Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/176

Fearless Tits.—The following I cut from a Sussex paper about two or three weeks ago, and thought it might be interesting to some of your distant readers. "There is now to be seen between the wall and the door-post of the Swan Inn, Chailey, the nest of a pair of tomtits containing several eggs. The door-post is considerably decayed, and is constantly moving to and from. Last year a nest was made (it is supposed by these birds) in the same place, when, notwithstanding that on one occasion the door was shut violently, shaking some of the eggs from the nest, the fearless birds returned to their homes and successfully reared their little one." I think this is a proof that the tit is one of our most fearless birds.—E. S.

Vipers Swallowing their Young.—This appears a vexed question. Whether vipers are in the constant habit of swallowing their young I cannot say; but that they can do so I am quite sure. Some years since I was shooting in a wood, and came suddenly on a viper lying on a sunny bank. As soon as the viper caught sight of me, it began to hiss, and I distinctly saw several young ones, about three or four inches long, run up to the parents, and vanish down its throat; and from the way in which the parents kept its mouth open, and the young ones glided into it, I should say they were accustomed to that sort of thing.—H. C. S

Snake and Viper.—On July 18th last, I was at Sherborne, Dorsetshire. In a wood not far from thence, I was looking for ferns, with a basket and fork to dig them up. As I was going on looking further, I saw in the grass a viper, which suddenly, on seeing me approach, disappeared. I following it to the place where it had disappeared, which turned out to be a large hole in the ground, not deep, but wide; and on inserting the handle of the fork into this, the creature came out. I immediately seized it behind the neck, and foolishly placed it in the basket, and took it to our house, which was close by. I then put the basket into a box, and after dinner took out the basket and opened it. The viper was very sluggish; but on touching it, and endeavouring to take it by the neck, as I had done before, it struck at me, and bit my left forefinger. I immediately threw it down and stamped upon it, and sucked the place, cutting it with a knife, and putting ammonia to it. Meanwhile, my brother went for the doctor, and before he came I began to feel very faint, and inclined to vomit. When he came, he cut two incisions in the finger, and tied it up at the root, putting it into as hot water as I could bear. He also made me drink a quantity of ammonia and water, and then go to bed. The finger was very painful, and bled for a long time, and I was very feverish. The next day I got up, but was very weak, and there was a green mark all up from my finger, which was very large, to my left side, and all up my arm. The mark as far as the side was in a narrow line, but at the side it was in a large blotch. My finger was poulticed, and I had a cushion, dipped in water in which broken poppy-heads had been boiled, placed between my arm and side. The arm was much swelled, and I soon went to bed again. The next day I got up again, and from thence began rapidly to get well, and in a week had my arm out of a sling and my finger almost well. I was perfectly well by the day fortnight on which the bite occurred. These facts are, I need hardly say, perfectly true, and the more remarkable because olive oil was not used at all.

Now for the snake. About the 20th of April, I was taking a walk some way from Sherborne, accompanied by my brother, and was looking for divers water insects with a water-net. We came to a large pond, in which there were several newts; and my brother, looking into it, exclaimed, "Oh, E——, there is a snake in the pond!" I looked, and there saw it moving at the bottom. I tried to capture it in the net, but could not; and my brother shortly afterwards said, "Here, it is coming out." I went softly to the spot to which he pointed, and there, sure enough, was a snake coming up the steep bank with something in its mouth. I crouched down on my stomach, and when the snake's head came to the top of the bank, I caught hold of the neck, and, in spite of its struggles, succeeded in capturing it. I then saw that what it had in its mouth was a large black newt. I put them both into a tin box which we had with us, and on coming home, opened the box and found that the newt had disappeared—no doubt having been eaten by the snake. I have the snake alive in my possession at this very moment.—Edwin Arthur Eade.

Dog v. Fox.—A few weeks ago a fox was observed by a man standing on Bulkley Hill, in the neighbourhood of Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire, in pursuit of a dog, who was making the best of his way home over the low ground at the foot of the hill. A short time previously the same dog had been sent into a hole to draw a fox, but did not succeed, the dog getting somewhat roughly used, and it is surmised the fox may have been the same with which the dog had the encounter.—S. C. Sagar.

Small Birds and Insect Pests.—It appears from the public journals that in France cockchafers and caterpillars are making sad havoc. They have stripped trees of their leaves in the Bois de Boulogne and St. Maur, and the hills from Champigny to Sucy, which supply the Parisians annually with so many thousands of pounds' worth of excellent apples, pears, cherries, and plums, will, it is said,