960 The Zoologist — October, 1867. 



My mind has been impressed with this belief from reading the 

 numbers of the 'Zoologist' which have come before me since our 

 Society has been formed, and I will now quote, from the September 

 number for 1866, some observations which have served to strengthen 

 the impression. 



1. Three or four piebald varieties of rats are stated to have been 

 killed. I fear rats must be destroyed when met with. 



2. Three specimens of the gray variety of the common hare killed, 

 and also one with a large patch of white on the forehead. 



3. Rabbits, because they happened to have been white and chest- 

 nut. Why were they not left alone and allowed to multiply ? 



4. A red deer paid the penalty of death for being prettily marked. 

 Would not a variety of the deer tribe be ornamental in our parks ? 



Next a gentleman writes that he had obtained a female blackbird 

 with white feathers, and says, " I had to bide my time quietly until 

 I could bag it for ray collection." What a painful state of suspense 

 he must have been in ! 



Then a stone curlew is reported to have been killed because it was 

 rarely seen in the locality, not because it was wanted. 



In the same number is a notice of the ' Dictionary of British 

 Birds,' in which the frequent advent of the sand grouse to this 

 country is mentioned, and the Editor remarks, " It would be very 

 interesting if these birds were to breed on the English moors." 

 I should say they might do so if collectors would give them a chance, 

 and let them alone. 



There are many birdstuffers in Worcester, and there is not one, 

 I believe, who has not his white blackbird, or starling, or sparrow, or 

 even white swallow in his window. A few years ago there was no 

 collector's shop in which there was not a piebald pheasant or two ; 

 now one is scarcely thought worth stuffing: the fact being that a pic- 

 bald pheasant is no longer a curiosity, in consequence of their having 

 been placed, de novo, under protection, and so they have increased 

 and are to be found about here adorning every preserve, and I often 

 see them hung up in the shops for sale. What is the inference from 

 this, as regards varieties of other birds or animals ? 



J. D. Jeffery. 

 8, Pierpoiut Street, Worcester. 



