The Zoologist — September, 1871. 2755 



Norfolk, previously to the re-establishment of the fox-hounds, were 

 only stragglers. Mr. Stevenson tells me he was informed by 

 Mr. Thomas Edwards, that when the fox-hounds were given up in 

 Norfolk some of the foxes were trapped and sent into Leicester- 

 shire, Bedford, &c. : many of these, having been previously marked, 

 were again trapped in Norfolk. Daniel, in his 'Rural Sports' 

 (vol. i. p. 272), mentions a similar instance : foxes taken at Whit- 

 tlebury Forest, and sent up to London after escaping from the 

 hounds, were again trapped in their old haunts, and in one 

 instance this occurred three times : the fourth time poor Reynard 

 was killed, bearing upon him the signals of his former escapes. 

 Mr. Daniel also mentions the fact of a fox which littered in a 

 hollow tree, twenty feet above the ground ; and I am informed 

 that some of the foxes at Westacre, which I believe owe their 

 origin to the continent of America, do not take to earths, but 

 ascend fir trees, and lie on the top branches all day, thirty feet 

 above the ground. 



Common Seal (Phoca vitulina, Linn.) Not uncommon along the 

 coast, particularly in the estuary of the Ouse. Sir Thomas Browne 

 mentions a seal killed at Surlingham Ferry, "having continued in 

 the river for divers months before." 



Floe Seal (Phoca hispida, Cuv. Pagomys foetidus. Gray). — In 

 1846 Mr. Gurney purchased a seal in the Norwich fish-market, 

 which was obtained upon the Norfolk coast: its skull, he informed 

 me, was presented to our museuna, and as he was uncertain as to 

 the species, he considered it worth investigating. Upon examining 

 the skull, I found it differed in several respects from that of Phoca 

 vitulina; I therefore submitted it to Professor Flower for identifi- 

 cation, who expressed his opinion that it belonged to an individual 

 of this rare arctic species. On so competent an authority I have 

 much pleasure in adding this species to the Norfolk list, and in 

 recording what I believe to be the first instance in which it has 

 been recognized as occurring on the coast of Great Britain. 



Squirrel. — Common. 



Messrs. Paget include the dormouse in their list of the Mam- 

 malia found near Yarmouth ; but as I am unable to confirm this, 

 either from my own observation or through correspondents, I can 

 only conclude it has vanished from its old haunts, and reluctantly 

 omit it from this list, calling attention to the subject as worthy of 

 investigation. 



