i8 
NATURE NOTES. 
An Intelligent Horse. — May I be allowed to mention a rather singular 
occurrence of some years ago, which struck me very much indeed at the time, 
and has ever since remained greatly impressed upon my memory. I was one 
day walking along a country road, when I saw a man in a waggon coming 
towards me ; the man was lying at the bottom of the waggon somewhat affected 
by drink. Now he was desirous of going through a gate by the roadside which 
led into a ploughed field, but the gate being shut, the horse promptly stopped in 
front of it : the waggoner (as I have before remarked, half stupid with drink) 
instead of getting out to see what was the matter, begins whipping the horse with 
vigour, still retaining his half-recumbent position. What does the horse do? He 
neither kicks nor rears, but tosses his head high in the air and “whinnies” 
loudly until the man at last gets down and opens the gate. Note that the horse 
did not whinny until the man had begun to whip him unjustly ; evidently the 
horse felt the injustice, and adopted this mode of expressing it. 
Salisbury. C. R. 
Birds and Windows. — A correspondent mentions (p. 213) that rooks 
seem to be the only birds that see through glass. My experience is that all birds 
w'hich come to the window to be fed — a fair variety, but no rooks — seem to see 
any movement in the room only too quickly, and fly off instantly. I am always 
wishing they could not see through glass. Is my experience exceptional, or are 
the birds which come to Mr. Rooper’s windows unusually tame ? 
Malvern. F. R. 
Have Weasels Power of Fascination ?— A friend on whose word I 
can rely told me the following. He saw a lark flying above the turnpike road 
fluttering some four or five feet above the ground in evident distress. As he 
looked he saw a weasel in the middle of the road, waiting for the bird to come 
down. This it did, falling helplessly close to the animal, which killed it and 
carried it away. Everyone knows how fear under such circumstances will 
paralyse a rabbit or a hare ; this incident seems to show that a weasel has some 
fascination in its eye. 
Hexham. I. E. Page. 
Bird Notes. — While staying with my brother, Mr. Morris, in Yorkshire 
lately, I was told that in the garden of his Rectory (Nunburnholme, the same 
living that my father, the Rev. F. O. Morris, held) the green woodpecker has 
been seen several times — indeed my brother and sister both saw it while I was 
there in a tree very near the house. My brother hopes he may be honoured by 
its making a nest there next spring ; the garden is areal par.adise for birds, having 
plenty of trees, a stream, and perfect quiet. While on the subject of birds I may 
mention that when re-reading Mr. Warde Fowler’s delightful Year with the Birds 
I noticed that he says, speaking of the grey wagtail, “ I never but once saw it 
away from water.” Now the only place where I feel sure of seeing it about here, 
and have seen it again and again, is in a ploughed field between four and five 
hundred yards from the canal. I have also seen a pair very near this house, 
which is several hundred yards further from the canal — probably the same pair. 
Horsell Vicarage, Woking. Rose Turle. 
Sparrow Hawk. — The f''llowing extract from a friend’s letter may, perhaps, 
be of interest ; may it not possibly point to a condition somewhat similar to that 
of a “ rogue ” amongst elephants ? — “ A sparrow hawk took pp his nightly abode 
on the transome of the top light of a window in Arley Chapel in the autumn of 
1890, and remained constant to that roosting-place until, at all events. May, 1892, 
when we left Arley. The hawk was always solitary. I never saw him with a 
companion. The roost was always exactly on the same stone.” 
Warlnirton Rectory, Warrington. G. Egerton Wardurton. 
Reason in Spiders. — I recently encountered a curious illustration of the 
reasoning power of spiders. Standing in the road between Watford and Pinner, 
my attention was attracted to a small spider sitting in the middle of its web. 
While I was watching, a fly dashed through the web, and the spider darted 
