The Zoologist — November, 1869. 1927 



the oEFender when cnuglu generally showing unmistakable proof of guilt by having its 

 mouth aijcl face besmeared with the yelk, and fragments of the shell being sometimes 

 found attached. I have met with no particular variation in the dress of tlie squirrel, 

 but have two individuals in summer dress, one with a black and the other with an 

 entirely white tail. 



Rabbit. A young male was shot at Langley on the 18th of February, 1868, having 

 its entire coat (excepting one of its fore feet, which was white) of a glossy black : in a 

 note in the 'Zoologist' (Zool. 9646) I have recorded a previous instance of the occur- 

 rence of this variety. 



Fallow Deer. A beautiful white stag of this species, mottled with patches of the 

 normal coloured garb, was killed at Buxton, in September, 1868, the head of which 

 I preserved. 



Grampus. A grampus, weighing 4 cwt., was brought into Yarmouth Harbour 

 on Tuesday, the 25th of June, 1867, by the fishing lugger " Champion : " it was soon 

 afterwards removed to this city for exhibition. — T. E. Gunn. 



Tils and their Food. — " The relative amount of good and evil effecttd by our 

 smaller birds is a constant subject of dispute, opinions being formed according to the 

 prejudices of the advocate rather than on evidence of a reliable character. The tits 

 are usually regarded as insectivorous; but it appears that one of the smaller species, 

 the cole tit, has been seen in numerous flocks near London attacking the filberts, 

 perforating through the shell and devouring the kernel. The fact is undoubted, as 

 the contents of the stomach proved, under microscopical examination, to consist 

 almost exclusively of the fragments of kernels. Tbe common nuts have been 

 destroyed in a similar manner in some parts of Nottinghamshire, but the depredators 

 have not been detected." In reference to this paragraph, extracted from the ' Field' 

 newspaper, having paid much attention to tits, their food, actions, &c., for many years, 

 I would like to suggest a different motive for their attacking the filberts. As long ago 

 as 1855 a notice appeared in tbe 'Gardeners' Chronicle' of the alarming increase of 

 the oak-galK caused by the gall-fly {Cijnips Quercus), and expressing great fears for 

 the welfare of our oak trees and coppices, unless some check was soon put to the 

 spread of the galls. In the ISIay number of the 'Naturalist' of the following year 

 I recorded the fact that the galls were being destroyed to a very great extent by tit- 

 mice fur the sake of the grub contained in them, and on whicii they were feeding; at 

 the same time I expressed a hope that this would be a check to the spread of the 

 threatened evil : this hope has been fully sustained, as I have yearly seen, since that 

 time, the same destruction of the grub going on, thereby checking tbe threatened 

 injury, and doing a vast amount of good. There cannot be any doubt but that the 

 sole reason of the titmice attacking the galls is for the sake of the grubs they contain, 

 yet I have no doubt if their stomachs were examined after so feeding that some 

 portions of the gall would be found accidentally swallowed, but not as an article of 

 food. The galls formed by Cynips Quercus are round and almost as bard as filberts, 

 yet a certain instinct or other power has taught the titmice that they contain an 

 insect in the shape of a grub which is good food for them : so I believe the same 

 power, whatever it be, has taught them that certain filberts also contain the same 

 bonne boiiche for thera. Hence I would suggest that iheir attacks on the filberts arise 



