Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/89

Rh distant from him, and which, as Mr. Weaver has shown in the present volume, possesses so many attractions for the zoologist and botanist. "Its richly wooded uplands, picturesque hangers and fertile valley' abound," he says, "in natural productions; and the enthusiastic naturalist may here find ample scope for a life-long study of its fauna and flora." That Mr. Weaver has paid considerable attention to both, is evident from his remarks, which extend over some 260 pages, and are divided into chapters on the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, molluscs and insects which have been met with in the district, as well as on the timber trees, flowering plants, orchids, ferns, and Fungi.

We have marked many passages in the 'Natural History of Harting' as worth noting, but space will not admit of our alluding to more than a few of these.

Until very recently, the author assures us, he had been under the impression that the Water Vole subsisted exclusively on vegetables, chiefly aquatic plants and roots; and that, with the exception of its censurable habit of burrowing in the banks of the ponds, and a few unimportant pilferings at no great distance from its habitation, very little mischief could be justly laid to its charge. He has now, however, satisfied himself that this animal occasionally pursues and attacks young ducklings, an individual of this species having been caught and killed, flagrante delicto, and "identified beyond the possibilty of a doubt."

In Murray's 'Handbook' for the county it is stated that the only pair of Ravens in Sussex is (or was) at Parham Park. This is an error. Mr. Weaver asserts that "the ravenhood of Uppark is a time-honoured institution, the origin of which is only to be guessed at." Until the spring of 1866 a pair nested annually at Halting, and whenever retributive justice, at the hands of a keeper, overtook their misdeeds, and one of the pair was shot, the survivor, after disappearing for a time, invariably returned with another partner. One year the eggs were taken, but in a very short time afterwards they had another nest, not two hundred yards from their favourite clump, and succeeded in rearing their young. So that it would seem to be a difficult affair to expel them, even if such a thing were attempted. In the early part of 1866, however, a furious hurricane from the south-west passed over the country and uprooted hundreds of trees in the park. Unfortunately one of the latter in its fall crashed into the very