244 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
April 15th, S., mild and warm. Phylloscopus trochilus heard; 
Hirundo rustica, several. 
17th, $., warm. Aotacilla Rayi and Sylvia cinerea. 
18th. Hirundo riparia. 
20th, S., warm. Saxicola ceenanthe, one, a male. 
26th, N.E., cold. Cuculus canorus. 
30th. Saxicola rubelra. 
May Ist. Salicaria phragmitis ; Hirundo urbica, two. 
3rd. Anthus arborea. 
9th. Sylvia hortensis. 
14th. Muscicapa grisola. 
16th. Grey Plover, Whimbrel asd Dunlin on Humber flats; the 
former very numerous and in full breeding or summer plumage. 
No waders or shore birds seen after this date. 
18th. Cypselus apus, many. 
I have neither seen nor heard of any Dotterel (E'ndromias 
morinellus) this season. 
THE MAMMALS OF SHAKSPEARE. 
By Henry Reexs, F.L.S., F.Z.8. 
(Continued from p. 205.) 
Tue Fox, Vulpes vulgaris. 
That most enjoyable of all sports, fox-hunting, in the proper 
acceptation of the term, appears to have been unknown in Shak- 
speare’s time. Poor Reynard’s name is generally applied as an 
epithet, denoting a low, cunning, selfish and disreputable person. 
“ Vulpecides,” in those days, were evidently looked upon as 
benefactors to mankind in general, and to the British farmer and 
poultry keeper in particular. The time-honoured fable of the 
“Fox and the Grapes” crops up in Alls Well that Ends Well, 
Act ii., Scene 1. 
The fox is mentioned upwards of thirty times, but a couple of 
quotations illustrating his fondness for lamb (and he is no bad 
judge either!) will be sufficient. 
“The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb.” 
King Henry VI., Part Il. Act iii., Scene 1. 
