Quadrupeds. 4993 



Anecdote of a Fox. — Some six years ago Mr. Brockman and his hounds met at or 

 neav to Waldershare Park, the seat of the Earl of Guildford, and, after drawing several 

 covers blank, came across Mr. Gordon, the gamekeeper, who, after talking the matter 

 over with Mr. Brockman, observed, " Do you see that cedar-tree standing in the park, 

 near to the Wilderness? A fox has lately used that tree, and possibly you now may 

 find him." Although the proposition seemed so preposterous, to draw for a fox in a 

 tree, still, knowing Gordon to be a matter-of-fact man, away went the sportsman and 

 hounds to the tree. After whooping and hallooing under it for some time, no fox was 

 moved, and the laugh was becoming pretty general against Gordon, who, nothing 

 daunted, then advised that a man should go up the tree, and beat it with a long slick: 

 this w T as done, and, to the astonishment of the field, something at last began to move 

 near the top, very dark, much resembling a martin-cat, and making its way from bough 

 to bough towards the ground, when at length down plumped in front of the hounds as 

 fine a fox as ever was seen. Away went the fox, hounds and horses, pug putting his 

 head straight to the park, and, wonderful to relate, for the first two hundred yards the 

 little wily animal gained upon its pursuers, showing the extraordinary speed which a 

 fox possesses. At length the long strides of the fox-hounds began to tell, and the fox 

 turned towards the steward's house, when, after a whimper or two and a crash, it was 

 killed in the steward's garden. The narrator has now the brush of this fox suspended 

 in his parlour — a very dark one, almost sable, with a handsome tag at the end. — 

 Sussex Express, of January 5, 1856. Communicated by the Rev. Arthur Hussey, of 

 Rottingdean. 



Deer feeding on Horse-chestnuts. — I am surprised to see it stated (Zool. 4913), as a 

 new or strange fact in Natural History, that deer feed on the fruit of the horse-chestnut. 

 The truth is, and I thought it had been notorious, that they are very fond of these 

 nuts ; and on this account perhaps, as well as for the sake of ornament, horse-chestnut 

 trees are frequently planted and cherished in parks. I could name a deer park, in 

 which is a noble mansion ; and, as I well remember to have heard many years ago, on 

 authority that I cannot doubt, the younger members of the family were in the habit 

 sometimes of collecting the nuts of the horse-chestnut and distributing them from 

 their chamber windows, with a view to draw the deer near the mansion ; and the deer 

 were readily attracted by so tempting a bait. Is the origin of the name " horse- 

 chestnut" as stated in the 'Zoologist' correct? And will our English horses eat the 

 nuts? I had always supposed the epithet to have been given rather on account of the 

 size and coarseness of the fruit, and its uneatable nature. Pigs refuse the nuts ; at 

 least I have several times tried the experiment with my own pigs, and never knew them 

 to eat one. — W. T. Bree ; Allesley Rectory, January 12, 1856. 



Deer feeding on the Horse-chestnut. — The Kev. Arthur Hussey mentions having 

 seen deer feeding on the fruit of the horse-chestnut. In Donnington Park are herds 

 of fallow and red deer, both of which I have frequently seen feeding upon this fruit. 

 It is rather an interesting sight to watch a group of fallow deer searching amongst 

 the fallen leaves for them, which they do with considerable care : this species of deer 

 seems particularly partial to this fruit, and they consume them daily in the autumn, 

 as fast as they drop from the trees. — John Joseph Briggs ; King's Newton, December 6, 

 1855. 



Piscivorous propensity of the Water Campagnol. — Some naturalists seem to enter- 

 tain a doubt whether this animal will feed upon fish. A friend of mine assures me 

 that frequently, when he has been fishing in the Trent, towards evening, and thrown 

 XIV. K 



