2o8 
NATURE NOTES 
430. Effect of an Earthquake in Morecambe Bay. — Tuesday, 
October 2, was a very quiet, still day here. I went over the sands to Holme 
Island to see the tide come up, and take photographs of it. For the first few 
minutes after the tide head had gone surging up the river, there was wild com- 
motion in the waters. But soon they quietened down and became like glass. Ten 
minutes later I was astonished to see a succession of moderate-sized waves lash 
the shore. This lasted for a few moments and then subsided. Now I know that 
frequently a second tidal wave occurs and that a very small one does actually 
occur at this very spot, for it is near here that the old bed of the river joins the 
new, but in that case the second “bore” pushes forward in one steady wave. 
This wave disturbance was prolonged, and came from the south-east and not from 
the south, as the second bore would have done, which, moreover, must have 
passed several minutes sooner, although I did not see it (but had noticed it the 
previous day). I went home and mentioned my experience as strange. Now, 
in to-day’s paper I read that an earthquake occurred on that day in Australia, 
and would probably be felt in England in the early hours of Tuesday. This 
occurred at io a. m. ; I can think of nothing to account for it, with the exception 
of the earthquake. In fact I thought it an earthquake at the time, but dismissed 
the idea as unlikely. I have known the Bay for years and never seen the like 
occur before. I daresay I should not have noticed it if the water had not 
previously been dead calm. R. C. Lowther. 
Grange-over- Sands, October 5, 1906. 
431. Intelligence of Horse. — The following incident, which I noticed 
a few days ago, may possibly interest those of your readers who believe that 
animals possess a degree of intelligence beyond what is usually meant by the 
term “ instinct.” 
In the courtyard of the Wellington Street front of Somerset House, a horse 
harnessed to a light van was feeding from a nose-bag standing upright upon the 
ground before him. Some thirty or more pigeons were closely congregated 
around the bag picking up such seeds as the horse happened to drop, three of 
the birds, bolder than the others, had perched upon the top edge of the bag and 
were pecking at the provender, whilst two, bolder still, were inside the bag itself. 
The next time the horse stooped for another mouthful, these five birds jumped 
down and joined their fellows. The horse then striking the bag sideways with 
his nose, upset it, scattering part of its contents upon the paving ; the pigeons 
thereupon at once transferred their attention to the scattered grain, and the horse 
having cleverly replaced the bag in the upright position, proceeded with his 
meal without further disturbance. 
Whether the horse was actuated by motives of generosity towards the pigeons, 
or merely by a desire to escape further annoyance from them, I do not pretend 
to determine. R. T. Lewis. 
432. Cats. — We have a common grey cat who has generally been very 
attentive to her kittens and has kept them with her for an unusually long time. 
But this year she brought up a black kitten, born in May, and afterwards had a 
kitten, very like herself in appearance, in the middle of August. This she 
deserted at three weeks old, when it could only lap with difficulty, and it got badly 
chilled by being left alone at night, and looked draggled and miserable, as it was 
too young to wash itself. The maids fed it, and the six-months-old black kitten 
suddenly took a fancy to it. He sleeps with it, washes it, fetches it to share his 
meals, and will leave anything he is doing if it mews, and rush off to it as hard 
as he can tear. E. H. 
Cumberland, October, 1906. 
433. A Bat carried, off by a Hawk. — One bright morning in August 
last, about IO o’clock, while strolling near a pond at the back of a country house 
in Ireland, I was surprised to see a bat flying in circles over the pond, evidently 
in pursuit of insects. On the following morning about the same hour, it was 
working in the same place. After I had been watching it for a few minutes, a 
hawk flew out of a tree close by, and snapping it up, flew off with it in his 
talons. 
