The Zoologist — September, 1874, 4153 



only on the rural settler, but also on the townsman. The sooner 

 this is understood and recognised the sooner may we expect to see 

 some well-directed steps taken to secure an object of so much 

 interest to the country at large. 



T. H. Potts. 



Food of the Noctule Bat. — A few weeks since a gentleman at Cromer 

 slightly wounded in the wing a noctule bat which he shot at, and has 

 since kept in captivity. It feeds freely on flesh-flies and also on cock- 

 chaffers, of the latter of which, on one occasion, it devoured upwards of thirty 

 in about half-an-hour, as I am informed by its possessor. This bat rejects 

 the horny elytra of the cockchaffer, contenting itself witli the softer parts 

 of the insect. — J. H. Gurney ; July 15, 1874. 



Babbit with oue Ear. — Last week my attention was called to a rather 

 extraordinary lusus, in the shape of a fine healthy full-grown rabbit, of the 

 wild colour, which was born witli only one ear. This ear was in its proper 

 place, on the right side of the head, but on the left side there was not the 

 least sign of an aperture or the rudiment of another. "When carried erect 

 the ear leaned a little to the left, just enough to give it the appearance of 

 being on the top of the head at a short distance. — /. Gatcomhe; 8, Lower 

 Duniford Street, Stonehouse, Plymouth, August 10, 1874. 



Honey Buzzard near Huddersfield. — A honey buzzard was shot in Storrs 

 Hall Woods, near Huddersfield, on the 28th of May, 1874. The game- 

 keeper said he had not seen one in this neighbourhood for nine years. It 

 measured four feet nine inches and three quarters across when the wings 

 were extended. — J. E. Palmer. 



Montagu's Harrier. — I have before mentioned that the frequent occur- 

 rence of this species in the West of Cornwall, and especially in the Lizard 

 district, has rendered it not only a common bird, but decidedly the most 

 common of aU the Circidse ; and I mentioned on a former occasion that 

 there was really no need to exterminate the species or to try to do so, as a 

 bird of prey, as it has been ascertained beyond any doubt that its food is 

 principally confined to reptiles, and not birds, and that where a solitary 

 partridge or quail may once now and then fall within its clutches, nine 

 times out of ten at least you will find that toads, frogs, vipers, snakes or 

 lizards are its objects for food. A good many of these harriers have been 

 in the Lizard district again this year ; and Mr. George Williams, on whose 

 property they were seen, told me that his keepers have been urging their 

 destruction as game-destroyers, as deserving no credit for possessing any 

 possible compensating good qualities. Specimens of this harrier have been 

 killed from the same property nearly every year for some years, and they 



