Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/129

Rh as a charm in the graves of females. One or two examples of this have been found in the burying ground which I have been speaking of ; a drawing of one of which may be seen in Douglas's ' Nenia Britannica,' but I have never had the good fortune to find one myself. — J. Pemberton Bartlett; February 26th, 1846.

Effects of Music on Animals. — The fact that musical sounds have certain eflfects upon some animals, birds, insects, &c., has not escaped the notice of naturalists, and the fol- lowing anecdote may not be uninteresting to some of your readers. I can vouch for its correctness, having been myself an eye-witness. Sitting round the fire one winter's even- ing at a friend's house, for our amusement a musical snuff-box was placed on the mantel-piece, when very soon, the tails of three or four mice were seen to protrude from between a crevice, occasioned by the shrinking of the wood of the mantel-piece from the brickwork ; when the box ceased playing, it seemed a signal for the little strangers to depart, as their tails very soon disappeared. The experiment was repeated several times the same evening, and also subsequent ones, with similar success. It would seem, therefore, that the sensations experienced were those of pleasure, but whether one kind of music had a greater charm with them than another, I had no opportunity of judging. — Charles Muskett; Norwich, January, 1846.

Cattle mouthing Bones. — We arrived towards evening at the side of a range of hills called "Zuureberg." The name indicates the acid or sour quality of its pasturage, and was given by the farmers. It is a curious fact that the sourness of a pasture is always indicated by the cattle chewing bones, which they never do when the grasses are quite sweet: they know by instinct what remedy to take for neutralising the acidity in their stomachs. It was very interesting sometimes to see our oxen chasing each other to get hold of a bone out of the mouth of another. The farmers believe, from ignorance of the true state of things, that the cattle use these bones to sharpen their teeth, and generally affirm that the teeth of cattle become sensible and painful, from the sour nature of their food ; while the fact is, they chew and swallow the bones, as a cure for the inter- nal acidity. — Zeyher's Tour in South Africa.

Cattle mouthing Bones. — In reference to the several notes which have lately appeared in ' The Zoologist ' on this subject, I may remark that in this quarter it is a quite com- mon occurrence for cows to chew bones ; as also old shoes, pieces of leather, and other articles they can pick up in the fields which may have been put upon the ground with the manure. I have myself often observed the circumstance. Instead of being bene- ficial, however, to the animals, as might be inferred from the statement of Pontoppidan quoted in the last numbers of ' The Zoologist ' (Zool. 1246), it is here considered to be highly detrimental, and means are always resorted to to get the articles taken out of the mouth of the animal. One evident injury is, that growing cattle are prevented from eating, while chewing bones or other substances. — George Lawson; 108, Hawkhill, Dundee, February 10th, 1846.

Note of the arrival of some of the Summer Birds of passage at Shooter^s Hill, Kent, in the spring of 1845.—