L 103] 



INTELLIGENCE. 



ZOOLOGICAL INFORMATION. 



Habits of a common Seal fPhoca vitulina) kept in confinement.- — The animal, 

 of which the following is a short account, was received in June 1885, having been 

 brought from Scotland to Holyhead in a collier. He had with two others been 

 caught in a flshirig net in the north of Scotland, and from the time be began 

 his journey until he arrived at his destination, a period of fourteen days, he had 

 no nourishment whatever except two spoonfuls of milk, he had been forced to 

 swallow ; nevertheless, he did not appear to have suffered from his fast. When 

 turned into a small pool surrounded with iron railings, in which some roach and 

 dace had been previously placed, he was highly delighted at his comparative li- 

 berty, diving after the fish, which he caught very readily so long as the water 

 remained clear. After catching a fish he did not swallow it immediately, but 

 bit and mumbled it a good deal to break the bones, played with it, and when dead 

 and floating on the surface of the water, would dive, come up under it, and put it 

 under. He appears to have no idea of fear while in the water, but while out of 

 it, and suddenly alarmed, immediately began to scramble towards it. If a dog 

 approached the railings, he would follow it round and round the pool, not, how- 

 ever, venturing out of the water. His time of sleep was always during the day, 

 when he delighted to bask in the sun, sometimes reclining on his back, sometimes 

 on his sides and belly. Towards evening he became very lively, catching his 

 meals, and diving about the pool in all directions. I never knew a fish eaten 

 that he did not catch and kill himself, not even one that was caught and thrown 

 towards him alive, while he was on land. I was sometimes allowed to scratch 

 or tickle him, but if any sudden noise or movement was made, he snapped at 



the fingers, though he did not continue to hold like an otter or badger T. C. 



Ei/ton. February 11, 1836. 



Sitta Europea In the " Illustrations of British Ornithology," article Nut- 

 hatch, the author, relying upon the authority of Montagu, has stated that this bird 

 is not met with in Cornwall; this he finds from a correspondent is not correct, 

 he having frequently seen and killed it near Liskeard in that county P. J. S. 



Loxia curvirostra Crossbills in great numbers have been very common 



in various districts of England and Scotland during the last autumn and winter, 

 and, what is worthy of note, many remain with us up to the present date, viz. 

 March 25, 1836.* This is at variance with M. Temminck's account of the bird, and 

 its usual period of nidification, which in his Manual he states to be during the 

 winter months, and whose authority is relied upon, in the Illustrations of Bri- 



* May 3d — A pair were shot at Twizel in the red plumage. The male fre- 

 quently uttered his love note, and the eggs in the female were larger than peas 



P. J. S. 



