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[[pencil]] Jamaica 43 [[/pencil]]

""cobweb" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon "coppe", a spider, "Spider", in its turn, is the same as spinster or spinner.............
"Yours failthfully, Rusticus"
Another letter from The Queen, February 13, 1935.
"Wendover, Bucks.
"Madam, - I had definite proof that birds of the same species can "talk" whilst on a visit to a naturalist who has made a lifelong study of birds, their language and customs.
"He told me that; after years of study of some of the commoner birds, he had come to understand what certain sounds meant, and had, in fact, proved it to his satisfaction by imitating them with conclusive results. As an example, he had for years been endeavouring to photograph a sparrow-hawk feeding her young, but had always met with failure. The bird, although building year after year in the same tree and although approached carefully day after day, always remained too wild to permit my friend to take the desired picture.
"On his approach he noticed that the adult hawks always gave forth a shrill note which was apparently a warning, and that all members of the hawk tribe used this par-

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"ticular cry [[underlined]] only [[/underlined]] when something they distrusted was in sight.
"Again, he noticed that both adult and young birds used a particular cry when searching for or desiring food.
"He therefore practised the food call, and when he considered himself "word perfect" returned to the wood openly, disturbing the parent birds, who at once flew off. He then climbed a convenient tree, and having carefully screened himself and adjusted his camera began calling plaintively for food.
"Almost at once first one and then the other parent bird arrived with food which by the way, the young ones, although they had not joined in his supplications, were quite ready to receive; and my friend was able to take several satisfactory photographs of a subject which for years had eluded him. Yours truly, Blanche Welles."

Pearls, in The Queen for August 22, 1934.
"Madam, - ...... The substance of a pearl is essentially the same as that which lines the interior of many shells, and is known as mother-of-pearl. The oyster or mussel forms the pearl around some microscopic parasite that has invaded his shell