Quadrupeds. — Birds. 3707 



The water in these is kept up by dams, and harbours hosts of all the 

 commoner species : the peat ditches that drain the fens and more re- 

 cently reclaimed lands, are not worth examination. 



Hamlet Clark. 

 Northampton, September, 1852. 



Note on the Porcupine (Hystrix cristatus). — A gentleman of my acquaint- 

 ance, while doing duty with the garrison at Gibraltar, a few years since, had the fol- 

 lowing curious circumstance pass under his notice at that place: — A brother officer 

 had two well-bred English bull-dogs, which their master on one occasion encouraged 

 to enter a porcupine's hole, for the purpose of attacking the occupant. The sound of 

 a considerable scuffle in the interior of the hole speedily succeeded, followed by a cry 

 from one of the dogs, which led the owner to believe that it was mortally wounded. 

 Such, on opening the hole, proved to be the case, the dog which was killed having 

 been pierced by fourteen of the porcupine's quills, and the surviving dog by seven. 

 These quills were entirely disengaged from the body of the porcupine, and appeared 

 to have been driven into the dogs with great force. The dog which was killed had 

 one quill in particular, which had entered its chest, and had been driven through the 

 heart; and this quill was so firmly imbedded, that the dog could be entirely lifted 

 from the ground by the quill, without the latter being loosened ; and the surviving 

 dog had a quill so firmly infixed in its skull, that it could only be withdrawn by the 

 vigorous use of powerful forceps. My informant did not become certainly acquainted 

 with the manner in which the porcupine thus wounds its assailants, but is of opinion 

 that it does so by partially curling itself into a ball, and then very suddenly springing 

 open again, by which means he thinks that it drives its spines into such of its assail- 

 ants as are in contact with it. — J. H. Gurney ; Easton, Norfolk, October 7, 1852. 



Food of the Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus). — A female specimen of the honey 

 buzzard (which had nearly completed its adult plumage) was shot at Linford last 

 spring. The inside of the throat of the bird was covered with small pieces of the eggs 

 of the song thrush. For this information I am indebted to the bird-preserver at SwarT- 

 ham, where I saw the bird. An immature male honey buzzard was also trapped near 

 Swaffham, at a wasp's nest, about the 11th of last September. — L H. Irby ; Saham, 

 Norfolk, November 1, 1852. 



The Shore Lark (Alauda alpestris) breeding in Devonshire. — On the 12th of July, 

 1851, my friend, W. W. Buller, Esq., found a nest of the shore lark near Exmouth, 

 South Devon, among some bent grass close to the sea, and containing four eggs. The 

 eggs were very much like those of the woodlark (Alauda arborea). The hen bird was 

 caught on the nest, and is in my friend's possession, stuffed. — T. L. Powys ; Litford 

 Hall, Northants, October 9, 1852. 



Nesting of the Siskin (Fringilla spinus) in confinement. — The following account 

 of the nesting of the siskin in confinement may perhaps interest some of the readers 

 of the ' Zoologist,' although, after the similar instances which have been recorded, I 

 am not inclined to consider it as otherwise than the usual result of keeping a pair of 



