NOTES AND QUERIES. 337 



"This may not seera to be anything extraordinary, but when I say that 

 an occurrence of this sort has not taken place in my lifetime in this park, 

 it makes it remarkable to me. I may also say that my father and grand- 

 father never knew lightning to kill deer in this park, and that time extends 

 to a period of 120 years. Now, as our park is well wooded with oak, and 

 very rarely a year passes without several trees being struck with lightning, 

 it makes this occurrence more remarkable. The bark of this tree was 

 thrown a distance of sixty yards. Other trees were struck the same night, 

 but I have not found any more dead deer." 



Weasel swimming. — Walking along the river " wall" near here on the 

 24th June last, I saw a short distance ahead a strange-looking object 

 swimming across the river to the opposite side, which on landing proved to 

 be a Weasel, carrying in its mouth a young one, to all appearance more 

 than half the size of its parent. On landing she found herself suddenly 

 face to face with two colts, upon which she dropped the youngster and ran 

 into a clump of brambles and nettles close at hand, but almost immediately 

 returned; and again taking up the young one she went "looping" along 

 through the long grass at a pace which, considering the weight of her 

 burden and the shortness of her legs, was really wonderful. I could not 

 see what ultimately became of her, but at the time I lost sight of her she 

 was apparently making for a tall thick hedge bordering a ditch, where 

 perhaps she had already fixed upon some safe retreat for her family. 

 I have more than once seen a Stoat swimming, — probably a matter of 

 common occurrence with that species, which is very partial to the banks 

 of rivers, watercourses, ditches, &c., where it preys upon the rats, water 

 rats, meadow mice [A. agrestis), young waterhens, &c., to be found in such 

 places. Only last spring I saw one cross a small stream carrying some 

 object which I took to be a large meadow mouse, but was not near enough 

 to be quite certain. The Weasel in this district is much scarcer than the 

 Stoat, but neither can by any means be called common, being everywhere 

 persecuted with the utmost rigour by gamekeepers ; besides which the 

 objectionable practice of destroying rats and mice by means of poison, which 

 has become so prevalent of late years, must be very fatal to both species, 

 not to mention the Hedgehog, the poisoned rats and mice being in all 

 probability devoured by all three. It is a great pity that the pretty and 

 very useful little "Mouse-hunt" should be so dealt with. — G. T. Rope 

 (Blaxhall, Suffolk). 



Grey Seal in the Channel Islands. — On the 26th June last a Seal was 

 captured by some soldiers of the 36th Regiment near the barracks at 

 Greve de Lecq, Jersey, which seems to have puzzled the naturalists of 

 Jersey. It was first announced in the ' Jersey Times ' of June 27th as a 

 Walrus, and the measurements there given were much exaggerated, a foot 



