5664 Quadrupeds — Birds. 



the party moved on. I remained an interested spectator; and, picking up a piece of 

 the fungus he had heen munching, I approached him quietly, holding out my hand. 

 Nothing loth, the hold little animal came coyly up, and nibbled the food in my hand ; 

 but he would not allow me to touch him. When I finally quitted the spot the squir- 

 rel still remained gambolling alone upon the pathway, amusing himself with chasing 

 round and round the tree-trunks, now half-ascending a tree, and anon descending to 

 his favourite terra firmd. — Cuthbert Collingwood. 



Capture of Vespertilio Nattereri. — With reference to the list of bats found here, 

 and which I sent you on the 24th February, I beg to inform you that I this morning 

 found fourteen specimens of Vespertilio Nattereri, clustered together by themselves, 

 in the same place where I found the one I have mentioned in my former communi- 

 cation. They could not have been there long, or they would have been noticed 

 sooner. — J. H.Jenkinson ; Dripshill, Upton-on- Severn, April 28, 1857. 



Bed dish gray Bat (Vespertilio Nattereri). — May 16th, 1857. — Shot a bat of this 

 species (length 5 inches, extent of wings 13^) near the old church in the village of 

 Tudely, about two miles from Tunbridge, where there is a very ancient yew tree, mea- 

 suring, at about four feet from the ground, 19 feet in circumference. The trunk is a 

 mere shell, into which some three or four persons might easily creep. — Henry W. 

 Had field; Tunbridge. 



Harvest Mouse. — In the ' Zoologist' for the present month (Zool. 5592) I observe 

 a communication from Mr. E. H. Eodd, stating the occurrence of Mus messorius at 

 Penzance, and of its not having been noticed in Cornwall before. I find in Couch's 

 'Cornish Fauna,' Part I. p. 3, that it is common; and as far as my experience goes 

 it is, for during my residence at Goran Haven this very beautiful little creature was 

 well known to me, having seen it and its nest on the stems of corn in the fields, and 

 at times by dozens in winter, in the corn stacks, with the common mouse, when the 

 farmers were taking their corn into their barns ; for at such times either myself or 

 children were often requested to attend, with my old and favourite dog Hassan, who, 

 though a large fellow, was exceedingly quick, and very fond of catching mice and 

 rats, and few could escape him. The red mouse (harvest mouse) was a delicate and 

 dainty morsel, which he immediately swallowed : the other mice and rats he merely 

 killed. My children on one occasion took home some of the harvest mice, for which 

 I made a small cage. They lived with us some time, drank milk freely, and fed on 

 any sort of grain or bread ; and it was interesting to watch their gambols, and see them 

 suspend themselves by their prehensile tails from the wires of the cage. Unfortu- 

 nately, these wires were so flexible that one by one they got out, and fell a prey, no 

 doubt, to pussey. — Charles William Peach; Wick, Caithness, N. B., May 4, 1857. 



Anecdote of a Dog. — As I have introduced my dog, I may as well mention a trait 

 in his character proving that he was as " rigidly faithful and honest " as the dog men- 

 tioned by Mr. Atkinson (Zool. 5590) ; he differed, however, from this tail-less one in 

 having a splendid black " tail, wi' upward curl," tipped with white. A butcher visited 

 the cove every Friday. The dog most certainly knew the day, was invariably on the 

 look-out, and immediately took possession of the shop, and, when the butcher was 

 absent, full charge of the meat, and was frequently shut up with it lying all around 

 him, even on the low block on which it was chopped; and woe betide the cat that 

 attempted to steal! He, however, claimed as his perquisites the small pieces that 

 dropped when chopping ; but should a large piece fall he did not interfere. Hassan 

 had not been trained to keep shop, fur I had him when only a month old ; nor did I 



