NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
71 
Moles and Weasels. - -A few days ago I took up a mole-trap from a lun 
in a bank, in which I found a lively weasel, it having been caught round the neck 
without strangling it. I eased the grip of the trap without letting it go, and 
thought it might interest people in the village, and also test the knowledge of 
people in natural history. I met several people on the road, and, of course, a 
struggling weasel in that position is a novel, if rather a cruel, sight. Several 
people could not even guess its identity. I tried one who called it a rat, the next 
called it a stoat, the next a squirrel, and the fourth a weasel. I loosed it into a 
wire rat-trap and have provided it a bed of leaves and hay, and it feeds on dead 
moles taken from traps, so that it is probable weasels kill and eat moles in runs 
out of sight. 
Asttvood Bank, Redditch. J. Hia.m. 
Birds Singing- when Abroad.— In reply to Mr. Daubeny’s query, I ilo 
not think that, as a rule at all events, birds sing in their winter quarters, when 
those quarters are not regularly inhabited in the breeding season by any- individuals 
of the same species. To give only one or two instances (of which I could give 
several), I saw robins in the oases near the shores of the Gulf of Gabes in January 
and February, but they were not singing, although the weather was warm and, of 
course, at that date robins would be singing in England. The Phylloscopi one 
sees on the shores of the Mediterranean in mid-winter are silent save for their call- 
notes and alarm-notes — at least, this was my experience. If birds habitually sang 
when they were in their winter quarters, we should probably hear the Beldfares and 
redwings singing here in winter as the song-thrushes do. Redwings sometimes 
sing a kind of song in the early spring before their departure from these shores, 
but this is not the full song, which one hears in Norway, for instance. 
Bloxham, Oxon. O. V. Apun, F.L..S. 
February 14, 190 1. 
Nightjar sitting Crosswise.— Mr. Westell asks for readers’ experiences 
of the nightjar perching crosswise. I can only remember .seeing the nightjar perch 
thus on one occasion. The bird, a female, perched crosswise on a rail in a fence. 
She settled with her tail towards me, not more than two or three yards from 
where I was standing. In a few seconds she turned completely round and faced 
me, still sitting crosswise. I ought to add that my experience of the nightjar in 
life has not been very large. 
Bloxham, Oxon. O. V. Ai’lin. 
The Hoopoe in England..— May I ask .Mr. W. T. Collier what his 
authority is for the statement he makes on p. 37 that hoopoes were quite commoti 
in this country a hundred years ago ? I ask simply for information’s sake. Pen- 
nant (1776) says, “ It visits these islands frequently [the same may be said at the 
present day. — O. V. .A.] but not at stated seasons, neither does it breed with us.” 
Plot, a hundred years earlier, certainly states that it;bred in this country, but he 
adds that it was rarely .seen, and he only knew of two occurrences of this species 
in Oxfordshire. I can find tio evidence in the older writers which I have con- 
sulted (viz., Willughby, Ray, Charleton, &c.), that the hoopoe was ever a quite 
common bird in tliis Country. 
Hloxham, Oxon. O. V. Ai'i.l.x. 
Sea Gulls. — Those whose business in the City takes them daily over 
London Bridge cannot but have been struck lately by the large number of gulls 
which visit London during the winter season, and many must have derived 
pleasure from the sight. Ten or twelve years ago a gull in the city was quite an 
unusual sight, but for the last few winters they have visited us in increasing 
numbers, and may now be seen in hundreds flying within a few feet of those 
who feed them. The spectacle of these wild inhabitants of our coasts showing 
such confidence in man suggests the thought of how many friends amongst birds 
and beasts we might make, if we would only cease to molest them. 
Wallington, Surrey. C. II. MordAUNT. 
The Early Life of the Young Cuckoo.— The early stages in the life 
history of the young cuckoo are, as is well known, very interesting, and I hope 
the follow ing authentic particulars may be found of interest and service. The egg 
was found in a hedge-sparrow’s nest at Potton End, Ilemel Hempstead, Herts. 
