60 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



The dog not liking his master's strange-looking face, began barking at him — - 

 would run away, then come back, and cut such capers that his master exclaimed 

 "there is something or other the matter with mc, but none is so faithful 

 as my dog to inform me of it." He looked at himself over and over again 

 but could see nothing uncommon ; ^ut however, the dog continued in his 

 efforts to make his master understand what was the matter with him. Fol- 

 lowed by young urchins, who were merry at his expense, he went into the 

 first house he came to, and there a peep at the mirror told him what his 

 sagacious dog wished him to know. — M. Westcott, Wells, Somerset, December 

 4th., 1851. 



Sajacitj/ of a T)og. — The love of companionship by all animals is well 

 known, and is mentioned by White, L. G6. The Rev. F. H. Ilele, of 

 I.ittle-Hcmpston, near Totnes, had a few years since, a Water Spaniel which 

 was much attached to the family, and never seemed happy when alone, even 

 if left merely for a few minutes. W^henever any of the family were about 

 to go to the village, about a mile off, the dog always followed, and if driven 

 back, was sure to gain his point at last; but strange to say on a Sunday morn- 

 ing he quietly escorted his friends to the end of the garden gate, and returned 

 to his usual station outside the house door until their return from church. 

 — *S'. Ilannaford, Jan., Totnes, December, 18/>1. 



Common Brown Rat, (Mus decumanus.) — These Rats are so voracious, as to 

 devour their own species when caught in a trap, as I have repeatedly proved. 

 — Idem. 



The Great Bustard, (Otis tarda.) — llie increase of cultivation, together 

 with the more frequent use of the gun, has with many birds produced almost, 

 and perhaps in a few cases total, extinction, while on the other hand, the 

 practice of preserving game has given to many a shelter which before they 

 could not obtain, and a great increase in their numbers, and sometimes the 

 appearance of a new species, has been the result. The Common Bittern, 

 which used many years ago to be really common in the fenny parts of Norfolk, 

 is so no longer, and the small remnan' still in existence is rapidly decreasing 

 in number. The same might have been said of the Bustard some years ago, 

 but now I think it must be considered as extinct, even in this covmty, which 

 has so long hden its stronghold. West Acre seems to have been its favourite 

 resort, and there, little more than thirty years ago, as many as nineteen 

 were ?een in one flock. They were constantly to be seen in the neighbourhood 

 of Thotford. The Rev. R. Lubbock, in his "Observations on the Fauna of 

 Norfolk," says that a keeper, by the name of Turner, at Wretham, about 

 six miles from Thetford, some fifty years ago, in severe weather, used to kill 

 .many Bustards by looking for their tracks in the snow, and feeding them for 

 a day or two with cabbages. He next constructed a battery of three large 

 Duck-guns, bearing on the spot where the food lay, and secreting himself 

 before daylight in a hole some one hundred and fifty yards from the guns. 



