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NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Red Deer. — There are dodges in most trades, and the following may not 
be generally known. A friend of mine had a conversation lately with the keeper 
of a park in England where there is a large herd of red deer. The keeper told 
him he had to keep a sharp eye on the horns when they were shed, or the deer 
would soon, according to their habit, gnaw and spoil them ; for he collected them, 
and sent them to a brother keeper of a forest in Scotland. On being asked what 
the Scotchman did with them, he replied that he was not too curious in his 
enquiries, and he paid him well ; but he believed “ he fastened the horns on the 
heads of the hinds he shot, and sold them to the public ! 1” 
October, 1900. Edmund Thomas Daubeny. 
A Good Dog. — Mr. Addison Crofton’s account of a Gordon setter allowing 
chickens to nestle up close to him and play with him, reminds me of a very 
striking illustration of a similar nature which I saw last Easter. Lord Clarendon’s 
head keeper — a sensible, intelligent “keeper,” by the way — had several young 
black retrievers, and in a smalt outhouse I was surprised to see all huddled up 
together, three or four puppies, the mother, a sitting hen and some chickens 1 
My only regret is that I had not a camera with me so as to preserve such a 
picture! W. Percival Westell, M.B.O.U. 
5, Glenferrie Koad, St. Albans, Herts. 
October 6, 1900. 
How Rats carry Eggs. —A year or so ago there was a discussion in 
Nature Notes as to how rats carry eggs, but no satisfactory explanation was 
forthcoming. In the October number of the present year, Mr. Percival Westell, 
after describing a great find of pheasants’ and partridges’ eggs in a stoats’ hole, 
again asks, how were the eggs carried by the stoat. I have always been of opinion 
they were carried in the mouth, and the following appears to corroborate this 
idea : Last year, in an osier bed, on the Thames, I noticed a moorhen’s egg lying 
at the mouth of a hole, apparently a rat’s hole. On carefully examining the egg, 
I found, about half an inch from the small end, two minute punctures nearly an 
inch apart, whilst on the opposite side and near the large end, was a small third 
puncture, all such as might be caused by the teeth of a small animal. The 
remarkable point, however, about these punctures was, that though they pierced 
the shell they did not pierce the inner membrane, or lining of the shell, which 
prevented the contents from running to waste or going bad — at all events, for a 
time. If Mr. Westell has preserved any of the eggs discovered in the stoats’ hole, 
it would be interesting to hear whether he can discover any indications of holes 
in the shells which would bear out the foregoing observation ; also whether the 
holes correspond with the dentition of a stoat. 
7, South Parade, Bedford Park, IV. Robert H. Read, M.B.O.U. 
Hedgehogs. — P'riend as I am to the hedgehog, it is impossible to deny that 
he will take a young pheasant, partridge or rabbit, when opportunity serves. An 
acquaintance of mine had a rabbit earth in front of his windows, where one 
spring no young rabbits were to be seen. He watched to ascertain the cause, 
and at last shot a hedgehog as it came out of a hole. After this young rabbits 
appeared as usual. In captivity hedgehogs will eat anything. I have kept them 
for months on bones and scraps from the plates. In spite of his weaknesses the 
hedgehog is a most useful animal, his usual diet being worms, slugs, grubs, cater- 
pillars, beetles and such like. He therefore deserves considerate treatment. 
Market Weston, Thetford. Edmund Thomas Daubeny. 
October, 1900. 
Your correspondent’s query as to whether it is really a fact that hedgehogs 
destroy young pheasants, has engaged my attention this summer, because on a game- 
keeper’s vermin pole I had seen several of these curious and interesting animats. 
The result of my enquiries amongst practical and sen.sible keepers is unfortunately 
not in the animal’s favour. It does get into pheasants’ nests and destroys the eggs 
and young, and although it is the aim of my life to do all I can to show the good 
these wild creatures do, when one finds out for certain what harm is perpetrated 
it is only right that such should be put on record. 
