OCCASIONAL NOTES. NY 
on the treacherous pathway of newly-formed ice, and, falling in, lost her 
life; but not by drowning, for the upper part of the head and nose were 
protruded through and above the ice. It is probable, as is usual with snared 
Hares, after finding her struggles unavailing, she remained tranquil, with 
the only effort of keeping her head up. The icy collar in so exposed a 
spot (upwards of 800 feet above the sea-level) would form itself almost 
momentarily when undisturbed, and prevent the lifeless body from sinking. 
The Hare was seen for the first time on Monday, December Ist, when the 
minimum temperature on the previous night, in this more sheltered district, 
at an altitude of only 340 ft., was as low as 26°. On the following Friday 
a labourer exhumed her, and brought her to his cwisine, and pronounced her 
to be the very best Hare he had ever tasted. There is an incident narrated 
by the Abbé Hue, in ‘ Les Souvenirs d’un Voyage dans la Tartarie et le 
Thibet,—a book full of amusing stories, more romantic perhaps than 
veracious,—which bears somewhat upon the above narrative. He describes 
himself as crossing a Thibetian frozen river, on his journey to Lasso, 
capable of bearing the weight of his cavalcade, and observing a number of 
small black objects protruding through the ice, he was told by the attendants 
they were the noses of a herd of wild cattle (Yak) which had been eutrapped 
at the time of passing from one bank to the other. The Abbe makes 
no mention of the horns, which must have interfered more with his 
progress, had they been there, than the noses.—J. C. MansuL-PLEYDELL 
(Whatcombe). 
Harvest Mouse 1x Surrorx.—On November 31st I obtained a nest 
of the Harvest Mouse from Leiston. It was built about three feet from 
the ground, among some straggling blackthorn bushes growing by the side 
of a ditch. Some years ago I found a nest of this little animal built in a 
plant of the common broom. ‘These tiny creatures are fond of frequenting 
‘the tall rank herbage growing by the sides of ditches. — G. T. Ropsz 
(Blaxhall, Suffolk). 
On Aa Parrot PERFORMING A SvuRGIGAL OPERATION ON LIVING 
Surrp.—On the 4th of November last the distinguished surgeon, Mr. John 
Wood, F.R.S., exhibited before the Pathological Society of London the colon 
of a sheep, in which the operation known as Colotomy had been performed 
by a Parrot. The specimen, together with a skin of the bird, had been sent 
to him for this purpose by Mr. De La Tour, of Otago, New Zealand. The 
Parrot was the species known as the “Kea” by the Maories, the ‘“‘ Mountain 
Parrot” of the colonists, Nestor notabilis of Gould (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856, 
p. 94). Only five species of the genus Nestor are known, one of which 
(Nestor productus) has lately become extinct; they only occur in New Zealand 
and Norfolk Island. They were formerly classed among the Tvrichoglossine, 
I 
