Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/277

Rh had he not dropped it, whereupon the mother took it up again and ran off with it. — (Oswaldkirk, York).

— Mr. Reeks mentions (p. 206) a case of a goat eating tobacco with impunity. I can confirm this statement. A goat belonging to Mr. Barr, yacht-builder, of Wivenhoe, was very fond of eating tobacco, and if a pouch was shown to him would follow the owner about until he had some tobacco given him. I have frequently given him half-an- ounce, and on one occasion I left my pouch, containing between two and three ounces, open within his reach, which in a few minutes he cleared without doing him the least harm. — (7, Finsbury Circus).

— Apropos of the notes which have already appeared on this subject (pp. 177, 206, 207) it may be observed that Gilpin, in his 'Remarks on Forest Scenery' (Sir T. D. Lauder's edition, vol. i., p. 191), states that " Cattle and sheep eat yew twigs greedily, and with impunity when they crop them from the tree or bush. But these animals have been frequently poisoned by eating the clippings of a yew hedge which have lain for a little time. This can only be accounted for by the supposition that some chemical change takes place in the arrangement of the juices of the plant, which generates a poison not pre-existing in it." Gilpin is mistaken, however, in supposing that the poisonous effects result only from cropping the living tree. In addition to the instances already cited (p. 177), I am reminded of an accident which occurred in Yorkshire a few years since, when three valuable horses were destroyed by eating the leaves of a growing yew tree, which they had been incautiously allowed to get at through the carelessness of a tenant in not repairing his fences. —

— Though nothing rare has occurred here of late, Mr. Smith, the Newport taxidermist, has received a Little Bittern which was picked up at Brixton, in a dying state, on the 2nd of May last year. It is a male, in perfect plumage, 15½ inches in length, and 2l£ inches in extent of wing. Swallows, this spring, were unusually late in appearing here, none having been observed till the middle of April, and no Martins till the beginning of May. Both species have become less numerous of late years, and few breed here now, though they are to be seen in countless numbers during the autumnal migration. Neither Chiff- chaff nor Willow Wren was seen till the first week in April. Several Swifts were observed on the 9th of May flying about the Carisbrook church- tower. Young Starlings were first seen on the wing on the 25th of May. How the young manage to fly up or creep up chimney-pots over three feet in height is wonderful, but their very powerful claws and sharp nails no doubt aid them in doing so. I may record here the strange death of a