2 I 8 
NATURE NOTES. 
turbing the balance of power in Nature, ^^^len one reads of such vile practices 
being deliberately and boastfully carried out it is hard not to wish that some one 
could catch, and inoculate with disease, two or three of the inoculators, and turn 
them loose, pour encoitrager les autres. 
“Dr. Calmette, formerly an assistant of Dr. Roux at the Pasteur Institute, and 
brother of M. Calmette of the “ Figaro,” who got up the great subscription to 
supply anti-diphtheria serum to France, is now at Lille. He is the head there of a 
junior institute modelled on Pasteur’s. It appears that he is clearing the depart- 
ment of the Nord of moles. He does this by inoculating a few moles with a con- 
tagious disease and then letting them loose. The consequence is a black death 
among these destroyers of wire- worm. Might it not (asks our Paris Correspondent) 
be better to breed and protect hawks, owls, and falcons, and leave to them the 
task of getting rid of the surplus population of moles? I never knew of successful 
raids in the country on moles that were not followed by a great increase of wire- 
worm and other vermin. The mole is the farmer’s best auxiliary. It is also risky 
to propagate artificially a malady that will kill moles. This creature is highly 
organised. What kills it might communicate a distemper to cattle, or even to 
human beings.” B. A. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
The Cuckoo. — I observe in the interesting article on “ A Bird-haunted 
Pine Grove” (p. 142), the statement that “the cuckoo, like the nightingale, does 
not seem to love the close neighbourhood of the sea.” In the little peninsula of 
Gower in South Wales, a district where I acquired most of my knowledge of birds 
about twenty-five years ago, and which is still, I believe, a paradise of bird life, I 
remember that the cuckoo was particularly common near the sea, although, as far 
as I am aware, the nightingale never appeared there, and indeed I have been 
informed that a gentleman resident in that district made an unsuccessful attempt 
many years back to introduce the nightingale into the peninsula. I cannot, 
however, speak with confidence as to the presence or absence of the cuckoo at 
any other seaside district, as the peninsula of Gower is the only place near the 
sea with which I am sufficiently familiar during the season when the cuckoo is 
with us. 
Hampstead. J. U. Voss. 
Cats and Birds (p. 197). — Mr. J. E. MTiiting mentions having broken a 
cat from touching birds when a kitten. Would he kindly inform the readers of 
Nature Notes what plan he adopted for securing this desirable end. 
M. C. B. 
White Varieties of the House-Sparrow. — On September 18 I saw 
just opposite Whitehall a sparrow with white markings on nearly everj' feather. 
As it fed with some companions in the road, I could clearly see that it was no 
true albino as its eyes were black. There is another white sparrow at Margate, 
it has been there two years now, and any visitor who keeps his eyes open when 
near the North Foreland Lighthouse is pretty sure to see it ; this one is a very 
fine species, almost entirely white. White varieties are not so rare as melanisms, 
but I think they are worth recording. 
Graham W. Kerr. 
A Strange Visitor.— On September 2 at 11.30 a.m., a bird flew in at the 
open window and dropped down on the carpet at the back of my chair. I had 
been reading a paper by “ A Son of the Marshes,”, which stated that “if you wish 
to study natural history you must remain quite still, and rabbits, fish, birds, &c., 
will not seem to be aware of your presence, and will come out in the woods and 
have long games of play, but if you move only hand or foot the spell is broken,” 
so I sat still. A young hen pheasant walked majestically before me. The pretty 
creature seemed quite at home, then flew upon the sofa, and from thence to the 
