354 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the only one that reached maturity had eyes of the same description as the 

 original doe. — Gerald Lascelles (The Queen's House, Lyndhurst). 



Wolves in France. — The French Minister of Agriculture, publishing 

 the annual statement with regard to the number of Wolves killed and of the 

 premiums paid for their destruction in France, states that the total for 1891 

 was 404, of which 149 were full-grown animals and 253 cubs, the amount paid 

 for their destruction being £1013, at the rate of £4 for a full-grown animal 

 and £1 12s. for a cub, a small extra sum being given for she-wolves with 

 young. The number of Wolves destroyed was considerably less than it had 

 been in any previous year, the figures being 461 in 1890, 515 in 1889, 

 760 in 1886, and 1316 in 1883, when as much as £4200 was paid in 

 premiums, and in that year no fewer than nine wolves were killed which 

 had attacked human beings. By far the most wolves were killed in the 

 central and south-western departments, such as the Dordogne (67), the 

 Charente (47), the Creuse (20), and the Vienne (15); while only one was 

 killed in the three Pyrenean departments, and none in the three Alpine 

 departments. 



The Polecat in South Wales and Bucks.-— It may interest you to 

 know that on Sept. 1st I received a live wild female Polecat, which was 

 caught uninjured near Whitland, South Wales. From its appearance 

 T should think it was bred this year. The keeper who caught it says he 

 has trapped eighteen within the last eighteen months. I have also heard 

 of several being seen in Bucks this summer near Aylesbury ; one, a big 

 dog Polecat, had been known for several months to be lying about a brick- 

 yard on the outskirts of Aylesbury, and was killed in July last by a man 

 with a stick in a back yard in a row of small houses near the brick-yard, 

 where it had apparently come after some tame rabbits the man had in his 

 yard. I know of one now, in a village near Aylesbury, which is often seen 

 by a hay-rick ; it is believed to live in the thatch, as it has been seen 

 climbing up. My old dog Polecat, from which I have bred with Ferrets 

 for four seasons, died last spring, I believe from old age; he was an old 

 one when caught. My younger one, now in his second breeding season, is 

 w r ell, and the sire of some young half-bred ferrets bom on the 2nd August 

 last. — J. H. B. Cowley (Callipers, King's Langley). 



Rats stealing Gooseberries. — Mr. G. Reade, of Milnthorpe, West- 

 moreland, writing to a contemporary says ; — " The ripe gooseberries (Aston 

 Reds) in my garden were disappearing from the trees very fast, and I 

 considered that it was the Blackbirds that were taking them. However, 

 my housekeeper called my attention to a large Rat taking the berries off 

 with his mouth and dropping them to other Rats below; after waiting 

 quietly, another climbed the tree and helped to gather the berries. In a 

 little time they both came down, each with a berry in its mouth, having a 



