428 Quadrupeds. 



castle, Darnaway, Cawdor and Quarry wood : but it will find shelter 

 for years in young plantations comparatively small, before the trees 

 are thinned out, or so long as they preserve the size and density of 

 brushwood. Hence the roebuck is annually becoming more abundant, 

 owing to the vast extent of surface which has of late years been en- 

 closed and planted in almost every corner of the Province of Moray. 



Porpesse, Delphinus Phocaena. Common in the Moray-frith. 



Ca'ing whale, D. melas. Cast ashore near Fort George some years 

 ago; as have been several other species of the whale tribe, but which 

 have not been identified or compared with the descriptions in any sys- 

 tematic work. G. Gordon. 



Manse of Birnie, by Elgin, 

 November, 1843. 



Note on the occurrence of the Water Shrew in Weshvood Park. So vast and ex- 

 haustless a subject is Nature, that to the out-door naturalist new objects of observation 

 are presenting themselves before him every day. Each season in its turn brings with 

 it new pleasures. Spring and summer have attractions which soothe the hardest heart, 

 and fail not to draw the attention of the most careless observer.. Autumn too, with 

 its teeming fields of grain, ready to yield to man an abundant supply, is not without 

 its charms. And he who is not too much attached to his fire-side, will, even in the 

 depth of dismal dreary winter, be amply repaid by a ramble through the woods and 

 fields. Nature is not to be studied by the comfortable fire-side, for there she is not ; 

 you may read books on Natural History until you have become sick at heart and dis- 

 gusted with this interesting pursuit, and in the end know little or nothing about it. 

 He who wishes to study Nature in her true garb, must be heedless of the vicissitudes 

 of an English climate, out he must go, morning, noon, evening and night, wet or fine, 

 cold or hot; he must throw aside all fear, putting on courage and perseverance, and 

 taking caution for his guide ; he must ascend trees, rocks and precipices, go through 

 bog and quagmire, over hill and dale, even the water must not be passed by without 

 frequent visits ; and in fine there must not be a spot left unsearched, or else the true 

 history of Nature, in some one of her parts, must for ever remain in the dark. By fol- 

 lowing the above axiom I have, day by day, become a more ardent lover, as well as 

 admirer of Nature ; the beautiful objects she presents before my eyes, and the melodious 

 as well as harsh sounds by which she attracts my ear, have impressed upon me such a 

 fond attachment for her, that to destroy her in any one of her forms uselessly, is to me 

 a matter of grief. This last summer has been one of great interest to me, and it has 

 not passed without having housed a goodly store of information on Natural History. 

 Amongst the foremost in my stock is the discovery of a little animal called by name 

 the water shrew, the Sorex fodiens of authors, a short account of which, I hope, will 

 not be irksome to your readers. I saw two of these little creatures in an old pit in 

 Westwood park, and at first sight I took them to be the young of the water-hen, but 

 upon approaching near the spot where they were, they proved to be a pair of water- 

 shrews, which were diving and sporting on the water with the greatest agility, and as 



