344 



FIELD NOTES. 



MAMMALS. 



Whiskered Bat in Craven. — A specimen of this bat was 

 obtained in Skipton Woods, near the old Corn Mill, in August 

 of last year. It was sent to me by the Secretary of the Craven 

 Naturalists' Society. — ^Walter Wilson, Colne. 



The two White Mares (?) of Sheffield — For some months 

 I tried without success to get accurate information on the 

 above subject for Major G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton for his work 

 on ' British Mammals.' In J. C. Walter's ' Stray Leaves of 

 Travel,' 1910, p. 180 (and in other publications), there is a 

 statement that at Sheffield a rent is paid for some property 

 enjoined by ancient deed, which consists of two white hares 

 to be paid on St. John's Day (Dec. 27th). Eventually I received 

 the desired information from Mr. S. O. Addy, of Westbourne 

 Road, Sheffield, and that gentleman has kindly given me 

 permission to publish it in The Naturalist, viz : — ' The 

 alleged chief rent of two white hares in Sheffield in 39 Edw. Ill, 

 was due to a mistake of the Rev. Edward Goodwin, who 

 mis-read " duos leporarios albos" (two white greyhounds) as 

 " duos lepores albos " (two white hares). See Pegge's Anony- 

 miana, 1818, p. 159. There is no such rent in Sheffield.' — 

 H. B. Booth, Ben Rhydding. 



BIRDS. 

 Osprey at Scampston — An Osprey has been at Scampston 

 for about ten days this month. It was first seen by us on the 

 loth, but some of our men working near the lake noticed it 

 several days earlier. As is unfortunately usually the case, 

 this Osprey was by no means shy, and could be closely in- 

 spected with glasses, and otherwise, as he sat . preening his 

 plumage, or pulling up his prey, on one of his favourite perches, 

 a Scotch Fir, a very large Black Poplar, and a stag-headed 

 Oak. The latter is only about 150 yards from the terrace on 

 which he allowed us to stand watching him, without showing 

 any alarm. Roach were his principal prey, and their scales and 

 fragments were plentiful under his perches. I watched the bird 

 from my dressing-room fishing early in the morning of the 17th, 

 and about 8-30 a.m. he was noticed passing near the house 

 flying north, quite low down. This was the last that we saw 

 of him.— W. H. St. Quintin, October 23rd, 1912. 



' The Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining and 

 Mechanical Engineers,' Vol. LXIL, part 6, contains a well illustrated 

 paper on the use of X rays in the examination of coal, by Messrs. F. C. 

 Garrett and R. C. Burton. 



Naturalist, 



