22 
NATURE NOTES. 
threatened extermination of the elephants which furnish the 
ivory of which the balls are made. I notice that Buckland says 
on p. 93 of his first series of ‘Curiosities of Natural History ’ — 
‘ I consulted Mr. Jacques (the ivory turner of Hatton Garden), 
upon this subject, and he tells me that billiard balls are made 
only of East Indian ivory, and not of African ivory. The African 
ivory contains more moisture and gelatine than the other kind; 
and this occasions the ivory to shrink in drying, and conse- 
quently the ball, when turned, to get out of the round ; it is, 
however, very valuable to make other articles, not billiard balls.’ 
It would thus seem that billiard balls are made of the ivory of 
the Indian elephant, which is not, I believe, in such danger of 
extermination as its African cousin.” 
Docking Horses. — We are glad to see an excellent article on 
this barbarous fashion in our American contemporary. Our Animal 
Friends, for January. At the same time a correspondent sends us 
an absurd paragraph from the Newcastle Daily journal of January 
II, saying that to allow harness horses “to have long tails is 
great cruelty and most dangerous,” as “ any driver will tell.” 
The writer fails to distinguish between trimming the long hair 
of the tail and docking, which is the removal of flesh and bone, 
and he seems to consider every driver incapable of managing his 
reins. Even The Field says, “ It may be a necessary operation 
in the case of some harness horses which have thick and coarse 
tails which are for ever getting over the reins ; but for saddle 
horses we regard it as quite unnecessary ” ; but surely it would 
be an easy matter to so construct our vehicles and harness as to 
do away with any necessity for the practice. 
Squirrel-Hunting in the New Forest. — Several corres- 
pondents have called our attention to this custom, which has, 
we believe, been somewhat recently organised, in the interests 
of the local publicans, in connection with Bank holiday squirrel- 
pie suppers. One hundred and fifty-six squirrels are said to 
have been killed in the Lyndhurst district on Boxing Day. Our 
contemporary, The Outlook, while stigmatising the custom as 
barbarous, says that in young plantations squirrels have neces- 
sarily to lie thinned out. Now there are some comparatively 
young plantations in the New Forest : large as is the number 
killed we doubt if it is more than a thinning of the number 
existing : it is not alleged tliat the method of killing is in any 
way a cruel one, nor is it denied that the squirrels are truly 
wild and are desirable as food. We learn that — thanks perhaps 
to the destruction of owls and hawks, and the prolific character 
of tlie species — squirrels had, until recently, much increased in 
numbers, and that they sufiered very extensively from mange. 
We shall be glad to have further information as to the condi- 
tions of existence which affect this lovely denizen of our wood- 
lands. 
