242 The Zoologist— June, 1866. 



often leap from a hole two or three feet from the ground. The black 

 and the pied varieties of this species are common enough, and I have 

 a very pretty reddish fawn-coloured* example which was shot on the 

 moors two years ago. All these appear to be accidental varieties, and 

 not to be owing to any admixture of tame blood, for they all occur in 

 places far away from any rabbit-hutch. Perhaps breeding in-and-in 

 may be one cause of variation in colour in this and other animals. 



Wild White Cattle. — I regret to say that the fatal cattle plague is 

 making sad havoc among the wild Cattle at Cadzow. Of the whole num- 

 ber of between forty and fifly head, nineteen are already gone and others 

 are attacked. None of the numerous " cures" can be tried, for as long 

 as the patient is able to move he flies from his would-be nurses, and, 

 failing that, attacks them with what strength the disease has left in 

 him. Fortunately one bull has recovered, so that there is still a hope of 

 the breed being preserved. It is sincerely to be hoped that this herd 

 — a relic of the days when the wolf, the beaver, and the bear roamed 

 through our Scottish forests — may not yet be lost. 



Edwaud R. Alston. 

 205, Balh Street, Glasgow, 

 April 12, 1866. 



Oiler at Wiiley Park. — On the 10th of April a full-grown male otter was killed at 

 Willey Park, ihe estate of Mr. Allan Cbaiidler. The gamekeepers were out with some 

 beagles, looking for rabbits, when the (logs discovered it under the overhanging bank 

 of a rivulet. After an exciting chase of nearly half an hour it was killed among some 

 bushes, by one of the keepers, who had no idea what it could be, but thought it 

 some dangerous wild beast that would very likely kill the dogs, in which opinion he 

 was confirmed by its formidable show of teelb. There does not appear to be any 

 report or tradition of an otter having been before seen in this immediate neighbour- 

 hood, and the occurrence of this specimen seems remarkable, as there is not a stream 

 for several miles which one could not easily jump across, the rivulets of these hills 

 forming the sources of the rivers of the lower country. The rivulet in which the animal 

 was found is, I believe, the head-water of one which falls into the sea at Littlehampton. 

 — Charles G. Barrett; IJaslemere, Surrey, April 19, 1866. 



Pine Marten in Lincolnshire. — A remarkably fine specimen of the pine marten 

 {Maries Alietum) was trapped last year by llie gamekeeper in the neighbouring parish 

 of Riley: it is the second captured in that locality. The throat and chest of the 

 animal are cream-yellow, interspersed with a few large brown spots on the lower part 

 of the chest. It is now stuffed in the possession of a neighbour of mine. — John 

 Cordeaux ; Great Coles, Ulcebi/, Lincolnshire, April 30, 1866. 



