1 16 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



condition of the water, too, for weeks together has, I suppose, made it 

 difficult for them to procure their usual food, and being pressed by hunger 

 they have lost a good deal of their natural shyness. Besides others seen 

 I have, I am sorry to say, the following notes of animals killed : — In the 

 beginning of October an Otter was taken in a dyke at Mendham, in Suffolk. 

 A man gathering bullaces in a cottage-garden by which the dyke runs heard 

 a great uproar among some ducks feeding in the water, and looking up saw 

 them fluttering in a body up the dyke closely pursued by the Otter. Before 

 the animal could make its escape the man disabled and then killed it with 

 a few blows on the head from a pole. This happened at a frequented spot, 

 and only a few feet from the high road. I did not see this Otter, but was 

 told it was a young one, not full grown, miserably thin, and out of condition. 

 About the same time three others were seen together, early one morning, at 

 Needham, in Norfolk, a little higher up the river, by a man out with his 

 gun. Two of these he shot, and his dog brought them out of the stream. 

 The third, which he said was a larger animal, fortunately gut away unhurt. 

 Tiny measured in length 31 in. and 29 in. (or exclusive of the tail 2l£ in. 

 and 20 in.) respectively. Again, on January 4th, and very mar the same 

 place, but in Weybread, on the Suffolk side of the river, a whole family of 

 these animals was sacrificed An old Otter and three young ones were 

 discovered in a ditch connected with the river. The mother was shot, and 

 the young ones killed by a dog. The latter were lying under a large heap 

 of flags and weeds; they were apparently only a few days old, being quite 

 blind, and so must have been born in mid-winter. The destruction in such 

 a way of seven Otters in a few months, and in one short stretch of river, is 

 greatly to be regretted. The Waveney here is well stocked with coarse 

 fish, a few of which might well be spared for the Otters by our anglers, who 

 generally have good sport. — C. Candler (Harleston, Norfolk). 



Hairy-armed Bat in Co. Fermanagh. — It is as well to record in the 

 pages of the ' Zoologist ' the occurrence of the Hairy-armed Bat, Scotopltilus 

 Leisleri, at Crum Castle, Co. Fermanagh. In June last year I found this 

 Bat in great numbers in the roof of the boat-house there. It is far 

 commoner in Ireland than was once snpposed. See ' Zoologist.' 1874, pp. 

 4071, 4236 : aud 1875, pp. 4419, 4532.— Richard M. Barrington 

 i Fussaroe, Bray). 



BIRDS. 



The Meaning of English Bird Names.— Referring to Mr. H. T. 

 Wharton's article on this subject (Zool. 1882, p. 441), I may remark that 

 " Hern " and " Erne " are obviously the same word, and from the earliest 

 times there has been an association iu language between the two classes of 

 birds, viz., Herons and Eagles, though perhaps the latter class, and 

 especially with reference to Egypt, should also include Hawks. On the 



