NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 37 
remarked that they seem to enjoy their tub while it is raining more than at other 
times. I have hardly ever seen a tomtit wash, though they much appreciate the 
cocoanuts we hang up for them. I think the pans of water keep birds from taking 
fruit. We had lots of strawberries last year, which we do not net, and we did not 
find the birds took them, though we would willingly have allowed them a share. 
Horsell Vicarage, (Voicing. Rose Turi.e. 
“A Baclielor’s Christmas Day.”— Miss Anderson, who wrote in 
October, 1890, for a copy of “ A Bachelor’s Christmas Day,” will oblige by send- 
ing her address to the Editor. It has been mislaid. 
Grasses. — “ Consider what we owe merely to the meadow grass, to the 
covering of the dark ground by that glorious enamel, by the companies of those 
soft, and countless, and peaceful spears. The fields 1 Follow forth but for a little 
time the thoughts of all that we ought to recognise in these words. All spring and 
summer is in them— the walks by silent, scented paths, the rests in noonday heat, 
the joy of herds and flocks, the power of all shepherd life and meditation, the life 
of sunlight upon the world falling in emerald streaks, and falling in soft blue 
shadows where else it would have struck upon the dark mould, or scorching 
dust. . . . Go out in the spring-time among the meadows that slope from the 
shores of the Swiss lakes to the roots of their lower mountains. There, mingled 
with the taller gentians, and the white narcissus, the grass grows deep and free, 
and as you follow the winding mountain path, beneath arching boughs all veiled 
with blossom — paths that for ever droop and rise over green banks and mounds 
sweeping down in scented undulation steep to the blue water, studded here and 
there with new-mown heaps, filling all the air with fainter sweetness — look up 
towards the higher hills, where the waves of everlasting green roll silently into 
their long inlets among the shadows of the pines, and we may perhaps at last 
know the meaning of those quiet words of the 147th Psalm, ‘ He maketh grass to 
grow upon the mountains.’” — Rus/cin’s “ Modern Painters.'’ 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
A Scheming Weasel. — A deep snow affords great interest to a winter’s 
walk, as one is able to track the various wild animals and to notice the difference 
in the foot-prints, as also the methods of locomotion, such as walking, jumping, 
and cantering. It also enables one to see what amount of vermin a locality 
contains. A practised eye will be able to note the difference in the following : 
foxes, hares, rabbits, hedgehogs, stoats, weasels, rats, moles, mice 0/ various 
kinds, shrews, and frogs. A few days ago I was out in the fields in the snow 
when I came across the track of a weasel, and following it up a short distance, 
I was much interested to find a piece of scheming worthy of the higher animal — 
man. The fox has a reputation for cunning devices to enable it to procure food, 
but in all my experience I have never been able to find a case of a definite 
character to compare with this weasel. Following the trail from a hedge into 
the open field, I noticed it had suddenly disappeared under the snow, and after 
looking about I found it had reappeared some yards off, only for an instant, then 
under the surface a longer distance — probably eight or ten ynds ; then up again 
until I came across the calculating schemer’s reason for thi.s. It had evidently 
got aware that a bird — probably a woodpecker — was pecking for food in the 
ground, and while busily engaged in the snow the weasel had tried to take 
advantage by burrowing instead of approaching on the surface, but it missed its 
prey by about fifteen inches. Having missed the bird it went back to the hedge 
on the surface of the snow. 
AstiuooU Bank. J. lilAM. 
A Martin in January. — It may interest your readers to hear that a 
martin was seen in the Keswick Vale on Monday last, January nth. I have 
closely interrogated the lads who saw it, and am somewhat unwillingly obliged to 
think that it was a case of disturbed hibernation, if martins do hibernate. But I 
send you the note of the fact, so far as I can make head or tail of it, and must add 
that the boys were not skilled observers — indeed, one of them asserted he thought 
