NATURE NOTES 
52 
of hunger, an otter will often break into a hen-coop, and after gorging itself 
with raw poultry will flatten itself on a beam and sleep soundly, not in the least 
disturbed by the going and coming of human foes.” 
Fisher-cat is the American name of the pekan, wejack, black cat, or Pennant’s 
Marten. It is the largest North American carnivorous quadruped of the family 
Muslelidte, and subfamily Mustelina, with the exception of the wolverine, and is 
so called from its habit of catching fish. 
37, Alwyne Villas, Canonbury, Chas. P. J. Hannett. 
February 10. 
329. Foxes. — Foxes are known to be very careful over their hunting grounds, 
especially in proximity to their earths ; and this carefulness is to be observed, not 
only in the adults, but even in the cubs. The animals on which they usually 
prey are often left untouched round the foxes’ home ; and it is even asserted that 
nothing is killed on the side of the hill in which that home is made. In spite of 
this, at the mouth of the earth itself the remains of the creatures on which they 
have fed are frequently to be seen. Some curious instances with regard to their 
habits in these respects have occurred round here. In a small patch of nettles 
within a few feet of the mouth of the foxes’ earth a partridge placed her nest, and 
brought off her brood. Round this nettle-bed the cubs were constantly to be 
seen, and in it they played hide-and-seek. In another case the entrance to an 
earth was surrounded by five or six rabbit holes, the tenants of which were 
unmolested by their next-door neighbours. In a third instance a litter of cubs 
was placed in a large pit surrounded by fencing, from which there was no escape, 
and in which there were a number of rabbits. None of these were attacked by 
the cubs, though they would seize a dead rabbit in full sight of the person who 
had shot and thrown it to them. 
One would almost suppose that among foxes there is a code of honour not to 
take life in close proximity to their homes. 
Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
330. Hooks. — On farm after farm round here the cornstacks have been 
threshed in order to save them from being pulled to pieces by rooks. As in a 
season like this, severity of weather, and consequent lack of food, cannot be the 
cause of this depredation, I suspect we have been subjected to a greater im- 
migration of foreign rooks than is usually the case. When staying at Aldeburgh 
last October, I was impressed with the number of these birds that landed there, 
many thousands passing daily within sight of the town from over the sea, 
a sample probably of what occurred all along the coast. Before the breeding 
season most of these aliens will have recrossed the English Channel. 
January 7, 1906. EDMUND THOS. DAUBENY. 
331. Rooks and Recollections. — With reference to the large plane 
tree at the corner of Wood Street, Cheapside, mentioned in Nature Notes 
for February, will you allow- me to say that I remember it well in the year 1837. 
It was a large tree then, and it was crowded with the nests of rooks, who 
built there every year. A very few years afterwards, a rather high scaffolding 
was erected close to the tree. I think it w-as for the purpose of taking down 
the tower of the Church, and I think that at the same time the shops in front 
were somewhat raised in height. The scaffolding frightened away the rooks and 
they never returned. 
About the same time the rooks were banished from the White Tower of 
London. I remember them building their nests every year in the crowns at the 
top of the four towers. The officers and their families who lived in the Tower 
objected to the rooks, and had the crowns wired over, so that the rooks could 
not build in them, and “the Royal Rooks,” as they were called, were banished 
for ever from the Tower. 
It was after this that the moat round the Tow-er was drained and made into a 
dry ditch. Previous to that the water flowed from the Thames into the moat by 
Traitors’ Gate. Stone steps led down to the boats and barges after they had 
passed in through the gate, which opened in two parts. Many a one passed 
through that Gate on his last earthly journey. 
When I was a very small child, I remember well being taken to the Tower to 
