Quadrupeds. 2763 



to their habits in a state of nature. If half-a-dozen field mice were put into a cage, 

 and left without food for a couple of days, the weakest would be devoured by the 

 others ; and if the cruel experiment were prolonged, the same result would follow, 

 until none survived but the strongest individual of the party. Under nearly similar 

 circumstances, even civilized man himself has become a cannibal ! That the squir- 

 rel may — during long, dry summers, when the verdure of the woods and on the sur- 

 face of the earth has been parched by the burning sun, when the dead leaves of the 

 previous year have been all explored over and over again for acorns and beechmast, 

 and not another nut remains — have occasionally been detected in the act of devouring 

 the eggs, or even the unfledged young of a small bird, is just possible ; although after 

 much patient observation and diligent inquiry, I am bound to say that I have seen 

 nothing of the sort, nor met with a single well-authenticated instance of the kind. I 

 quite agree with Mr. Waterton in his opinion of the harmlessness of this charming 

 little quadruped. After commenting with just severity on the remarks of a writer 

 who had pronounced the squirrel to be carnivorous, from having seen one partake of 

 meat when in a state of confinement, that accurate and agreeable author records — 

 among several similar instances which had come under his own notice — that of a 

 common fowl devouring flesh. I have myself met with something nearly analogous 

 in the same bird. On the 8th of April, 1847, 1 was walking with two friends through 

 a farm-yard, in this county, when I observed a large barn-door hen in the act of 

 killing a full-sized frog, by dashing it against the ground, in the same manner as a 

 thrush would perform the operation on a worm or slug : she made several ineffectual 

 attempts to gorge it while yet alive, her appetite being apparently whetted by the in- 

 terference of an old cock, who was indefatigable in his efforts to dispossess her of the 

 prize, which she on her part endeavoured to baffle, by leading him a difficult chase 

 through hurdles, ladders and waggon-wheels, over an ocean of straw, until I lost sight 

 of her as she attempted to evade her pursuer by " an artful dodge " round the corner 

 of a distant pig-sty. Should we conclude from this that the common fowl is habitually 

 a frog-devourer ? Far from it. This is but the exception that proves the rule ; and 

 surely it would be equally unjust to condemn the poor squirrel to destruction for an 

 occasional peccadillo. The list of our indigenous quadrupeds is already too restricted 

 to admit of his extermination; and I, for one, earnestly pray that the day may 

 be far distant when the eye of the British naturalist is no longer to be gladdened by 

 the contemplation of his beautiful form and his merry bounds : then indeed will our 

 woods and forests be deprived of one of their greatest ornaments. — A. E. Knox ; 

 Petworth, February 8, 1850. 



Variety of the Common or House Mouse (Mus musculus). — A few months since 

 there were sent to me, from the town of Elgin, in which they were caught, three riving 

 mice, which at first view presented so very singular an appearance that it might have 

 induced one to think he had met with at least a new species. On a closer inspection, 

 however, they turned out to be but a variety of the common or house mouse, a variety 

 far rarer, I believe, than the albino or white mice. The whole bodies of these three 

 little creatures were completely naked, — as destitute of hair and as fair and smooth 

 as a child's cheek. There was nothing peculiar about the snout, whiskers, ears, lower 

 half of the legs and tail ; all of which had hair of the usual length and colour. They 

 had eyes as bright and dark as in the common variety. One of the three escaped : 

 the other two, after living for some weeks in an old grape vase, died, — apparently 



