Price 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON: SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
NOW READY.
ffibe C(lerg£ last for 1890
(PORtt-uhstth: -y-zea^ir),
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Connected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., 51, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.
IRatuve IRotes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms in all Newspapers
Periodicals, and Magazines.
John Bale & Sons, Steam Printers, 87-89, Great Titchfield Street, W.
No. io.
October 15, 1890.
CU15ORN0
ocieTYS
RGH’ZiNC
T-HeKev.FeRCY. MYUe5.^.F.u.s. end jRlYiesJ^RITTCN. FUS.
p=k
'Cy'iM.
PRICE TWOPENCE.
H. SOTHERAN & Co.,
'SSooilse fferjs & fishers,
INCLUDING
GOULD’S ORNITHOLOGICAL WORKS AND OTHER WORKS
IN NATURAL HISTORY.
§ecort&=0cm6 pSooR
peparfmmf.
■glett) cm£> "ground
■gSook Peparfmenf.
Old and Second-Hand Books. —
The Stock is now, as it has been for
many years, of unusual extent and
variety, and is receiving constant
additions. A Monthly Catalogue
has now been issued for over forty
years. Specimen Number gratis.
Complete General Catalogue , large 8vo.
Standard Books and New Publi-
cations.— All the Standard Works,
particularly those necessary for an
English Library, together with the
new books issued by the leading
publishers, are kept constantly in
stock.
(pp. 380 ), cloth , price 3 s. 6 d., post free.
^libraries anb Boobs Bought.
!g||g O EXECUTORS, SOLICITORS, & OTHERS The
?§ jgpl Advertisers, who have the largest Stock of Second-hand
’U4"u — Books in London, are at all times prepared to INSPECT,
VALUE and PURCHASE Libraries or smaller Collections of BOOKS
either in Town or Country, and to give the utmost value in cash.
Experienced Valuers promptly sent.
Removals without Trouble or Expense to Sellers.
Telegraphic Address: — Bookmen, London.
Code UNICODE.
gioComaC an6 foreign
peparfmenf.
■g3oc>&6m6utg
peparfmenf.
Export Orders for America, the
Colonies, India, and Foreign Lands
executed with intelligence, care
and promptness : any discretionary
powers will be exeicised with
judgment, and with every regard
to the interests of Customers.
To this Department the Advertisers
direct particular attention, as they en-
joy unwonted facilities for executing
binding of the highest class at very
moderate prices, as well as every
description of plain strong bind-
ing, suitable for Lending Libraries,
Mechanics’ Institutions, Clubs, &c.
136, Strand, W.C. and 36, Piccadilly, W.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON,
Scientific booksellers & publishers,
28, Essex Street , Strand , LONDON.
Just Published: Parts 1 &> 2, 4to , 6 coloured plates, js. each part , post free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To be completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.” — E. P. Bicknell of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Crown 8vo, with one Plate , Cloth (published 3s . 6d. ), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist,— J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
Yarrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published, each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of W. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98. — Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
TWO NEW BOOKS ON BIRDS
Demy 8vo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
of Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
ford.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy 8vo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
£1 is.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“Yarrell’s History of British Birds,”
Fourth Edition.
Gurney & Jackson,
1, Paternoster Row
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
Entomologists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7A, Princes Street,
CaTendish Square, London, W.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Factories — 34> Ridinghouse Street 6° Ogle Street , IV.
TRADE SUPPLIED.
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICADjE OR TETTIGIIM
(FROGHOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured Drawings.
In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo./ 8s. a Part. Part IV., completing Yol. I., now ready.
No coloured monograph of the British Cicadse exists, and it is even believed tlirtl no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litho-cliromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author’s notice, each species being illustrated by one or more
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek and
Latin poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed by some
species, and other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of Rliyn-
chotous insects. Mr. Buckton's name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labour
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY & Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by P. G. IIamerton. Published Monthly ,
price Half-a Crown.
rpHE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor and
l Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1S90 as a convenient opportunity for the
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will be abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The wrapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to the nobie appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 36 plates and about 150 minor Illustrations. Price 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON : SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
3ST O W R K A D Y .
JUbe Cilery Xiist for 1890
(POBTY-NrilTTH: "YIEAVlR),
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., 51, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.
Mature Motes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms in all Newspapers
Periodicals , and Magazines .
John Bale & Sons, Steam Printers, 87-89, Great Titchfield Street, W.
^0;MTENTS
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
UPON PLANTS.
By The Rev. Professor George Henslow, M.A., F.L.S.
November 15, 1890.
ae f^cki50RNe
ocigtys
B GH^iNC
THE PRESERVATION AND ENJOYMENT OF
OPEN SPACES.
By Robert Hunter, M.A.
SYMPATHY OF BIRDS WITH THEIR KIND.
By Miss A. M. Buckton.
MISS MARIANNE NORTH.
BIRDS & BONNETS : THE LADIES IN PARLIA-
MENT.
SELBORNIANA.
Mr. G. A. Musgrave on “ Selbornian Propaganda.
The Bird-Pictures of H. Stacy Marks, R.A.
Guinea Pigs Rampant.
Sea and Sky Signs.
Cheddar Cliffs.
WORK OF BRANCHES, OFFICIAL NOTICES, &c.
Xon&on :
H. SOTHERAN & Co.
136, Strand, W.C. & 36, Piccadilly, W.
Manchester : 49, Cross Street
T-H€K£V.FeRCY.MYkG5.-R»Pi.T=.U.S. end JpMe5.T5K'lTTGN. FU&.
PRICE TWOPENCE,
H. SOTHERAN & Co.,
^3ooftseITer3 & 1^u6fis6ers,
INCLUDING
GOULD’S ORNITHOLOGICAL WORKS AND OTHER WORKS
IN NATURAL HISTORY.
<gieccnt6=0mt6 IKooft
department.
"glen) an6 '§3omt6
peparintenf.
Old and Second-Hand Books. —
The Stock is now, as it has been for
many years, of unusual extent and
variety, and is receiving constant
additions. A Monthly Catalogue
has now been issued for over forty
years. Specimen N umber gratis.
Complete General Catalogue , large Zvo.
Standard Books and New Publi-
cations.— All the Standard Works,
particularly those necessary for an
English Library, together with the
new books issued by the leading
publishers, are kept constantly in
stock.
(pp. 380 ), cloth , price 3 s. 6 d., post free.
libraries ant) Books Bought.
|gfgj|0 EXECUTORS, SOLICITORS, & OTHERS The
iJp Advertisers, who have the largest Stock of Second-hand
^ Books in London, are at all times prepared to INSPECT,
VALUE and purcpiase Libraries or smaller Collections of Books
either in Town or Country, and to give the utmost value in cash.
Experienced Valuers promptly sent.
Removals without Trouble or Expense to Sellers.
Telegraphic Address : — Bookmen, London.
Code -.—UNICODE.
gloComaf an6 3-oretgrt
departmeitl.
'gSoo&fnttMrtcj
5>ep<*vfme«t.
Export Orders for America, the
Colonies, India, and Foreign Lands
executed with intelligence, care
and promptness : any discretionary
powers will be exercised with
judgment, and with every regard
to the interests of Customers.
To this Department the Advertisers
direct particular attention, as they en-
joy unwonted facilities for executing
binding of the highest class at very
moderate prices, as well as every
description of plain strong bind-
ing, suitable for Lending Libraries,
Mechanics’ Institutions, Clubs, &c.
186, Strand, W.C. and 36, Piccadilly, W.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON,
Scientific Booksellers & publishers,
28, .Essex Street \ Strand , LONDON.
Just Published: Parts f Sr= 2, 4to , 6 coloured plates , js. each part , yfoV free.
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To bo completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
to your pen-pictures, a flavour of the woods and fields, which cannot fail to be appreciated
by all who appreciate Nature.” — E. P. Bicknell of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Crown Svo, with one Plate , Cloth (published js . 6d. ), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist, — J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
Yarrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in Feathers, by Olive Thorne Miller. ,
Recently published , each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of VV. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98.— Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
TWO NEW BOOKS ON BIRDS
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
E n to mo/ogis fs, 0 rn i th o togis ts,
Botanists, &c.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7a, Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, London, W.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Factories — 34, R idinghouse Street Cr Ogle Street , W.
TRADE SUPPLIED.
Demy 8vo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
of Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
ford.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy Svo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
D is.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“ Yarrell’s History of British Birds,”
Fourth Edition.
Gurney & Jackson,
1, Paternoster Row
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICAM OR TETTIGIM.
(FROGHOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. ]SIemb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured Drawings.
In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo. 8s. a Part. Part IV., completing Vol. I., now ready.
No coloured monograph of the British Cicada- exists, and it is even believed that, no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litho-chromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author's notice, each species being illustrated by one or more
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek and
Latin poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed by some
species, and other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of Rhyn-
chotous insects. Mr. Buckton's name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labour
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY 8l Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by P. G. IlAMERTON. Published Monthly ,
price Half-a-Crown.
riMIE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor and
1 Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1S'.»0 as a convenient opportunity for the
introduction of several important improvements.
Tlie text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. Idle double columns will he abolished, except
in the case of the Art Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
consecutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The wrapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved in colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to tlie noble appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 36 plates and about 150 minor Illustrations. Price 35s., Clolli, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON : SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
jNTOW READY.
JUbe C(lei'G£ Xiist for 1890
(FOETY-NTHsTTH YEAE),
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., 51, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.
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ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms in all Newspapers
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John Bale & Sons, Steam Printers, 87-89, Great Titchfield Street, W.
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NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, by H. Nehrling. To be completed in 12
parts, containing 36 coloured plates, after Water-colour Drawings by Robert
Ridgway, A. Goering, and Gustav Muetzel. 1889.
“Your work is far more satisfactory than other works which have come before me
professing more than they performed. Your pages bear evidence of careful and enthusiastic
observation and study of our birds, and, while containing much having that value to science
which always attaches to records of original observation, is, at the same time, by no means
too technical for bird lovers who are not ornithologists. There is an out-of-doors’ atmosphere
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Crown Svo, with one Plate, Cloth (published js . 6d. ), 2s. 6d.
THE HOUSE SPARROW, by J. H. Gurney, jun., Col. C. Russell, and
Dr. Elliott Coues. 1885.
Contents : — The House Sparrow, by an Ornithologist,- — J. H. Gurney, jun. The
House Sparrow, by a Friend of the Farmers, — Colonel C. Russell. The House Sparrow in
Yarrell’s British Birds. The Sparrow in our Bill of Fare. The English Sparrow in
America, by Dr. Elliott Coues. A Ruffian in F'eathers, by Olive Thorne Miller.
Recently published, each post free on receipt of the price.
NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR:
Containing a priced list of VV. Wesley & Son’s stock of Scientific Works.
No. 98.— Ornithology, Mammalia, Faunas and Geography. (Over 1,000 works),
price 4d.
W. WESLEY AND SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
The Practical Cabinet Maker.
TWO NEW BOOKS ON BIRDS
Cabinets & Apparatus,
Of every description for the use of
Entomologists, Ornithologists,
Botanists, &c.
J. T. CROCKETT,
7A, Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, London, W.,
Seven Doors from Oxford Circus.
Factories — 34, Ridinghouse Street Ogle Street , IV.
TRADE SUPPLIED.
Demy 8vo, 650 pages, with an Etching
by Frank Short, 18s.
Notes on Sport and Ornithology.
By His Imperial and Royal Highness
the late Crown Prince Rudolf
of Austria. Translated, with the
Author’s permission, by C. G. Dan-
FORD.
In One Volume, 790 pages, demy Svo,
with 367 fine Woodcuts and three Maps,
D is.
An Illustrated Manual of British
Birds. By Howard Saunders,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the
Third and Fourth Volumes of
“Yarrell’s History of British Birds,”
Fourth Edition.
Gurney & Jackson,
1, Paternoster Row
(Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors).
MONOGRAPH OF THE BRITISH CICADA5 OR TETTIGIIM
(FROGHOPPERS AND GRASSFLIES.)
By George Bowdler Buckton, F.R.S., Corr. Memb. Acad. Nat. Hist, of Philadelphia,
Memb. de la Soc. Ent. de France. Illustrated by more than 400 Coloured Drawings.
In Eight Parts. Demy 8vo. 8s. a Part. Part IV., completing Yol. I., now ready.
No coloured monograph of the British Cicada1 exists, and it is even believed that no adequately illus-
trated monograph exists of European species. Partly to meet this want, it is proposed to publish eight
quarterly parts, each containing on an average ten litlio-chromo plates and letterpress, illustrating the
forms, metamorphoses, general anatomy, and the chief details connected with the life-history of this
family of insects. The work will contain also short diagnoses of all the British species, about 230 in
number, most of which have come under the author’s notice, each species being illustrated by one or more
coloured drawings. Some account will be given of the curious myths and tales told by ancient Greek and
I -at in poets, and descriptions will be appended relating to the curious sound-organs possessed by some
species, and other subjects connected with the economy of this interesting but difficult group of Bliyn-
chotous insects. Mr. Bnckton’s name is well known to entomologists, and this book represents the labour
and observation of many years.
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON.
SEELEY & Co., Limited, Essex St., Strand.
THE PORTFOLIO.
An Artistic Periodical. Edited by P. G. Hamerton. Published Monthly,
price Half-a-Crown.
rirHE PORTFOLIO having now nearly completed the twentieth year of its existence, the Editor ami
l Publishers have decided to take the beginning of the year 1S90 as a convenient opportunity for the
introduction of several important improvements.
The text will be printed in a larger and handsomer type. The double columns will be abolished, except
in the case of the Abt Chronicle, which will be so paged that when the volume is bound it can be placed
eonseeutively at the end.
The new page will afford opportunities for the introduction of ornamental initial letters (which the narrow
column did not admit), headpieces and tailpieces, copied from good examples, or expressly designed. As it
will contain somewhat less matter than before, the number of pages will be proportionately increased.
The Industrial Arts of the present day will receive fuller notice than hitherto.
The wrapper will bear a new device, and the cloth binding will be improved iu colour and design. These
alterations will contribute to the noble appearance of the yearly volume.
An illustrated prospectus may be obtained from the publishers.
Now is the time to subscribe.
THE PORTFOLIO VOLUME FOR 1889
Is NOW READY, containing 3b plates and about 150 minoi Illustrations. Price 35s., cloth, gilt
edges ; or 42s., half morocco.
LONDON: SEELEY & CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND.
^OW READY.
IUhe C(ler$£ Hist for 1890
(FOETT-NINTH ^TIEJYIR),
Containing a Complete List of the Clergy of England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies.
Fully Corrected and Revised up to the time of going to press.
Price 10s. 6d.
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS BY
KELLY & CO., 51, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.
IRatuve IRotes ; the Selborne Society’s Magazine.
All Advertisements for the above Magazine should be sent to
F. TALLIS & SON, 22, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS inserted on the most favourable terms in all Newspapers
Periodicals , and Magazines.
John* Bale & Sons, Steam Printers, 87-89, Great Titchfield Street, W.
O'
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