26S8 The Zoologist— June, 1871. 



Litter of Foxes. — The following, wliich I copy from my note-book, may 

 not be uninteresting to those readers of the ' Zoologist ' who are interested in 

 that lingering representative, in this country, of the canine family — the fox. 

 The litter, which varies from three to seven, consisted of four cubs, two 

 dogs and two bitches ; their eyes were hardly open, so that they were under, 

 rather than over, ten days old. They were dug from a lair on Mount Keen, 

 Aberdeenshire, on the 27th of April last, to which they were tracked by the 

 mazy trail of old Lowrie, whose cunning was all the more conspicuous that 

 the mountain was covered with snow. Fur soft ; general colour glossy slate, 

 feet darker ; tail white at the tip, which colour is more extended on the 

 male than the female, intermediate colour brown, at its insertion as on the 

 body ; eyes Hght blue ; space between the eye and the ear light brown ; 

 nose delicate flesh-colour, moustache indicated ; eai-s soft, drooping, silvery 

 •white inside ; knobs bare on the soles of the feet ; claws white. — W, Craibe 

 Angus; Aberdeen. 



Arriral of ffllgrants, &c. — I have noticed the arrivals of the following 

 migrants this year :— Chiffchaff, March 29th; wryneck, 26th; swallow, 

 April 9th ; nightingale and redstart, 14th ; mailin, 10th ; cuckoo, 21st ; 

 spotted flycatcher. May 5th; turtle dove, 6th; swift, 12th. I found a 

 thrush's nest with three eggs on the 24th of March, and fell in with a flock 

 of golden plover (an unusual visitor with us) on the 28th. I ehot two, 

 which had nearly completed the assumption of their spring plumage. — 

 TT^. J. Chalk; Wilden Rectory, Bedford, May 23, 1871. 



Arrival of Migrants, &c. — I scud a list of arrivals of migratory birds in 

 Suffolk. Chiffchaff, March 24th ; willow wren, April 8th ; blackcap, red- 

 start and nightingale, 9th; wryneck, 10th; swallow, wood lark and lesser 

 whitethroat, 15th; cuckoo and whitethroat, 18th; house martin, 21st; 

 sand martin, 25th; flycatcher and turtle dove, 28th; wood wren. May 6th; 

 great gray shrike, 10th ; swift, 15th. It was at Kesgrave, Suffolk, where, 

 for the first time in this county, I saw that interesting little bird, the wood 

 wren — such a contrast to the West of England, where they abound. — E. 0. 

 Moor. 



niontaga's Harrier and Hoopoe in Deronshire. — On Friday last I 

 examined, in the flesh, a fine female Montagu's harrier and hoopoe, just 

 killed in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. The stomach of the hoopoe 

 contained remains of larvae and the elytra of beetles, mixed with, a few 

 feathers, the latter no doubt plucked from the bird's own body when 

 preening its plumage, and swallowed accidentally ; there were also a few 

 particles of grass. — J. Gatcombe; 8, Lower Dumjord Street, Stonehouse, 

 Devon, May 11, 1871. 



