3274 Quadrupeds. — Birds. 



it was not the first time that he had been thus engaged. — Robert Brewin ; Cirences- 

 ter, September 23, 1851. 



Anecdote of a Stoat and a Leveret. — One morning last autumn I chanced to fall in 

 with a stoat in pursuit of a leveret, evidently following the game by scent, for the hare 

 had disappeared before the stoat came in view. How long the chase had lasted I can- 

 not say, but when I discovered the hunt, the leveret was running languidly, whether 

 from the exhaustion of a long chase, or in ignorance of the deadly nature of its pur- 

 suer, I must leave to the learned in these matters. Guessing the line the chase would 

 take, I followed, and watched the stoat " head'' and turn the hare, and in a few mi- 

 nutes more overtook it and sprang on its neck, where he seized his prey by a deep 

 bite. The leveret uttered a shrill scream, and all was over ! I ran up and was in at 

 the death ; saw its death-struggles, whilst the stoat was firmly fixed on the neck. On 

 my coming within a few feet the stoat ran off to a short distance, leaving the hare 

 mortally wounded on the ground, but on my departure I saw him quickly return, and 

 again fix himself on the dead hare, whether to suck the blood, or get at the brain, I 

 must leave others to determine. — Id. 



Occurrence of Sorex remifer in Hampshire. — As I am not aware that any mention 

 has been made of the occurrence of Sorex remifer in the southern part of Hampshire, 

 it may perhaps be not uninteresting to some of the readers of your Journal, to know 

 that two specimens were obtained in this neighbourhood about three weeks since, one 

 by myself, and another by a gentleman residing in this place. — Charles Barron ; Royal 

 Naval Hospital, Haslar, September 5, 1851. 



On the Habits and Instincts of Birds. — In my last letter (Zool. 3232) I mentioned 

 the social feelings which certain birds display towards man : instance the swallows and 

 martins, how invariably they attach themselves to our houses and outhouses ; they vi- 

 sit, as Horace says, 



" Pauperum tabernas 

 Regumque turres.'' 

 The holy Psalmist says " The swallow has built her a nest, even in thy courts." Al- 

 though the boys in England are almost proverbially cruel, I admire their forbearance 

 towards the swallow and martin. How often do we see the nests of these birds at- 

 tached to low houses, within the reach of a short stick, and yet they are generally suf- 

 fered to hatch and fly away in safety ! Some writers have asserted that they destroy 

 hive-bees, but I am certain this is untrue. I have been cruel enough to shoot them 

 when a youth, and have always found them crammed with small flies. The following 

 extract from a description of the habits of the swallow from the pen of Sir H. Davy is 

 grand : — 



" He is the joyous prophet of the year, the harbinger of the best season. Winter 

 is unknown to him, and he leaves the green meadows of England in autumn for the 

 myrtle and orange groves of Italy and for the palms of Africa. He is the constant 

 destroyer of insects ; the friend of man ; and with the stork and the ibis may be re- 

 garded as a sacred bird : his instinct may be looked upon as flowing from a Divine 

 Source." 



The missel-thrush, or "storm-cock" as he is termed, is the largest singing-bird. He 

 is well described in White's Selborne, and mentioned particularly by my late worthy 



