250 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
possibility of its being an escaped importation ; and the same may 
be said of Mr. Backhouse’s specimen. As regards the birds met 
with by Pennant, looking to the ease with which the Pine Grosbeak 
could fly to this country from its Scandinavian home, and the vast 
forests of pine in which to this day whole flocks might roam un- 
noticed and unmolested, I confess I see no great reason to discredit 
his account. Antiquated records of birds are generally incomplete, 
and in the case of the Pine Grosbeak this is especially the case, 
but because a few reports may be disproved, we are not therefore 
to discredit all. That it is not found here now is no proof that it 
was not once found here. 
The conclusion at which I arrive is that if the Pine Grosbeak 
were now to be installed for the first time as a British bird, the 
evidence would scarcely warrant such a step; at the same time the 
evidence is of such a kind that we are not justified now in rejecting 
it, especially as it has been standing in our lists for a great number 
of years, and has become firmly established there by the verdict of 
almost every writer on British Birds. 
——= 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
BRuEDING OF THE Orrer.—I quite agree with Mr. Southwell, as regards 
the age of young Otters, that length would be much more reliable than 
weight (although I neglected to weigh three dead examples mentioned in my 
former letter), but think he will agree with me that it is practically im- 
possible to measure a live Otter; even with a perfectly tame individual or a 
young one the result would not be likely to be very accurate. In ‘ Land 
and Water’ for June 8, 1867, Mr. James Lomax writes that he has hunted 
Otters for forty years, and found very young cubs in almost every month of 
the year. With regard to the four last examples mentioned in my former 
letter (p. 100), I should be glad to correct a misprint: seven lines from the 
bottom of the page, “one of” should be inserted between the words “ me” 
and “these”; and two lines further on, “ specimens” should be singular.— 
A. H. Cocks (5, Radnor Place, Hyde Park). 
BREEDING OF THE OTTER AND Bapcrer.—As any fact with regard to 
the habits or instincts of these two happily still indigenous British quad- 
rupeds seems acceptable, I may add my mite, at least respecting the former 
animal, to the observations of Messrs. Cocks and Southwell (pp. 100, 172). 
I have only had young Otters sent me on two occasions, and not having my 
note-book with me I am not able to give the exact date, but one I know 
I received in January, and the other during the winter months. One 
