346 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



farmer desired this man to set some steel traps (which are commonly used 

 in these parts, notwithstanding the illegality), and in a very short space of 

 time he caught over twenty Hedgehogs. After this no more turnips were 

 eaten." I see that Bell says Hedgehogs will readily eat vegetable 

 substances, and I know that tame ones will eat boiled potatoes and 

 cabbage. Gilbert White, in his 27th letter to Pennant, observed that 

 they eat the roots of the plantain in his grass-walks. If so, I do not 

 wonder at their eating swede-turnips, which I fancy would be much more 

 palatable. — F. Bond (5, Fairfield Avenue, Staines). 



[With regard to plantain roots, the author of the ' Letters of Rusticus 

 discovered that the destroyer was not the Hedgehog, but a night-eating 

 caterpillar. See Hartiug's edition of White's ' Selborne,' p. Ul, foot- 

 note. — Ed.] 



A Badger in Birmingham. — It may interest some of your readers to 

 know that a specimen of this comparatively rare animal was dug out of a 

 hole recently in some sandhills in the neighbourhood of Chad Valley, 

 Edgbaston, which is in the borough of Birmingham. It had been com- 

 mitting great depredations among the poultry for some time past, until its 

 presence was at last suspected. A Fox was shot in the same locality last 

 spring. — W. Haecourt Bath (Lady wood, Birmingham). 



The Bats of Merionethshire. — Natterer's Bat, Vespertilio Nattereri, 

 may be added to the species mentioned by Mr. Caton Haigh in the August 

 'Zoologist' (p. 293) as inhabiting this county, on the authority of the late 

 Mr. Wm. Thompson, of Belfast, who took a specimen in the ruins of 

 Harlech Castle in July, 1835, as recorded in bis 'Natural History of 

 Ireland ' (vol. iv. p. 2), and in the Zoological Society's 'Proceedings' for 

 1887, p. 52.— J. E. Kelsall. 



BIRDS. 



Unusual Site for a Flycatcher's Nest. — A very similar occurrence to 

 that mentioned by Mr. Darell Stephens (p. 306) came under my notice 

 last year. In this case a pair of Spotted Flycatchers made a neat little 

 nest inside an old Thrush's nest, which was placed on a horizontal bough 

 of a beech about ten feet from the ground. I thought this so unusual and 

 interesting that I made a sketch of it. When I left there were three 

 fledged young ones in the nest. — G. E. Lodge (5, Verulam Buildings, 

 Grays Inn). 



Curious Capture of a Snipe.— On coming home from a drive one day 

 in July last I was told a boy with some birds wanted to see me. On being 

 sent up he said, " I have brought two young Snipe and an old one " 

 (which he had in his hand). I said, " Is she hurt?" " No, not a bit, sir." 

 " How did you get her?" '• Well, I saw her with her two young ones in 



