Quadrupeds. 015 



down and padded close to the earth for many yards in circumference. The parents 

 provided a most bountiful table ; for scattered around them lay no less than two leve- 

 rets, a young Bantam cock, a partridge, the wings of a pheasant, besides the remains 

 of fowls and a vast profusion of feathers and bones. The novelty of the scene tempted 

 the curious to visit the spot, and the dam led her family away, not quitting the field, 

 however, but concealing them amongst the thickest parts of the crop which hovered 

 over or were laid by the rains and wind ; and although eventually reared, they were 

 rarely seen afterwards. — J. J. Briggs; Melbourne, Derbyshire, May 20, 1844. 



Note on the discovery of the Badger near Melbourne. During the second week in 

 April last, one of the Donnington park-keepers, in digging for some rabbits, discovered 

 a nest of badgers ; animals which have long been considered as nearly extinct here. 

 In the larger woods an individual may be killed in nine or ten years, but they are ne- 

 ver seen in the open country. This litter consisted of three young ones, though they 

 will have as many as five at a birth. It was secreted in a very long and most curi- 

 ously excavated earth. From the principal chamber occupied by the young, led seve- 

 ral others, which, in their execution must have swallowed considerable labour. They 

 were deep in the ground, and in one was a bed of leaves, dried grasses, and moss, for 

 the better accommodation of the young. — Id. 



Note on the Foumart. In former times the foumart haunted the coverts, copses, 

 and retired parts of our neighbourhood, especially those which produced the most 

 game ; but through the vigilance of gamekeepers, became extremely rare, and is now 

 only known by name. In the ' Complete Angler' by Isaac Walton, in the quaint dia- 

 logue between Piscator, Venator and Auceps, where each discourses about his favour- 

 ite art, Auceps gives his companions a list of those wild animals which were formerly 

 hunted in the chace, and amongst them is mentioned the " foulmart." The practice 

 of hunting this animal was in use here about sixty years ago. Three or four dogs 

 were employed in the pursuit, and the first or best wore round his neck a bell, which, 

 as their object was hunted by moonlight, served the better to point out the course it 

 was taking. Little can be gathered at this period of its habits, but some of our an- 

 cient villagers remember well the pastime, and recount the pleasures of it with more 

 than their usual felicity.— Id. 



Anecdote of a Stoat being tamed. Great doubt having hitherto existed as to the 

 possibility of taming the stoat, the following account of one of these animals, which 

 was for some months in the possession of a gentleman residing in Cambridgeshire, may 

 be deemed worthy of note. The little creature was first discovered as it was borne 

 across a river in the mouth of the parent stoat ; and Mr. Thurnall having fired at and 

 killed the mother, succeeded in saving the little one, which was at the time so young 

 that it had not the power of seeing. For some days it was fed with milk, but as it ap- 

 peared to make but little progress, the limb of a small bird was offered to it, which it 

 took most readily, and being constantly fed in this manner, it soon grew rapidly. It 

 became very tame, and would follow Mr. T. to any part of the garden or fields, and 

 when set at large in the sitting apartment would evince the greatest playfulness, bound- 

 ing up on the different articles of furniture, and taking in its mouth gloves, balls of 

 cotton, or anything which was thrown down for its amusement. It gave signs of the 

 greatest sociability, and evidently courted the attention of any one who attempted to 

 sport with it, frequently taking a finger in its mouth, without offering to bite or injure 

 it in any way. To bound upon the person of any one present was a favourite prac- 

 tice with it, often springing upon the shoulders of the ladies of the family, and seating 



