i8 
NATURE NOTES. 
these the snails soon find their way. They appear to eat the meat and potatoes, 
and the large black ones floating about in the milk are apparently dead until 
touched, when they put out their horns and begin to swim about. This is a 
strange and wonderful world, but it would, indeed, be strange if a snail has 
voice ! 
Delamere, Cheshire. Sarah Cash. 
Bullfinches and their Young (Nature Notes, 1893, p. 217). — I also 
should be very glad to know whether bullfinches eat their young ? I have had 
j'oung bullfinches safely reared by their parents in my aviary : but none of the 
several broods hatched during the last two or three years have reached maturity ; 
when a week or two old they have mysteriously disappeared. I cannot accuse 
the parents, who seem fond of their young ; but will forsake them if interfered 
with. At one time I suspected my blue tits ; but for a year or two I have not kept 
them through the breeding season, but have let them go. I fear mice must be the 
culprits. 
Costock Rectory. C. S. Millard. 
A Friend in Need. — Mrs. Eyre Matcham, of Salisbury, sends us the following 
anecdote which she has lately received from a friend. The incident was witnessed 
by the person who tells it “ We were fishing in the river Esk, in Yorkshire, after 
some hours of heavy rain, and the river was much swollen. A boy of about 14 
drove a flock of sheep, headed by a splendid ram, to the river bank opposite. On 
asking him what he was going to do with the sheep, he said, ‘ The folks are coming 
from the farm to wash them, and I’se going to bathe.’ We expostulated, and 
asked the lad if he could swim. He said, ‘ No; but his brother could.’ In a very 
short time he was in the water, and finding that the current was too strong for 
him, got alarmed, and called out for ‘ Billy,’ in a distressed tone of voice. The 
ram immediately jumped into the water and swam to the boy’s side, who laid hold 
of the thick wool, and after being carried by the current some hundred yards down 
stream the plucky animal landed the boy quite safely, though both were nearly 
exhausted.” 
Intelligence of Dogs. — Living in the heart of the Cumberland fells, I 
am brought into daily contact with farmers and their sheep dogs. The following 
facts are from first-hand knowledge. 
1. — farmer took some sheep to the fair. The last one was sold singly, to a 
man from Allendale, eight or nine miles away. The dog followed his master’s 
sheep, and would not be driven back. For days it kept near the house, till a 
neighbour of its master’s coming over, recognised it, and it w'as brought home. 
2. A farmer’s dog was left outside the front door of a house where he called. 
The man left by the back door, and w'ent home. Long after the dog w.as found 
at the front, and nothing could induce him to go. At length he was called in. 
He searched through two or three rooms, and seeing that his master had departed, 
went quietly home. 
3. A farmer who lives some miles from Carlisle, went to market by train. 
Somehow the dog failed to enter the carriage. It ran after the train for some 
distance, went back, and waited on the platform till the next train came up, then 
leaped in and lay down under a seat. Several stoppages were made, but the dog 
kept still. Carlisle reached, it sprang out, and joined its master in the market. 
4. A young farmer took two bulls by rail to Hexham, leaving his dog behind. 
He posted himself at a place in the lane, half a mile from the house, whence he 
had a view of the road. He was watched, and observed to run up a hilly field, 
from which he had a better view. Here he stood garing for some time, then gave 
a short yelp, and went home. 
Alston, Cumberland. I. E. Page. 
An Odd Horse Chestnut. — About the middle of October, my attention 
was called to a large horse-chestnut tree upon Clapham Common, near the 
parish church, which was putting forth a quantity of new leaf-buds. I have 
observed it closely since, and estimate that the number of buds has been 
about one-tenth of that which would represent the ordinary spring produce of the 
tree. They are almost entirely upon the south and south east branches. Many 
of the buds have fully opened, and produced normally-expanded leaves ; others 
