122 



FIELD NOTES. 



MAMMALS, 



Otters Breeding in North Lincolnshire. — A family of 

 Otters have for the last two seasons made their home and 

 erected a large nest upon the exposed, covered-in, broad landing- 

 stage of a boathouse at the side of a private North Lincolnshire 

 lake, and therefore open to inspection. Last year they succeeded 

 in rearing- a family of three cubs successfully, their presence 

 being- respected and g-uarded by the owner. It offers an unex- 

 ceptionally good opportunity of watching their breeding habits, 

 of which a great dearth of data exists. As an angler my 

 sympathies are scarcely with them, as they wreak such w^anton 

 damage upon the fish, not merely for food but purely for the 

 love of killing, after a battue many fish being found dead from 

 one bite and otherwise untouched. Last year a large Otter was 

 brought to me, the same having been shot at dusk upon a farm 

 through which runs a stream which takes its origin in the 

 neighbourhood of this lake. This splendid English specimen 

 I have now stuffed, its length from the snout to tail in its 

 freshly dead state being 46 inches, its weight 22 pounds, both 

 practically maximum dimensions. It is possible that it may be 

 one of this interesting colony. — Otto. G. S. L. Oyerbeck, 

 "Grimsby. 



■ 



BIRDS. 



Tree Creeper in North Lancashire.— Referring to Mr. S. L. 

 Petty's note in the March ' Naturalist' (p. 92) I find that in my 

 ■copy of Mr. W. B. Kendall's MS. 'Birds of Salthouse ' he 

 remarks, 'Rare. Last seen in village in 1876.' This, of course, 

 applies to the village of Salthouse, near Barrow-in-Furness, and 

 not to North Lancashire generally. I may also state that Mr. 

 Kendall was Mr. Durnford's informant referred to as W. B. K. 

 Mr. Petty is under a misapprehension on this point. — ^H. Gav- 

 rHORPE, Barrow-in-Furness. 



FUNGI. 



Schizophyltum commune in East Yorkshire.— In my 



notes on this species ('The Naturalist,' 1904, p. 89) one record 

 was unfortunately omitted, viz. :— On decaying trunks, Scar- 

 borough, Geo. Massee, 'The Naturalist,' July 1881.— W. N. 

 Cheesman, Selby. 



Naturalist, 



