338 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
primary is the longest in the wing. In ‘Our Summer Migrants’ 
(p. 98), I see Mr. Harting says that in A. palustris the tarsi when dry 
are of a yellowish brown, while those of A. strepera become hair- 
brown. In Mr. Saunders’ skin the tarsi are, as Mr. Harting describes, 
yellowish; whereas in my mounted specimen the legs are now as 
dark as those of a Chiffchaff, the reason for this being the dark- 
coloured iron wires which are visible through the thin membranes. 
When my bird was fresh, the legs, as stated above, were pale flesh- 
colour, slightly tinged with primrose. 
—o— 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
Martens 1N Surrorx.—The following communication from Mr. J. H. 
Gurney, published in the ‘Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich 
Naturalists’ Society’ (vol. ii. pp. 223-4), may be of interest to your readers, 
as it shows that less than seventy years ago Marten-cats were found in 
considerable numbers in the county of Suffolk. The large number of Rats 
destroyed is also worthy of note ; it is evident they received from the game- 
keepers the attention they deserve, whereas now their natural enemies are 
assiduously destroyed, but the Rats, secure in the quiet of the covert, 
increase to an enormous extent, and many an empty nest is the result. 
Mr. Gurney says :—‘‘I have a cutting from a newspaper of the year 1811, by 
which it appears that at the Suffolk Gamekeepers’ Annual Meeting, held at 
Bury on December 9th of that year, a prize was given to one Sharnton as 
the most successful gamekeeper. He had the looking over (with two under- 
keepers) of 4000 acres, but in what parishes the manor lay is not stated; 
evidently, however, it was in Suffolk. Sharnton gave in an account of 
vermin destroyed by him and his assistants in twelve months, which I think 
may be worthy of a place in the records of our Naturalists’ Society, as 
bearing on the existence of the Marten in Suffolk, sixty-five years ago. 
His account is as follows :—Foxes, 22; Martens (spelled ‘ Martins’), 43; 
Polecats, 31; Stoats, 416; Crows and Magpies, 120; Hawks of all kinds, 
167; Field Rats, 310; Brown Owls, 13; Wild Cats, 7."-—T. SourHwELu 
(Norwich). 
Reported Occurrence or THE WitD Car in THE Ist or WicHt.— 
A veritable Wild Cat, probably the last of the race, was shot some months 
since near St. Helen’s, in which neighbourhood there are still extensive 
woods, chiefly on the Nunwell Estate. ‘Though occasionally seen by the 
gamekeepers, it had managed to evade them for years. It came into 
Mr. Careless’s possession the day it was killed. It proved to be a male, 
three feet in length and nine pounds fourteen ounces in weight. It stands 
