6058 



Quad riipeds — Birds . 



willing a cow is to be relieved of her burden of milk; indeed it is a 

 most pleasurable sensation to her, and if, in addition, the hedgehog 

 has the power of imitating the cry of a calf, it might induce a cow, 

 when lying down, to bear a little punishment from its prickles for the 

 pleasure of having her milk drawn from her. The hedgehog's 

 fondness for milk is very certain, as 1 have constantly kept them on 

 bread and milk, and they would refuse every other sort of food for it. 

 However the case may be, it is very generally believed by the lower 

 orders of the South of England. 



Like other animals and birds, hedgehogs are occasionally albinos : 

 I have a very large one stuffed, which is perfectly white, the hair of 

 the lower part and legs, as well as the prickles of the back. The very 

 young ones are always light-coloured. 



John Spicer. 



Fowley, Liphook, Hants, 

 April 7, 1858. 



Note on the early breeding of Squirrels. — On the 4th of JNIarch several squirrels, 

 so young that they were not much bigger than a rat, and scarely (it to leave the nest, 

 were running about upon the snow. It is a fable, which I had believed until I came 

 here, that squirrels hyberuale ; here their footsteps are the iirst which mark the 

 unsullied beaut}' of the snow. — W. C. Hewitson ; Oatlands, April 10, 1858. 



Occurrence of the Peregrine Falcon in Yorkshire. — A fine specimen of this bird 

 was caught by a boy in a grass field at Thorne, on the 8th of February last, the bird 

 having been shot at, but only winged, and is now in the possession of George Glennie, 

 bird-stu(fer. — Joseph Richardson ; Thorne. 



Early appearance of the Hobby in Norfolk. — A female hobby, in good plumage, 

 was shot near this city on the 20th of March. This bird had evidently been fired at 

 before, a portion of both mandibles having been broken, accounting for the sluggishness 

 and lean condition of the unfortunate bird. On dissection, a pellet of feathers was 

 found ready for excretion, showing that, even in its crippled condition, this hawk had 

 succeeded in procuring a meal not long before. I have recorded this instance, as the 

 hobby, a summer visitor to this country, almost invariably visits Norfolk in June ; 

 indeed, with the exception of one killed some years back, near Yarmouth, in February, 

 I have never known one to appear earlier than the first week of that month. — 

 H. Stevenson; Norwich, April 12, 1858. 



Early arrival of the Blackcap— On the 29th of March I heard the blackcap 

 singing, ten days earlier tlian I ever beard it before.— f^. C. Hewitson ; Oatlands, 

 April 10, 185S. 



