Notes and queries. 261 



however, became quite abundant. The extension of the species throughout 

 Wigtownshire has, therefore, been very rapid. — R. Service (Maxwelltown, 

 Dumfries). 



Homing Instinct in Ferrets. — One of the most familiar attributes of 

 some domestic animals is the faculty of being able to return to their homes 

 over roads of which they could have had no possible previous knowledge. 

 While dogs, cats, and pigeons have perhaps the largest share of the homing 

 faculty, some other of the domesticated animals — black-faced sheep, for 

 instance — are well known to depend on it for occasional and often un- 

 desirable returns to their original home. I have just been informed by a 

 gamekeeper of an instance of this homing faculty in one of his Ferrets. It 

 is worth mentioning, because Ferrets are animals that one could hardly 

 suspect of " homing " under any circumstances. This particular Ferret 

 was lost at a distance from home, as the crow flies, of about two miles and 

 a half. To return it must either have taken a much longer and more 

 circuitous route, or else swam across a pretty wide burn. But in less than 

 a week after it was lost the Ferret walked in at the open door of its master's 

 house, looking none the worse for its temporary sojourn in the wilds. — 

 Robert Service (Maxwelltown, Dumfries). 



[Other instances of the kind will be found recorded in ' The Field ' of 

 Jan. 25th, Feb. 1st and 8th, 1873 ; Jan. 23rd and 30th, 1886.— Ed.] 



Serotine Bat near Hastings. — I am forwarding a Bat obtained last 

 evening (May 29th), which I make out to be the Serotine, V. serotinus. 

 Please say if I am correct. It is one of a colony of about twenty established 

 in a house at Guestling, near Hastings. I have watched them emerge 

 about fifteen minutes past sunset, going off in parties of from two or three 

 to seven or eight. They all follow the same hue, though not a direct one, 

 to a wood a short distance away, flying high and steadily until reaching it. 

 I obtained another at the same time, also a female, the fur of which is 

 distinctly brighter, and, judging from the more worn appearance of the teeth, 

 is older. This specimen is not hit so hard with the shot, and I am preserving 

 it. It agrees with Bell's measurements except in the expanse of wing; 

 this is exactly 14 inches (before skinning). — H. G. Jeffery (George Street, 

 Hastings). 



[The Bat sent is the Serotine, recognizable by its narrower wings, 

 longer and narrower tragus than the Noctule, and with two premolars less 

 in the upper jaw. — Ed.] 



birds* 



The present Status of the Hooded Crow in Southern Scotland.— 

 Mr. A. C. Chapman's note on the nesting of the Hooded Crow, Corvus 

 comix, in Northumberland (p. 227), is, I think, of more importance than 

 he seems inclined to attach to it* Although nesting exceptionally much 



