Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/241

Rh Note on the keen scent and persevering efforts of the Weasel tribe in pursuit of their prey. A relative of the present First Lord of the Treasury informs me, that a clergyman of the Church of England and himself were once out in the fields a few miles from Burton, in quest of feathered game, when they suddenly observed a hare, all bespattered with dirt, and evidently much distressed, to come through a gap in a fence close at hand, and cross the field. In a very short time two stoats (Mustela erminea) made their appearance at the same gap, in hot pursuit of the hare, but overran the scent. Nothing daunted by this reverse, they made a cast in fine style, regained the scent, and continued running on the track whilst in sight of my informant and his friend. Another gentleman, on whose veracity I can also implicitly rely, tells me that when a boy he was once hiding himself in a barn, waiting for "queests," when he saw a mouse run hastily across the floor, some little while after followed by a weasel (Mustela vulgaris) of particularly small dimensions (most probably a female), which carried its nose very low, as if smelling its way, and passing, without any deviation, along the track, entered the hole through which the mouse had previously gone. The poor little mouse thus pursued again made its appearance, and presently after the weasel also, upon the track, as before. This was repeated several times, and from the persevering efforts of the pursuer, there is little doubt that the mouse ultimately fell a victim to the keen scent and the rapacity of the weasel. A respectable mechanic also assures me that he was once witness to the fact of a stoat swimming across a brook about two yards wide, in pursuit of a rat which he had just before observed to swim across.—Id.

Note on the Noctule Bat (Vespertilio noctula). A remarkably fine male specimen of the noctule, measuring fully fifteen and a half inches in extent of wing, was found in the college garden on Easter-eve, with one wing broken. They are rarely seen here so early in the year, but towards the end of June and July they appear in considerable numbers, flying rather low over the streets (in contradiction to White of Selborne's epithet of altivolans), and exhibiting great powers of wing. Oxford, from its old buildings and numerous towers, is a complete nursery of bats; and I suspect the tower of Merton is a favourite haunt of this species, as some years since, when I occupied rooms opposite to it, they frequently, as well as other species, flew through the windows on summer evenings; but the rapidity and strength of their flight made it very difficult to catch them with a net. On these occasions, they would dash close to my face in a menacing manner, snapping their teeth loudly, instead of showing the terrified timidity of the smaller species.—''Fredk. Holme; C.C.C. Oxford, May'' 15, 1843.

an inmate of the parsonage at Pakenham (Suffolk) I noticed the occasional visits of a pair of nuthatches (Sitta europæa) to an old mulberry-tree which stood about eight or ten feet from the diningroom window. In order to encourage them frequently to repeat their visits, I put some nuts in chinks in various parts of the tree. In the course of a few days these were discovered and carried off. By replacing them with fresh ones as soon as removed, the birds soon learnt to pay incessant attention to their new feeding- ground. Theywere