TnK Zoologist— Februaky, 1870. 2017 



The Beaver in Scotland. — Allow me lo make an acUIilion to the evidence on tliis 

 suliject collected by Mr. Brown, in the admirable paper repiiiiied in the January num- 

 ber of the 'Zoologist' (S. S. 19G5). Prof. Cosmo Innis, in his work on 'Scotland in the 

 Middle Ages,' observes that in the capitular for (be rates of custom duties to be levied 

 at the Scotch purts, believed to have been settled by King David I. (who reigned from 

 1 124 to 1 153), "It is not without interest that, in the ciiuineratiou of furs upon which 

 duty was to be taken in exporting, along with the common skins of tod, whilrel, mer- 

 trick and cat, we have, specially mentioned in all the manuscripts, the skins of beaver 

 and sal)le." (p. 23(5). What the "sable" may have been I do not know, the marten 

 ha»inu already appeared under its Scotch name of" mertrick:" possibly the fur of tho 

 polecat may base been so called. — Edward R. AUlon ; Stovkbriy^s, Lesmahagow, 

 N.B., January 7, 1870. 



Large Badger in Somersetshire.— \ male badgrr (Meles vulgaris) was shot near 

 Crewkfrue, Somersetshire, on the 8th of December, of the unusual weijiht of above 

 thirty-two pounds. It was sent lo the naturalist of this town, Mr. Shopland, to be 

 stuffed, where I had the opportunity of seeing it. I regret not to be able to give its 

 dimensions. The above is, as far as I remember, the heaviest specimen of its kind 

 that has come under my notice.— ^, de Hiigel ; Flnrian, Torquai/, December 19, 18(59. 



fVhale on the Const iif South Devon.— Ou Thursday ihe 18lh of November, 1869, 

 D. Aiiddleton and R. Pratt, whilst whiting fisiiing about twelve miles off the laud of 

 Ibis coast, perceiveii a large object approaching, submer;,nng and showing itself on the 

 surface at intervals. It passed them at only twenty yards' distance, and was evidently 

 a whale, probably a rorciual. From the nose to the back fin the distance appeared 

 about twenty feet; allov\ing therefore twenty to twenty-five feet liom back fin to tail, 

 it might have been Iron) forty lo fifty feet in lentjth. Two others were reported to have 

 been previously seen.— J. C. Wilcocks ; Budleigh Sallerlon. {From the '■ Field'). 



Whales in the Firth of Forth and at Porlsmauth.—The whales which have been 

 lately stranded on our own shores, one at Longniddry in the Firth of Forth, anntiier 

 at Langstone Harbour, near Portsmouth, and others elsewhere, have given rise to a 

 discussion which promises to become interesting. Mr. Flower holds to the Long, 

 niddry whale being either Balsenoptera Musculus or B. Sibbaldii, while Professor 

 Turner of Edinburgh, together with other eminent Scotch naturalists, incline to regard 

 it as an nnilescribed species. There is, we are glad to learn, every reason to hope 

 that the skeleton will be preserved, in which case the species will be finally set at 

 rest. — 'iVadwt'.' 



Iceland Falcon in Cornwall.— 1\. fine young female of this variety of the jer falcon 

 {Falco islundicus), in ihe immature state of plumage denoted by the dorsal feathers 

 being bordeied with white, wiih the under parts mottled with brown on a yeilcwisli 

 white ground, legs and feet of a pale greenish blue, was lately captured wlun 

 entangled auK.ngst sedges on some coarse ground in the parish of St. Merryn, near 

 Padstow. It was kept alive for some time by Mr. J. Old, of Carnevas, in that parish, 

 who sent the bird to be preserved by Mr. Vingoe. The ovary contained a bunch of 

 eggs, the largest about the size of ordinary shot. The bird when set up was for- 

 warded to Mr. Gould, when it also came under the observation of Prof. A. Newton, 

 who both verified iis value as the rarer variety than the Falco Grcenlandicus or 

 SECOND SERIES — VOL. V. ^ 



