Tur ZooLocist—Juxy, 1876. 4995 
Otter in the New Forest.—From time to time otters are met with near 
some of the principal streams in the forest; but the specimen I wish to 
speak of was captured under somewhat peculiar circumstances. Its presence 
near one of the small streams had not been suspected, but after a considerable 
fall of snow, on the 21st or 22nd of March last, tracks were discovered by 
the woodman. What these tracks were he was at a loss to conjecture, as 
they were different from any he had previously seen, and besides this he 
noticed that the creature which had made them must have repeatedly 
crossed the steam, so he determined to follow up the trail, and found it was 
lost in an immense furze-bush at some considerable distance from the bank 
of the stream. Having a rabbit-net with him, he placed it across the 
entrance, and proceeded to beat the bush, when to his surprise a large otter 
made a rush clean through the net, and away into the stream again, where 
it made good its retreat, for the man, although he searched, could not find 
it. The following day he secured the help of a friend and two dogs, and 
on going to the furze-bush they found it again occupied by the otter, not- 
withstanding the narrow escape the creature had had the day previously. 
Eventually the otter was killed, but the man told me he fought most 
fiercely, and the dogs, which were small, did not care to be bitten a second 
time; ultimately the woodman’s stout stick brought the conflict to a close. 
I saw the otter after it was dead, and could not but admire the adaptation 
of his strong and muscular limbs for his mode of life, and I could well 
imagine he would be no mean adversary to a dog or any other creature, 
especially in the water. I may state that the specimen in question was a 
male, and its colour a very dark brown ; it weighed about twenty-one pounds, 
and measured three feet two or three inches.—G. B. Corbin. 
Notes from West Somerset.—In sending the dates when the first 
appearances of some of our summer migrants were noticed by me in this 
district, I would first observe that never within my recollection have the 
birds been later in their arrival or fewer in numbers. Up to this present 
time (May 8th) I have failed to observe a solitary blackeap. Day after day 
passes without the call of the cuckoo being heard, although the bird has 
been repeatedly seen. There can be no doubt that the coldness and 
backwardness of the spring have influenced the migration of our summer 
visitants, and that the majority of them are doing well in not being in too 
great a hurry to face the bleak east winds and frosts of our English May. 
April 13. Redpolls still frequent my garden. The Taunton bird- 
catchers inform me that both siskins and redpolls were extremely numerous 
during the past winter. 
April 15. Fieldfares flying overhead. 
April 16. Called “‘cuckoo’s day” by the villagers here, as being the 
