194 
NATURE NOTES 
dig this extraordinary animal out. What was his surprise, therefore, when he 
found that this was the real culprit, for packed in rows, as if with human hands, 
over sixty partridges’ and pheasants’ eggs were exposed to view ! Not one single 
egg was broken, and one only slightly cracked. Mow were the eggs carried by 
the stoat to its hiding place without any breakages ? Needless to say it was not 
long before a very valuable addition had been made to the motley collection of 
the Vermin Pole ! W. Pekcival Westell, M.B.O.U. 
5, Glenferrie Road, St. Albans, Herts, 
August 23, 1900. 
Squirrels.— Since I have been established in a home with woodland attached 
I have engaged the squirrel catchers of the neighbourhood to bring me all the 
young squirrels they catch instead of sending them to the London market, intend- 
ing to release them as soon as they are able to take care of themsehes, hoping 
that they would multiply in the woodland around us. But out of ten which I 
bought last year there was but one female, and of four I have lately had brought 
me there is only one female, and both have died, one irreconcilable to con- 
finement and the o her by a fall, both too young to be released. I have had 
pairs of squirrels of several species, and in every ca.se the female was the more 
refractory to familiarisation and mostly proved untamable. 
Deepdene, Rrimtey Green, Surrey. W. J. Stillman. 
A Good. Dog. — A Gordon setter belonging to a friend of mine is most 
useful in watching chickens. Pie will allow them to nestle up close to him and 
to climb over his back as he lies b)' the side of the hen-coops. All intruders he 
drives away, and the other day hauled out a large rat from among the crowd of 
chickens which were feeding from a trough. The rat was devouring the chicken 
food and apparently in no other way molesting the brood. No one noticed the 
rat, which was concealed among the chicks, but Rock was of sharper eyes, and 
made a rush tor the culprit and laid him out dead in an instant. This same dog, 
on the family returning after a temporary absence from home, amused them 
much by laying a bone on the pillow of each one of them, in token of welcome. 
He is an amiable animal, e.xcept in his dislike for pugs. These he generally 
attacks, as if they were not proper dogs. In this he is not singular, for pugs are 
unpopular as a rule among their canine brethren. 
Settle, July, 1900. AdDISON CrOFTON. 
Dogs and Thunderstorms. — I can corroborate Mr. J. Hiam’s experi- 
ence, for a Newfoundland dog in the possession of my father, the late Professor 
J. .S. Henslow, which was never allowed to enter the house, used to hide under 
a sofa in the draw ing-room before there was even any suspicion of a thunderstorm 
to that less intelligent creature, man ! 
George Henslow. 
The Hedgehog. — There is an idea prevalent in these parts that hedgehogs 
destroy young pheasants. Is this really a fact? It seems hardly likely from the 
insectivorous habits of the animal, and perhaps is only an instance ol the truth 
of the proverb, “ Give a dog a bad name and hang him,” for the superstition 
about hedgehogs robbing the milk from cows is not yet extinct. 
.Settle, fuly, 1900. Audison Ckofton. 
Cuckoos’ Winter Quarters. — In reply to Mr. James Hiam’s query 
concerning “ where the cuckoos are found in foreign parts in winter,” Mr. 
R. Bowdler .Sharpe, F.L.S., in his most interesting lecture on “The Birds of 
the Globe,” states that “ the cuckoo goes right down Africa to the Cape of Good 
Hope ; it also goes into India, and is not uncommon there during the cold 
season. Some people suppose that it even travels farther, and specimens are 
said to have been received from the Island of Celebes, in the Moluccas.” Mr. 
Bowdler .Sharpe delivered the lecture from which I have quoted in the Huhne 
Town Hall, Manchester. Alice A. Britten. 
Gorslas Virarage. ' 
With regard to Mr. Hiam’s note and query upon this subject in the September 
number of Nature Notes, the following extracts from recognised authorities 
may be of service : — 
