Birds. 1295 



as a charm in the graves of females. One or two examples of this have been found in 

 the burying ground which I have been speaking of ; a drawing of one of which may be 

 seen in Douglas's ' Nenia Britannica,' but I have never had the good fortune to find 

 one myself. — J. Pemberton Bartlett ; February 26th, 1846. 



Effects of Music on Animals. — The fact that musical sounds have certain effects upon 



i some animals, birds, insects, &c, has not escaped the notice of naturalists, and the fol- 

 lowing anecdote may not be uninteresting to some of your readers. I can vouch for its 



, correctness, having been myself an eye-witness. Sitting round the fire one winter's even- 

 ing at a friend's house, for our amusement a musical snuff-box was placed on the 

 mantel-piece, when very soon, the tails of three or four mice were seen to protrude from 

 between a crevice, occasioned by the shrinking of the wood of the mantel-piece from 

 the brickwork ; when the box ceased playing, it seemed a signal for the little strangers 

 to depart, as their tails very soon disappeared. The experiment was repeated several 

 times the same evening, and also subsequent ones, with similar success. It would seem, 

 therefore, that the sensations experienced were those of pleasure, but whether one kind 

 of music had a greater charm with them than another, I had no opportunity of judging. 

 — Charles Mushett ; Norwich, January, 1846. 



Cattle mouthing Bones. — We arrived towards evening at the side of a range of hills 

 called " Zuureberg." The name indicates the acid or sour quality of its pasturage, and 

 was given by the farmers. It is a curious fact that the sourness of a pasture is always 

 indicated by the cattle chewing bones, which they never do when the grasses are quite 

 sweet: they know by instinct what remedy to take for neutralising the acidity in their 

 stomachs. It was very interesting sometimes to see our oxen chasing each other to get 

 hold of a bone out of the mouth of another. The farmers believe, from ignorance of the 

 true state of things, that the cattle use these bones to sharpen their teeth, and generally 

 affirm that the teeth of cattle become sensible and painful, from the sour nature of 

 their food ; while the fact is, they chew and swallow the bones, as a cure for the inter- 

 nal acidity. — Zeyherh Tour in South Africa. 



Cattle mouthing Bones. — In reference to the several notes which have lately appeared 

 in ' The Zoologist ' on this subject, I may remark that in this quarter it is a quite com- 

 mon occurrence for cows to chew bones ; as also old shoes, pieces of leather, and other 

 articles they can pick up in the fields which may have been put upon the ground with 

 the manure. I have myself often observed the circumstance. Instead of being bene- 

 ficial, however, to the animals, as might be inferred from the statement of Pontoppidan 

 quoted in the last numbers of ' The Zoologist' (Zool. 1246), it is here considered to be 

 highly detrimental, and means are always resorted to to get the articles taken out of the 

 mouth of the animal. One evident injury is, that growing cattle are prevented from 

 eating, while chewing bones or other substances.— George Lawson; 108, HawJchill, Dun- 

 dee, February 10th, 1846. 



Note of the arrival of some of the Summer Birds of passage at Shooter's Hill, Kent, 

 in the spring of 1845. — 



Chiffchaff April 2 Black cap April 23 



Swallow „ 6 TreePipit „ 23 



Willow Wren „ 7 Whitethroat „ 23 



Nightingale „ 13 Lesser Whitethroat „ 23 



