1634 Quadrupeds, 



Remark on a passage in the * Fauna of Moray] by the Rev. G. Gordon. — On looking 

 over, a short time ago, the Paper bearing the above title, which appeared in an early 

 number of the ' Zoologist,' I was surprised to find the reverend writer, in speaking of 

 the rabbit, reiterating what he is pleased to call the " wise resolution " of Sir Eobert 

 Peel, who is reported to have said, whilst addressing his tenantry, " I consider it to be 

 the duty of every landlord to make some sacrifice of his personal pleasures for the 

 tenant farmer : " (so far well) ; and " I have no hesitation in saying, that I shall be 

 pleased that there is no one single rabbit on the whole of my property — T will do 

 everything I can for their destruction." As an argument against such wholesale and 

 unqualified destruction, let me refer Mr. Gordon to the few following sentences se- 

 lected from an eminent writer (Smellie), and the truth of which will be at once felt by 

 every naturalist of thinking and philosophical mind. "To men of observation and 

 reflection, it is apparent that all the beings on this earth, whether animals or vegetables, 

 have a mutual connexion and a mutual dependence on each other. There is a gra- 

 duated scale or chain of existence, not a link of which, however seemingly insignifi- 

 cant, could be broken, without affecting the whole. Superficial men, or which is the 

 same thing, men who avoid the trouble of serious thinking, wonder at the design of 

 producing certain insects and reptiles. But they do not consider that the annihilation 

 of any one of these species, though some of them are inconvenient and even noxious 

 to man, would make a blank in Nature, and prove destructive to other species which 

 feed upon them. These, in their turn, would be the cause of destroying other species, 

 and the system of devastation would gradually proceed, till man himself would be ex- 

 tirpated, and leave this earth destitute of all animation." — Thomas Worthington Bar- 

 low ; Holmes Chapel, near Middlewich, July, 1846. 



Hedgehog devouring Eggs. — About six weeks ago a gentleman in this town who 

 keeps poultry, was surprised to find, two or three days in succession, a diminution in 

 the number of eggs laid by his fowls. It occurred to him that a polecat or weasel 

 might be the cause of these depredations : this induced him to watch, and on the first 

 night, hearing a noise among the fowls, he entered their dormitory, when the whole 

 mystery was immediately solved, for there he saw a hedgehog in the act of devouring 

 an egg, which the animal endeavoured to conceal under its body upon his approach. 

 The little pilferer was captured, and permitted to enjoy his liberty, though at some 

 distance from the scene of his late festivities. I do not know what the defenders of 

 this interesting creature may think of the fact I have related ; I must own it has led 

 me to conclude that there is a great deal of truth in the accusations brought against 

 this animal by the mass of gamekeepers. — E. J. R. Hughes ; Catherine Street, White- 

 haven, August 14th, 1846. 



The Stoat carrying Eggs. — The following anecdote seems to me interesting, as 

 explaining in some degree the mode in which eggs are so mysteriously moved, without 

 breaking, by small predatory animals. The narrator, who is a very accurate observer, 

 declared to me that he has the most perfect recollection of the facts. Mr. Edward 

 Hunt was walking with a brother of his near Cheltenham, some thirty years ago, when 

 they saw a stoat cross the road, carrying something white between its chin and its 

 breast: upon their running up it dropped its burden, which proved to be a full-sized 

 hen's e^g; examining it, they could not detect the slightest marks of teeth upon the 

 shell. They put it down again, and retired to a little distance, when the stoat re- 

 turned, and carried it, in the same manner as before, up a high bank and through a 

 hedge. The egg appeared to be held by the head and neck, without being carried at 



