Birds— Reptiles. 2073 



Occurrence of the Stormy Petrel (Thalassidroma pelagica) at Hailsham. — A speci- 

 men of this bird was picked up in the church-yard of the above place, during the gale 

 of the 26th ult. It was blown against the spire, and was unable to rise from the 

 ground.— James B. Ellman ; Battel, March 11, 1848. 



Frog-eating in England, and Inquiry respecting the Edible Frog (Rana esculenta). 

 — I shall be obliged by thy informing me, through the medium of thy interesting pe- 

 riodical, whether the species of frog sometimes used in France as food is commonly 

 found in England. I have been accustomed to suppose that it is unknown among us, 

 or that it is very rarely met with. I make the inquiry because of the following cir- 

 cumstance. I was taking a walk yesterday morning, by the side of a large artificial 

 piece of water that serves as a reservoir to supply one of the canals in our neighbour- 

 hood, and had stopped to converse a few moments with the man who looks after the 

 sluices, &c, when he suddenly exclaimed, " There goes the Frenchman again, he's 

 come to get frogs ! " or some very similar expression. I saw a man and woman at a 

 distance, walking slowly by the side of a channel that carries off the waste water from 

 the reservoir ; and having my curiosity excited by what I had just heard, I learned 

 from the man I was conversing with that they were French people, and that they often 

 came there to get the frogs out of the ditches, &c, and that they sometimes took away 

 with them a reticule-basket full. I walked over directly towards them, and when I 

 reached the spot I found the man had crossed a hedge into a neighbouring field, where 

 he was raking in a cow-pond with a long-handled rake. I saw him in a short time 

 draw out several of the reptiles he was in search of, and toss them over the hedge to 

 the woman. She took them up, and, severing the fore quarters from the hinder ones 

 with what appeared to be a heavy knife, she stowed the hind quarters in her basket, 

 leaving the fore part to struggle on the ground. When I drew near, and stood to look 

 at them, they ceased from their labours, evidently not liking to be observed. When I 

 looked round me, on the bank of the water-course where I stood, I saw abundant evi- 

 dence of the successful " hunting " of this couple on previous days. The ground was 

 strewed with the rejected portions of their prey. The separation of the parts had been 

 made just behind the fore legs, so that the head, shoulders and fore legs were thrown 

 away, while the rest of the body and the hinder legs were carried off — I suppose for 

 food. I examined a number of the heads and legs, and can only say, that they were 

 undoubtedly of the same species that swarms in almost all our road-side ditches and 

 ponds in the spawning season. The French man and woman were a well-dressed, 

 well-fleshed and well-looking couple, with nothing like an appearance of poverty or 

 want about them, so that I cannot suppose they sought such food from any other cause 

 than choice. The circumstance has certainly occasioned me some surprise, and I 

 think it is one that may also interest some of thy readers. — William Lean ; Birming- 

 ham, 3rd of 3rd mo., 1848. 



[For a figure of the so-called edible frog my correspondent is referred to p. 467 of 

 the ' Zoologist,' and for other remarks as to the occurrence of the same species in Eng- 

 land to pp. 393, 677 and 727. The species alluded to in the places cited is not un- 

 common in certain parts of England, France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. It 

 is the dictum of technical naturalists that this animal is exclusively that in which our 



