High on the stately dome, with harp in hand, PIGEONS AT OXFORD.-I was born and brought up at Christ Church, Oxford. When my Father took us to church on a Sunday morning we always saw many pigeons at Carfax, where the four cross-roads meet. There were never any pigeons at Carfax except on Sunday morning-none on a week-day. My father made us observe why the pigeons only came of a Sunday. The reason is that it is the custom of the farmers to meet at Carfax on Saturday and show samples of wheat to each other. The pigeons came on a Sunday morning to pick up the spilt grains. BATS, p. 36.-A TAME BAT FROM BRUGES CATHEDRAL.-My friend, Mr. Samuel Walker, thus describes his tame bat, Piggy:"During a tour in Belgium, in 1874, we ascended the high belfry at Bruges, and while examining the bells my attention was drawn to a bat flying about. After half an hour's chase, I captured him and carried him off in my handkerchief. The little creature did its best to bite me, and on returning home I constructed a wire cage, in which it lived (or nearly died) for nine days. On my arrival in London I at once took it to Mr. Frank Buckland, who was charmed with my prize, and at once prescribed warmth, water, and meal-worms. Until his suggestions the little creature had been left in draughts and fed with flies and meal-worms. Mr. Buckland called to see it, and praised the new cage I had made for it, ie., a box a foot square, lined with green baize, perforated zinc at the top, glass in the front, and a door at the back. 'Piggy,' for that is the name we have given it, is now in good health, eats eight meal-worms daily, besides daddy-longlegs, of which he is very fond, and after he has eaten them smacks his lips and yawns. It frequently opens its mouth as if thirsty, and I immediately give it some water at the end of my finger. If I give it too much it squeaks like a mouse and tries to bite me. The size of the bat when asleep is not larger than an ordinary mouse. When flying it measures about eight inches from wing to wing. Inside the cage I put two small bottles with warm water. After a good meal it purrs louder than a cat, in comparison to its size, and if I stroke it gently it erects its ears, and puts first one and then the other up to be scratched. It has a coat about an eighth of an inch thick. Its habits are cleanly, and its manners funny." Piggy lived about five months, when he died. I cast him and painted him to life. BATS IN CHURCHES.-The following is a prescription which will be of use to country clergymen who are plagued with bats in their churches. "I can inform a brother clergyman that I have succeeded in keeping bats out of my church by stuffing bits of gorse or furze into the small recesses where they take up their quarters. The same remedy applies in the case of sowing peas; if they are covered with small sprigs of furze, the prickles will prevent their being attacked by mice. I am now applying it also as a means of keeping slugs from young plants of dahlias.' MOUSE CAUGHT BY AN OYSTER, p. 37.-I have in my museum at South Kensington, preserved in spirits, an excellent specimen of a mouse caught by an oyster. When oysters are exposed to the air any length of time, especially in hot weather, they always "gape their shell;" probably seeking for a drink of In the water. The beard at this time lies flat upon the shell. case portrayed in the picture the oyster must have been placed without water, in a larder. The mouse hunting about for food put his head in to nibble at the oyster and was trapped. A second specimen of the same occurrence was sent me in August, 1875. In both cases the mouse was killed by the pressure of the oyster's shells. The adductor muscle which works the shells of the oyster is very strong. The oyster that caught the mouse is very handsome; the points of a good oyster are, first, a china-like shell, and second, a deep upper shell to contain the meat. The mouse in the picture must have been a judge of oysters. I have also a photograph of an oyster-catcher being caught by the beak by an oyster, and I once had a specimen of a crab that had been caught by the tip of the toe by an oyster. People at the sea-side should be very careful not to put their hands into holes to bring up lobsters and crabs. I have heard of a case of a man's fingers being nipped by the crab's claws and his hand jammed in a crevice of the rock, until the tide rose and drowned him. YEWS, p. 38. The juice of Yew berries is good to eat; the seeds are dangerous. The boughs are fatal to cattle, though it is not often cattle will meddle with them except from mischief or idleness. Cattle and deer seem to prefer the boughs or loppings of yew, laurel, and other evergreens, when they have been cut a few days, and are much more inclined to eat them in that state, than to browse on them as they grow. Gardeners and foresters cannot therefore be too careful as to where they throw refuse of this description. Haws are a very favourite food of many birds, and a good crop of these berries will bring into the neighbourhood hundreds and hundreds of field-fares and redwings. Even black game will come down from their customary haunts to feed on the road-side hedges; and an old blackcock picking haws alongside the Queen's highway has not unfrequently astonished the wayfarer. CANARIES, p. 40.-It is quite possible to breed canaries out of doors; the eggs should be placed in the nests of chaffinches or greenfinches, those of greenfinches would be preferable. The cross (artificially produced) between the cock greenfinch and hen canary is common. Mr. Davy has received from Norwich canaries bred out of doors in aviaries; but they are, as a rule, of a pale colour to those bred in cages indoors, and consequently are more wild for the first few days. During the winter these birds are so much exposed that the ice has to be broken for them to drink. My friend, Mr. Monk, of Lewes, informs me some wild canaries were taken at Southwick, near Brighton, in April, 1869, feeding with a party of linnets, and as they showed no marks of having been caged, he surmised they might have migrated here. I learn from Mr. Davy that there is no putting a canary's song into words, but a canary may be taught any bird's song by being brought up from the nest among them. As regards the canary market in England, the great breeding places are Norwich, Yarmouth, Yorkshire, Leicester, and Manchester. These places supply the London market with canaries. Canaries are mostly bred by shoemakers during the summer, and sold to the London trade from October till March. They are sent up in "scores," one score being twenty pairs. If you were to send for a "score" of canaries, they would send you forty birds. The breeders prefer sending them in pairs. Three hens are charged as a "pair." The wholesale price in the autumn is £4 per score. The price rises in the spring, and advances to as much as £7 per score. The most valuable and delicate canaries are the Belgians. When undisturbed they sit "all of a lump," but when the cage is taken down they show their beauty by lengthening themselves out like a telescope, and bringing themselves into form. Some will nearly pass through a large wedding ring, and birds of first-class will fetch as much as £10 per pair. The kind of canary most resembling the Belgians are the Yorkshire birds. These are also very long and graceful. They vary from 7s. 6d. to 30s. per pair. Norwich, as a rule, produces the richest coloured birds. The motto is: Norwich for colour, The best come from the Hartz Mountains. German birds are not much to look at, but command high prices on account of their beautiful song. CHAFFINCHES, p. 41.-The London bird-catchers take great numbers of cock chaffinches by dummies. A dummy is a stuffed finch, fastened on a peg, which can be placed on a fence or on a tree by means of a small sharpened wire on the end of the peg; bird-lime twigs are placed under and above the dummy. The birds are attracted by the song of a call bird in a cage, which is placed or hidden in a ditch close by. The wild bird, thinking that the dummy is singing, comes down to attack it by striking at it; the feathers of the wild bird get caught by the bird-lime and bird and twig fall to the ground. This plan can only be carried out when birds are in full song, when they are "off song" they will not strike at the dummy. The wild bird thinks the dummy is a poacher on his beat. There are four or five different ways of putting the chaffinch's song into words. Thus one bird sings, " Ring, ring, rattle, chuck wido;" a good "chuck wido," is considered the best song bird; again, another bird sings, "Ring, ring, rattle, Jack white." The poor Spitalfields weavers will give 31. or 41. each for a good chaffinch. These birds are sung in matches for from 17. to 57.; many bird-fanciers will come for miles to hear a good chaffinch. Most of the matches are sung by gaslight. Two birds are put up at a time in separate cages to sing a match; fifteen minutes is the time allowed for the singing match, and the bird who does the greatest number of complete songs in that time becomes the winner. Some birds are called "Chuck wido" birds, some "Jack white," and some "Kiss me dear," from the finishing words of the chaffinch's song. The best song birds are to be found in Essex. The average price to a shopkeeper is 3s. a dozen. Some turn out good birds, some bad, you are as likely to get a good bird for 6d. as a bad one for 1s. The greater portion of these finches are "sighted," or as they call it, "done;" the corner of the eye is slightly touched with a red-hot needle, and the injury is scarcely discernible. They are kept in little square cages till they can find their food and water before they are "done." It is a most cruel practice. The Anti-Cruelty Society should look to this and stop it at once. Chaffinches remain upon the stubble all the winter till they are ploughed out, and move to other localities for food. When driven by snow they abound about stackyards. They are decidedly migratory; a larger kind and brighter coloured chaffinch comes from the north and returns in the spring. Mr. Davy has seen the same kind of birds in cages from Germany. London fanciers do not like them; for their song, as a rule, is indifferent. Large flocks of chaffinches come in the September and October flights. Most bird-catchers catch equal numbers of males and females. They are to be found upon the stubble fields and freshly manured ground, and on long litter, until pairing time in spring. LINNETS, p. 41.-Linnets come from abroad in immense flocks, and locate themselves on stubble where charlock seed abounds; when spring arrives they go away in flights to their building places. They are taken in clap-nets by thousands, as are the chaffinches. The song of the linnet is thus put into words by the London bird-catchers: "Hepe, hepe, hepe, hepe Tollaky, tollaky, quakey, wheet, Heep, pipe, chow, Heep, tollaky, quakey, wheet, Lug, orcher wheet." |