NOTES AND QUERIES. 25 



in Devonshire last summer at a house where there was a large quantity of 

 over-ripe fruit on the ground. " Red Admirals " were in numbers also, 

 settling on the pears and apples as they lay broken open by their fall, or 

 eaten away by wasps, &c. I repeatedly saw a cat stalk and catch these 

 " Red Admirals" in her paws, play with them like a mouse, and eventually 

 chew them to a shapeless mass. I never saw her miss catching one, and 

 she invariably touched them so lightly that they fluttered about a good bit 

 when she was playing with them. — J. A. Bucknill (Hylands, Epsom). 



[We do not remember to have seen a cat catch butterflies, for, as a rule, 

 they fly too high ; but we have repeatedly seen one catch small moths upon 

 the lawn on a summer evening and devour them with apparent relish. 

 On one occasion we saw this cat with her paw knock down a Long-eared 

 Bat which was skimming low along the ground in pursuit of the same 

 moths. — Ed.] 



Notes from Epsom. — It may be of interest to record the breeding 

 of the following birds near Epsom, only some sixteen miles from the 

 middle of London : — Green Woodpecker, Grasshopper Warbler, Common 

 Snipe, Bullfinch, Nightjar, and Dabchick. The Lesser Whitethroat has 

 built freely all over the common, and a pied Rook has frequented the fields 

 for some weeks. This bird seems to feed at some distance from and usually 

 at a different time to the others. The Kingfisher has nested both this and 

 last year on the Mole near Cobham, as well as the Mallard ; I have seen as 

 many as four of the former together. — J. A. Bucknill (Hylands, Epsom). 



Leach's Petrel on the Sussex Coast. — You might like to record in 

 'The Zoologist' that we have received three specimens of Leach's Petrel 

 during the late gales — one picked up at Aruudel, another shot at Southwick 

 by Capt. Curtis, aud a third caught alive on the beach near the Brighton 

 Aquarium on Dec. 9th, which lived until the following day. They were all 

 extremely thin and light. The two last mentioned were males, the first- 

 named a female. We have also received lately a handsome specimen of the 

 Little Gull, Larus minutus, in immature plumage, sent to us for pre- 

 servation by Capt. Curds, of Southwick, who shot it there during the gale 

 on Dec. 13th. — Pratt & Sons (11, North Street Quadrant, Brighton). 



REPTILES. 



An Assembly of Vipers. — On a sunny bank in a wood near here, my 

 gamekeeper came suddenly upon a bunch of full-grown Vipers, all inter- 

 twined. Having his gun with him, he fired a charge of shot into their 

 midst, and this had the effect of disabling eight, which were afterwards 

 killed with successive shots, and scattering others, which made their escape. 

 I take it to be a rare occurrence for so many adult Vipers to be found in 

 company. — J. C. Mansel Pleydell (Whatcombe, Blandford, Dorset). 



