490 Birds. 



I am persuaded that they might be substituted for the ferret with great 

 advantage. I do not see why they should not be capable of domes- 

 tication in an equal degree with the Egyptian ichneumon ; and if so, 

 their good qualities would be in like manner appreciated. In any 

 case, it is worth the trial, and I have requested my gamekeepers to 

 bring me some young ones of both species, if they can find any in the 

 spring, that I may be enabled to discover their respective merits. If 

 I should succeed in rearing them, it will give me great pleasure to 

 communicate to the Editor of ' The Zoologist' the results of my ex- 

 periment, with such further observations upon the habits of these in- 

 teresting animals as a nearer inspection of them must necessarily 

 enable me to make. Oswald Mosley. 



Rolleston Hall, near Burton-on-Trent, 

 January 10, 1844. 



Note on the Keen Scent of the Stoat. In a recent number (Zool. 344) there ap- 

 peared a note from the pen of my father on the subject of the stoat hunting by scent. 

 Since the appearance of that note it has come to my knowledge that the stoat not only 

 hunts by scent, but also in packs and in fall cry. I am indebted for the information 

 to a gentleman of Hutton ; and one of the instances he mentioned, has occurred within 

 the past year. As he was fishing one day in the Whitadder, he observed a rabbit come 

 down the bank under apparent alarm ; and presently a stoat came in sight, following 

 the track of the rabbit and " giving tongue." The other instance was as follows. He 

 was seated on the bank of the river at a point where the opposite bank, which is very 

 steep and is planted, terminates in a sort of ravine. His attention was aroused by 

 seeing a hare issuing from this " bosky dell ; " and immediately after a shrill chiding 

 sound, resembling the combination of cries in the music of the hounds, struck on his 

 ear. He looked with much curiosity for the solution of this unwonted noise; and pre- 

 sently emerged from the covert a pack of stoats, "just," added he, " as you may see a 

 pack of hounds come into sight — first one or two, perhaps, and close behind, three or 

 four others, and so on." The stoats were seven in number, and stuck to the trail in 

 gallant style. What the result of the chase was, he could not see; but it may be an- 

 ticipated. — J. C. Atkinson ; Hutton, January 22, 1844. 



Note on Birds of Prey found in the parish of Hursley, near Winchester. 1 . Hobby, 

 Stone-falcon, Falco subbuteo. This bird often builds in our woods, and is by no means 

 the most uncommon of our birds of prey. It seems to be particularly fond of larks, 

 and is sometimes called by the common people "the larker." It appears to build prin- 

 cipally in the tops of high trees, and if the nest is approached, the parents show all the 

 anger of the true falcons, even going so far as to attack the enemy with their claws. 

 The food principally brought to the young is larks and pipits, and sometimes wheat- 

 ears. 2. The Merlin, Falco Msalon. This beautiful little hawk is extremely partial 



