4. The wings do not strike the log, but are drawn in by a quick motion against the sides of the bird.—E. L. Stephan, Pine City, Minn. _Hydrae hunting._ I send you a drawing of a _hydra_ which (natural size) is about half an inch long. I have seen a _hydra fusca_ catch little animals smaller than itself by means of its lasso, and, when they were dead, drop them without eating them.—Alex. Wight, Framingham, Mass. _A motherly rat._ I found in a nest a mouse, of the common sort, so young that its eyes were not yet open. A friend having a white rat with a litter of young, we put the little fellow among them. The mother rat at once adopted it and took good care of it for two weeks, when it escaped.—Frank H. Foster, Sec. 440. _Flowers, birds, insects, and worms of Japan._ Before coming to Japan I was told that the flowers here had no perfumes, and the birds no songs. This certainly was misinformation, as there are both, though not so intense or so various as at home. The skylark is the most conspicuous of the birds, at least, so far as voice goes, and pours forth as much music as any half dozen of our songsters. No wonder the poets have gone mad over him. Will some of our English friends tell us whether the skylark sings any in the _fall_ in England? Very many of the worms and caterpillars that live on the leaves of trees and shrubs—and every tree and bush seems to have one or more of these enemies—have a queer way of spinning themselves a sort of sack or cocoon covered with bits of twigs and leaves. One end of the cocoon is left open, and through this the worm sticks its head and feet, thus carrying its jacket around with it while eating. The earth-worms are very striking. They all possess much more springing power than any I ever saw at home. Even the small, common kinds will jump entirely off the ground when touched. Some grow to an enormous size. The largest I saw this summer were fully ten inches long and from three-eighths to one-half an inch through when contracted. Some are beautifully striped—in rings—with a prevailing blue color, but changing in the light like variegated silk.—C. M. Cady. _A robin fights._ While on a tramp, one day, I saw a robin give a cow-bird a sound thrashing. _A “fish-fly” walks out._ I found, one day, in Wine creek, some queer-shaped larvæ. They looked like large wrigglers. I picked some up and, while looking at them, I saw the back of one split open, and out walked a fish-fly. I thought it would have trouble in getting its tail out, but it didn’t. It just gave a twist and out came the tail.—F. V. Corregan, Oswego, N. Y.