252 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Wuire Baperr ww Hamesuie.—Mr. W. G. Stewart Menzies, of 
Culdares, dug out at Kempshott, Hants, in the spring of 1879, a white 
Badger, which was unfortunately killed by the terriers. It is not absolutely 
white, but of a very white buff, or cinnamon tiut. The stripe on each side 
of the face, and the under side of the body and the legs, which are normally 
black, are of the same pale tint. The nose and lips (as stuffed) are flesh- 
coloured, and the eyes pink. I did not myself see the animal in the flesh, 
but Mr. Menzies is sure that these points are correct. The head, with the 
exception of the above-mentioned stripe, is, as usual, white. The claws are 
of a very pale yellow colour, semitransparent. It is a female, and weighed 
twenty pounds. Its teeth are much worn down and one or two of the 
canines chipped; but as it made a violent attack on the spade with which 
one of the men was digging, as well as a determined defence against the 
terriers, I should suppose the state of the teeth to be not necessarily a sign 
of age.—ALFRED HienreaGe Cocks (Great Marlow, Bucks). 
Tue Great Bustarp IN FRrANcE purine tHe Winter 1879-80.— 
In ‘ The Zoologist’ for January (pp. 25, 26) and March (p. 110) attention 
was directed to the unusual number of Bustards which were met with 
during the past winter in Cornwall, Dorset, Kent, Essex, and Cambridge- 
shire, as well as in Jersey. A similar visitation seems to have occurred in 
France, and has been reported in ‘ Le Naturaliste,’a small quarto journal 
of eight pages, published fortnightly in Paris by M. Deyrolle, 23, Rue de 
la Monnaie. In the number for February 15th, the Editor says :—‘ The 
severe cold of last winter certainly affected the passage of certain migratory 
birds. Amongst the observations which we have collected on this subject, 
we ought first to mention the unusual occurrence of the Great Bustard, 
Otis tarda. A good ornithologist, whom we have had occasion to quote 
more than once, Dr. de Montessus, of Chalon-sur Saéne, writes us as 
follows: —‘ On the 10th of January last I received from Autun a magni- 
ficent Great Bustard. It was a male, killed at Luzy, on the borders of 
Nievre and of Sadne-et-Loire. A few days previously another was captured 
nearer to me, at Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, Chalon-sur-Saéne. On receiving 
news of this capture, I at once took steps to obtain the bird, but was too 
late: it had already brought together a dozen Vandals, who devoured it 
piecemeal and enjoyed it; notwithstanding which, it was to be mounted 
by a petty taxidermist in the neighbourhood for the previously agreed price 
of ten francs. The Vicomte de Chaignon wrote me word that two similar 
captures had been made in the neighbourhood during the early part of 
December, one of which was a male, the sex of the other not mentioned. 
He did not get possession of either of these birds, which probably shared 
the fate of the one at Verdun. The Great Bustard, therefore, is not yet 
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