152 Short Communications : — 



success. He then returned to the water's edge, shivering 

 with cold. Nothing daunted, however, he took my double 

 gun, and proceeded to the charge a second time. He fired, 

 but with little effect; as, on trying to take the bird up, it 

 dived again, though it did not remain so long under water as 

 before, owing, no doubt, to its wounds. When it rose again, 

 he killed it. These birds I noticed in pairs, and in little 

 parties of four or six, all the autumn ; but as winter ap- 

 proached, their numbers greatly increased. I have a spe- 

 cimen, killed by myself on September 10., which possesses 

 the white mark under the chin. — T. G. Chipping Norton, 

 Oxfordshire, March 6. 1833. 



The Peqfo'wl (Pdvo cristdtus L.) is the natural Enemy of 

 the Serpent Tribe, (VI. 515.) — An opinion to this amount 

 prevails, as I have stated in VI. 515., in this part of England. 

 I have now to communicate two facts which seem to fully 

 justify it. The first has been related to me by an eye-witness 

 of it ; the second is included in an extract from a letter sent 

 to me by my esteemed friend, the Hon. and Rev. Charles 

 Bathurst. — M. Chalmers, M, D. Hull, Dec. 12. 1833. 



A peacock was observed to remain for several days near to 

 a hotbed frame in the garden at Raynell, and to make fre- 

 quent attempts to break the glass of the frame with his beak, 

 and, although he was repeatedly driven away from it, he as 

 constantly returned to it again as soon as the gardener had 

 left the spot. This circumstance at length attracted the atten- 

 tion of the late Mr. Sykes (M. P. for Hull), who caused the 

 frame to be removed, when the peacock instantly leaped into 

 the bed, scratched away some part of the manure, under which 

 he found a nest containing several young serpents, all of which 

 he, with a little assistance, instantly killed and devoured. 



Extract from the Hon, and Rev. C, Bathursfs Letter to Dr. 

 Chalmers; dated Siddington, near Cirencester-, Nov. 5. 1833. — 

 " Lord Bathurst's park, &c., is two miles from this place, and 

 in his woods, near the keeper's house, peacocks are kept as 

 ornaments to the wild scenery, but not, as far as I have ever 

 heard, or, even since reading your paper, been able to learn, 

 for the purpose of destroying serpents. I do not make out 

 that they are esteemed ' in this part of the country, the 

 natural enemy of the serpent tribe ; ' neither do I see, in any 

 of the works of natural history which I have consulted since 

 reading your article, that this peculiarity has been noticed. 

 Among ancient naturalists, Aristotle and Pliny say not a word 

 on that subject; BufFon and Bewick, you say, do not mention 

 this peculiarity, so I have not consulted them ; but I have 

 looked into Goldsmith and Blumenbach, but find it not there 



