330 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



in their hands. I had a cage made for them, after the fashion of, but larger 

 than, the common dormouse-cages, divided into three parts — one for sleeping, 

 another for food, with, at the end, a revolving wheel or treadmill. Into this 

 I put five of the voles. They are fed with corn, apples, carrots, potato, bread, 

 biscuit, and (by advice read in 'The Zoologist') gooseberries. They are 

 well supplied with water. On the 23rd July I found two blind, hairless 

 young ones, evidently just born, lying outside the cage, underneath the 

 wheel. I put one into the sleeping compartment, where I caught sight of 

 another. T gave strict orders that this part of the cage was not to be 

 disturbed. When, however, the voles were shut into it, to permit 01 

 cleaning the other parts, the little girl who attends to them several times 

 heard sounds of fighting, and on the morning of the 96th a vole ran out 

 bleeding at the head. He was followed by the mother, with a young one 

 in her mouth. Our idea is that the wounded vole had attacked the young 

 ones, and had been bitten by the mother. He was found dead the next 

 day. On the 2nd August (when the young ones were eleven days old) one 

 was seen running about. After a fortnight (the 6th August) I examined 

 the sleeping-place, and found three little creatures fully covered with fur, 

 active enough, and able to feed themselves. The mother is very jealous of 

 her young ones being seen, and it is amusing to notice how she seizes a 

 youngster, and hustles it off to the sleeping apartment if she thinks it is 

 being looked at. Once or twice when a little one has ventured into the 

 wheel, she has not only trundled it back, but has (apparently) administered 

 correction by shaking and thumping it on the floor as she carries it to the 

 inner compartment. All the little creatures appear in excellent health, 

 which I attribute mainly to the wheel. This enables them to get as much 

 exercise as they please, and they never seem to tire of it. — T. Vaughan 

 Roberts (Verulam House, Watford). 



BIRDS. 



Summer Birds kept through the Winter.— It may be of interest to 

 mention that a Norfolk naturalist, Mr. Lovvne, of Great Yarmouth, has 

 successfully kept a Swallow, a Wheatear, a Greater Whitethroat, a Blackcap, 

 and a Pied Wagtail through the winter. On the 22nd July they were in as 

 good health as if they had just come over the channel, and the Swallow is 

 reported to be "singing all day." My brother and I have had Hedge- 

 sparrows, which are not easy birds to keep, for some months, and I have 

 a Brambling which has assumed the summer plumage and a black chin. — 

 J. H. Gurney (Northrepps, Norwich). 



[An article on the treatment of Swallows and Swifts in captivity was 

 published in ' The Zoologist,' 1887, p. 372. Blackcaps and Whitethroats 

 have been successfully kept through the winter by the well-known zoological 

 artist, Mr. Joseph Wolf, and visitors to the Zoological Gardens will doubtless 



