146 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Cornwall in thirty-seven years. I received an adult male, alive, from a man 
named Marsh, then living in Penzance, about the summer of 1873 or 1874 
(I am writing away from home, and consequently from my notes), which 
was presumably caught in the neighbourhood, though it is of course possible 
that he may have received it from a distance. It was freshly trapped when 
I obtained it, and having recovered from the injury to its leg, it eventually 
(during my absence from home) made its escape from its cage, which was 
enclosed.in a large one containing Wild Cats, and was supposed to have 
been killed and eaten by them, although a fragment of skin shown me on 
my return looked remarkably like rabbit-skin. Anyhow I never saw or heard 
anything more of the Polecat. Some three or four years ago I was assured 
by a farm-boy at Madron (the very place where Mr. Cornish’s specimen was 
taken) that “ Fitchews” existed there, and that his father caught them 
sometimes; indeed he spoke as if they were not uncommon, and though 
that was very likely not the case, yet at least it seems to show that there 
were still a few thereabouts. In East Cornwall I have only heard of one 
occurrence of late years, an example having been obtained about 1880 on 
Col. Grylls’ property at Lewarne, about five miles west of Liskeard; none 
had previously been seen there for many years.—ALFRED HENEAGE Cocks 
(Thames Bank, Great Marlow). 
Bechstein’s Bat not found in Berkshire,—In a note I sent you last 
December (Zool. 1884, p. 483) I mentioned Bechstein’s Bat as having 
been found at Godstow. The specimen in the Oxford Museum, to which 
I referred, labelled and recorded (*‘ Midland Naturalist,’ July, 1883) as this 
species, is certainly V. Nattereri, possessing the hairs on the interfemoral 
membrane which are said to be a specific distinction, and not differing from 
the specimens on the same shelf labelled Natterer’s Bat, in the length of 
its ears or otherwise. We know, moreover, from his notes in ‘ The Mid- 
land Naturalist,’ that the captor was not acquainted with Natterer’s Bat.— 
J. E. Ketsatt (Ball. Coll., Oxon). 
BIRDS. 
Cuckoo’s Eggs.— On June 5th of last year I found in a nest two eggs 
of the Common Whitethroat and a Cuckoo’s. The Cuckoo’s egg was 
unusually handsome, somewhat resembling a finely marked egg of the 
Greenfinch, but having a rich creamy ground-colour. Within a few 
minutes I found another, about a hundred yards away, also in a White- 
throat’s nest, and of a precisely similar description; there were four 
Whitethroats’ eggs slightly incubated. On June 17th another Cuckoo’s 
egg was found in a Whitethroat’s nest, precisely similar to the above two. 
The position of this nest was about equidistant from the others and some 
120 yards away, and contained three Whitethroat’s eggs. I have no doubt 
