4 58 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



my back being momentarily turned and glided down to tbe river, leaving a 

 furrow behind resembling that which would be made by a small barrel going 

 down endways. No traces of the pads were visible down the slope, but at 

 the edge of a fringe of willows by the river side, the four feet had been used 

 as a stop-brake to arrest its headlong course. In conclusion, I may add 

 that I have several times noticed places where an Otter has left the 

 river to enjoy a good roll on the sand, and also during winter time 

 amongst the snow. I can recollect this district having been hunted by 

 nine different packs of hounds, and the heaviest Otter that has been 

 killed within a period of about fifty years weighed, I believe, 29 lbs. 

 Mr. Wilkinson, of Neasham Abbey, is the present popular Master of Otter- 

 hounds which hunt the river Yore and its tributaries in this locality. — 

 James Carter (Burton House, Masham, Yorkshire). 



Gestation of the Badger. — In an article on the Badger which 

 appeared in 'The Zoologist' for 1888, some statistics were furnished on 

 this subject (pp. 12, 13), which tended to prove that the usual or average 

 period of gestation in this animal is twelve months, though, from some 

 cause as yet unexplained, it has in several cases been prolonged much 

 beyond this time. It may be as well to note, as a further item of 

 information on the subject, that a female Badger which was captured alive 

 in Spain, and brought home to this country by Mr. Assheton Smith, of 

 Vaynol, in the month of February, gave birth in the February following 

 to two young ones, as nearly as possible twelve months after her capture. 

 This animal, although apparently an adult female, looked to me smaller 

 than the general run of English Badgers, but in other respects resembled 

 them. — J. E. Harting. 



Rabbit breeding above Ground.— On Oct. 3rd I was out shooting, 

 when a Rabbit got out of a tuft of grass, was shot at, and missed. In the 

 seat which she had left, we found six young ones, about three days old. 

 The following day I went to look at them again, but they had been 

 removed. Is not this very unusual? — A. C. Spence (Kilnwick Hall, 

 near Hull). 



[Instances in which young Rabbits have been found born above ground 

 are not common ; nevertheless several have been reported. In ■ The Field ' 

 of Dec. 2nd, 1876, a case is mentioned by Mr. W. Southam, of Durrington, 

 near Amesbury, in which a flat " form " like that of a Hare was found 

 in turnips, and contained four newly-born young. The old doe was 

 unfortunately shot as she left the form, before it was discovered (Zool. 

 1877, p. 18). Mr. Oordeaux also has reported (' Field ' of Dec. 9th, 1876) 

 a nest of four young Rabbits, a few days old, out in a bare fallow field. In 

 this case, although the hollow in which they lay was bedded with down, 

 there was no covert or shelter of any kind around it. In the succeeding 



