64 
NATURE NOTES 
pated from the Southwark and London Council, it is estimated 
that ;^6,5 oo must be subscribed by the public. The Commons 
and Footpaths Preservation Society, the Kyrle Society and the 
National Trust, with the Bishop of Rochester and the Mayors of 
all the neighbouring boroughs, are associating themselves with 
the movement to secure this estate. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 
Professor Bell’s Copy of White’s “ Selborne.” 
Sir, — A n interesting copy of Edward Jesse’s edition (1851) 
of Gilbert White’s “Selborne” has just come into my posses- 
sion. Its point of interest lies in the fact that, pasted on the 
inside of the cover, is the book-plate of Thomas Bell. It bears 
his name printed in Early English characters beneath what 
were presumably his armorial bearings, with the Latin legend, 
Ne tentes aut perfice. Professor Bell, I need scarcely say, edited 
an edition in two volumes, published in 1877. 
Yours, &c., 
Edwd. a. Martin. 
Legendary Explanations of Natural Markings. 
Sir, — May I be allowed to thank your correspondent, 
“ Botanist,” for pointing out my lapsus lingua; in describing 
Robert Turner as a “ mediaeval ” herbalist. 
With regard to the “ Blessed Thistle,” I am not a botanist, 
and can therefore only give my authority for the statement in 
my paper, i.e., “ Suffolk Words and Phrases,” by Edw. Moor, 
F.R.S., F.A.S., &c., p. 456. 
I might add that the legend he attaches to “ Benedictus car- 
duus,” which I quoted in my paper, is copied word for word in 
“ County Folk Lore, Printed Extracts, No. 2, Suffolk,” collected 
and edited by the Lady Eveline Camilla Gurdon, and issued by 
the Folk Lore Society. 
281, Seven Sisters Road, Yours faithfully, 
Finsbury Park, N ., March 10th, 1905. Ernest C. Nash. 
SEA GULLS AS PETS. 
ANY birds, like horses and dogs, have a great faculty of 
knowing people who are fond of them, and, like the 
four-footed animals, conceive great fondness and 
attachment and become, if one may be allowed to use 
the expression, fast friends. Among the sea birds this feature 
seems much more strongly developed in the gulls than in others. 
In autumn and early winter and spring gulls seem often to 
experience great difficulty in obtaining food. They are then 
