Quadrupeds. 



7879 



I may add that on the 27th of December, 1861, three little rat-like 

 brown bears were born in the Gardens, and are still alive and doing 

 well, the paternal honours in this case belonging to the well-known 

 gigantic animal sent a few years ago from Norway. 



E. W. H. HOLDSWORTH. 



January 8, 1862. 



Weasel fascinating Small Birds. — Returning from church one Sunday morning, 

 my attention was drawn to a clump of six or seven small trees planted on the village 

 green. Five sparrows were fluttering about, near to the ground, and uttering loud 

 cries of alarm. T drew cautiously nearer to the place, and saw a weasel in the middle 

 of the clump. He was facing the birds, who seemed to flutter helplessly around him. 

 He suddenly made a spring and snatched a bird, and at the same instant I threw a 

 stone at him, which alarmed him, and he made off" into an adjoining farm-yard, retaining 

 his prey in his mouth. I had often heard of the power of fascination possessed by 

 some animals, but never saw anything approaching to it before. — Ranson ; York. 



Cream-coloured Mole. — T have in my possession at present a beautiful cream- 

 coloured mole, which was killed, in August last, in a hay-field near this village. 

 A similar oue was also caught in October on the farm adjoining; it, however, made 

 its escape, after being a few hours in captivity. — Thomas Thompson; Winlaton, 

 December 7, 1861. 



[I have met with numerous instances of cream-coloured moles, but nev er with 

 one perfectly white. — E. Newman. - ] 



In re Leporines. — It is difficult to visit Leadenhall Market, or any other 

 market where living animals are exposed for sale, or any dealer in living 

 animals, or any spot where living animals are exhibited, though not sold, — as in our 

 Zoological Gardens, — without seeing, in considerable abundance, an animal called a 

 leporine; and without hearing, should any inquiry be made, that the said leporines 

 are hybrids between the rabbit and the hare. Again, it is difficult to open the 

 ' Field ' newspaper — which, by the way, is an admirable repertory of sporting and 

 field lore — without lighting on a discussion as to the value, origin and characters of 

 the leporines in question. Now the mind of the true naturalist has not only an 

 inquiring, but almost a doubting turn, and this I fancy more wholesome than too 

 eager a credulity, than such a swallow, for instance, as would gulp a meteoric stone, or 

 such a stomach as could digest the wondrous but circumstantial narrative thereanent, 

 when swallowed. Now this sceptical spirit or doubting turn of mind has largely 

 fallen to my own share ; and I do not take on trust that these leporines are hybrids 

 between rabbits and hares, for two reasons ; the first and prima facie reason is that 

 they resemble rabbits and not hares; and the second, that they are extremely fertile, 

 which is very rarely, perhaps never, the case with hybrids between distinct species of 

 either quadrupeds or birds ; instance the mule as a hybrid between horse and ass, 

 and the mule hybrid between canary and goldfinch. Seeing then that appearances 

 and probabilities are equally against the assumption that leporines are hybrids, half- 

 hare, half-rabbit, I may mention another character they possess that is purely a rabbit 

 character. The female or doe makes a cozy nest of hay, and lines it with fleck torn 

 from her own belly : in this nest she brings forth ; and her young ones are bom 



