Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/97

Rh own word of similar meaning, viz. mouette (or mot), which is connected with mew—a word still found in the Scotch name for a gull, namely, maw. In short. Guillemot is a Celtic-Teutonic compound, in which one word explains the other. Finally, Nuthatch does not, though it may imply. Nutcracker, but is simply another form of Nut-hacker, i.e. Nut-hewer. The bird may at a nut, which may or may not be  by the blow.— (Highworth, Ashford, Kent).

Molluscs eaten by Wood-Pigeons.—Referring to the notes on this subject (Zool. 1900, p. 484), not only is this usual in wild birds, but also in fancy Pigeons occupying our aviaries; my brother kept a number of the last, which he was in the habit of letting out in early mornings for exercise. After such excursions they fed their young as soon as they returned, and I have frequently cleaned away from round their beaks (i.e. of the squabs) remains of Snails and Slugs: these young were always stronger than the young of those who never had their liberty, and consequently had no opportunity of obtaining such food: though, when I have supplied a handful of the large garden shelled Snails, they have been eagerly eaten, smashing the shells as do Thrushes. My outdoor experience teaches me that Wood-Pigeons and others not only partake of, but search for (as eagerly as Thrushes, &c.), such molluscs as are to be found in our fields and inland waters, to which my experience has been confined.— (6, Rylett Crescent, Shepherd's Bush, W.).

Non-Protective Colouration in the Variable Hare.—When reading Mr. Marshall's paper on "Conscious Protective Resemblance" (Zool. 1900, p. 536), some remarks of his recalled to my mind a very striking example of how an instinct, born of a protective colouration, may defeat its own purpose under a change of environment. On p. 542 Mr. Marshall quotes Romanes' remarks about the melanic variety of the Rabbit crouching as steadily as the normally coloured type, and rendering itself "the most conspicuous object in the landscape." In March, 1899, Mr. C. Oldham and I observed a number of Variable Hares (Lepus timidus, Linn.) on the moors in Longdendale, Cheshire. The weather was mild, and we only saw a single patch of snow, but the Hares were still in their white winter pelage, though most of them had already patches of brown about the head and flanks. These animals are the descendants of some Perthshire Hares which were turned down near Greenfield, Yorkshire, about twenty years ago, and which have increased in numbers, and have spread over a large tract of moorland in Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire. In the North of Scotland the Zool. 4th ser. vol. V., February, 1901.