NATURE NOTES 
114 
merely local. Like all the publications of the Homeland Association, this 
volume is well printed and illustrated, furnished with a good map, bibliography 
and index, and neatly bound. 
Received.— Victorian Naturalist and The American Botanist for April ; 
and The Naturalist, The Irish Naturalist, The Animal World, The Animals' 
Friend, The Humanitarian, The Agricultural Economist and The Estate Maga- 
zine for May. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
490. Fox and Badger. — The mangled remains of two little fo.x cubs were 
found lately in the middle of a field in Chatnwood Forest. Their being in the 
middle of the field puzzled us, but it turned out that a vixen was found also dead 
and mangled near a wood close by, and near to the home of a badger. It would 
appear that the vixen took possession of the burrow and had her young there and 
was slain, as well as the cubs, by the rightful owner of the burrow on his or their 
return ; the cubs were, however, carried away to the middle of a field where they 
were found, much mangled ; the vixen was not carried away. The estate on which 
they were found is not very far from the property formerly owned by a Mr. 
Ellis, who contributed some articles on badgers to some Natural History papers and 
is quoted in the “ Royal Natural History,” vol. ii., p. 86. He says : “ Badgers 
and foxes are not unfriendly” ; but the taking possession of the burrow was not 
an act likely to lead to friendly relations. 
W. R. T. 
491. Otter and Salmon. — One of my brothers writes from Dartmoor to 
say; “I witnessed rather an interesting sight, one I shall never see again, I am 
afraid, not long ago. In the river below my window, at about 2 p.m., I saw 
an otter working a pool for all he was worth. I went down cautiously and 
watched, and soon he drove a large salmon into a ‘ stickle,’ and landed it on 
a boulder where he proceeded to eat it, but on seeing me he soon was oft'. I got 
the fish, a spent one of about 14 lbs. A very interesting sight, one which very 
few have seen in this country, the other being a nocturnal animal. I wished I 
had had a camera with me. It would have made a rare ‘snap shot.’ The beast 
is down there now I fancy, as I saw his tracks a day or two ago.” 
Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
492. Tits. — According to annual custom, my two letter-boxes (one in use, 
the other superseded) are occupied by two families of Blue Tits, recently hatched 
out. It is a puzzle what becomes of the egg-shells, which entirely disappear. 
Do the parents use them for the benefit of their gizzards, or does the cock carry them 
away ? The construction of the nest is a marvel of ingenuity, and curiously large for 
so small a bird. First there is a foundation about two and a half inches thick 
of pliable brushwood, completely filling the square box, then comes a layer of 
mo.ss, and finally, for the reception and incubation of the eggs, a soft and 
rounded bed composed of donkey’s hair, feathers, rabbit’s down, and similar 
materials obtained in the neighbourhood, and notwithstanding all the labour 
expended by the birds it is very difficult to see them at work. They have no 
means of going in or out of the box except through the narrow letter-slii. 
Buxted, Sussex, A. L. Hussey. 
May 9, 1907. 
493. Great Tit. — It is univer.sally supposed that the Oxeye or Great Tit 
builds its nest only in holes of trees and holes in other places. But some friends of 
mine yesterday made an excursion to the neighbourhood of Ruislip, and between 
the Reservoir and the Wood they found an old Thrush’s-nest, and to their great 
surprise saw an Oxeye Tit in the nest. It flew out and they fotind five eggs of 
the Tit in the nest. The nest had been lined by the Tit with rabbit’s fur, but 
underneath that was the smooth turned surface of the inside of the old Thrush’s- 
nest. This seems .so singular and extraordinary, that I cannot help thinking that 
it is worth recording. 
Hampstead, 
May 21, 1907. 
Peter Hastie. 
