OCCASIONAL NOTES. 178 
Badger and a yellow Mole, both recently taken in the same county.—Isaac 
Haropine (Malvern). 
Mortarity amonest SHrews.— Probably the greater part of the Shrews 
so often seen lying dead on footpaths [see p. 124] are killed by Owls in 
mistaking them for mice. Although the remains of Shrews have been 
found in the stomachs of Owls, I believe that unless they are very hungry 
they are generally rejected by these birds. They do the same, but to a 
greater extent, with Moles. When a boy I hada Long-eared Owl. Being 
in the country, where there was no butcher, I had sometimes great difficulty 
in procuring food suitable for it, and occasionally, when in one of these 
straits, 1 have gone in search of mole-traps, and taken the contents for the 
Owl, and even when very hungry it would eat no part of the Mole except 
the entrails —ANDREW Brotuerston (Shedden Park Road, Kelso, N. B.). 
[Remains of Shrews have been detected in the pellets ejected by the 
Barn Owl, and Mr. Bell has shown that the notion that these birds will kill 
but not eat Shrews is erroneous. See ‘ British Quadrupeds,’ second 
edition, p. 144.—Ep.] 
Bewicr’s Swan 1n SomeRsETSHIRE.— My friend the Rey. R. C. L. 
Browne, Vicar of North Currey, who was greatly interested by the visit 
of a flock of Bewick’s Swans to the moors in his parish, has given me 
the following particulars:—The flock numbered about sixty birds, and 
frequented the neighbourhood of North Currey for a month. The birds 
were remarkably wary, and although many gunners were on the watch for 
them only one succeeded in obtaining a shot. This was a labourer who 
with a single-barrelled duck-gun knocked over four; two were obtained, 
two were only slightly wounded, and escaped. One of the two was sold 
to Mr. Foster, of North Currey ; the other my friend the Vicar was anxious 
to secure, but arrived at the labourer’s cottage just as he and his family 
were sitting down to a dinner off roast swan. A slice off the breast, 
although tasting both juicy and tender, seemed but a poor equivalent for 
the loss of what would have been valued as an interesting local specimen. 
During the day the swans flew about from one “ washet” to another. 
‘““Washet” is the local name for open places in the ice on the moor. ‘lhe 
birds flew in a wedge formation, uttering musical cries, and as they alighted 
hovered for an instant with uplifted wings above the ground, “looking then 
like a descending flight of angels.” A smaller flock, numbering sixteen, 
appeared on the southern edge of the moor in the neighbourhood of 
Glastonbury. Of these four were procured, as mentioned by Mr. Porch in 
‘The Field’ of February 22nd. Two of the four have been presented by 
that gentleman to the Taunton Museum, and are a very interesting addition 
to the collection of birds of the county. One isa remarkably fine adult ; the 
other, almost an adult, has a little rust-colour on the forehead and breast. 
