5<S 
NATURE NOTES 
my brother had actually crept within a yard of her, with much greater precision 
and effect.” 
Observations were made of the St. Kilda wren, its nests and eggs, and these 
are a contribution to the question of the specific difference between the St. 
Kilda and mainland wren. The range of the authors in their quests has been 
wide, and visits have been made to the Fame Islands (where the manners of 
cormorants were studied), the Hebrides and the Saltees amongst other places. 
But the wild life of the home counties has not been neglected, and there are 
numerous illustrations of little-known aspects of incidents in the lives of very well 
known birds. 
There is much, too, about duck decoys, gamekeepers, poachers, and bird- 
catchers, and the experiment of the two enthusiastic naturalists is altogether 
quite successful. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Ferret and Trout. — The following letter appeared in the Aberdeen 
Journal of January 22 : — “ I have fished and shot about sixty years between 
the Derwent and the Thurso Rivers, and during that time I have had and 
seen many struggles with rod and gun, but yesterday I had the great pleasure 
of seeing a novelty which, I think, you will say is the latest in trout fishing. 
While ferreting rabbits on the bank of a small stream running through a wood, 
on the ferret coming out of a hole and running up the edge ot the stream I was 
much surprised and the ferret delighted to see a trout leap out of the water and 
fall on the gravel in front of the ferret. The ferret came to the charge with tooth 
and nail, but the trout slipped and wriggled under, over, and all around, but 
only to have a fresh attack made with more voracity. It was a considerable 
time before the ferret could realise that he could hold his own with such game. 
I then creeled them both. J. Robson, Gamekeeper. 
“ C/ova, Aberdeenshire 
Sparrow Hawk in the House. — The Rev. W. V. Vickers, of Knowle 
Grange, Sidmouth, tells of finding a male sparrow hawk in his dining room on 
January 19. There was no caged bird in the house, the window (a sash-light) 
was not open more than eighteen inches, and there was no looking-glass opposite 
to the dining-room window. Mr. Vickers’ only theory is that “ he may have 
been in pursuit of a tit — many of which we attract near the same window by 
means of bones and cocoa-nuts- and missing his stroke, swooped round the 
corner of the house and was in at the w indow before he knew where he was.” 
Mr. Vickers released the hawk, to the mingled pityand disgust of his gardener 
who, to the plea that the hens were the poachers, replied, “ It was by means of 
such as he that there would soon be more of them about.” The gardener may 
perhaps claim a logical superiority. 
Unseasonable Phenomena. — Mr. Richardson, gardener to Lord 
Middleton, at Wollaton Hall, reports that nests with eggs of thrush and robin 
were found there about January 20. 
We have received two lists of wild plants found in flower in January. One 
from Miss M. S. l’owell, of plants observed in the neighbourhood of Reigale is 
as follows : — Senecio vulgaris, Beilis perennis, Capsella Bursa-pastoris, Lamium 
purpureum, Ulex europoeus, Slellaria media, Lamium album, Mercurialis 
perennis, Veronica agrestis, Cardamine hirsuta, Fuphorbia Peplus, Galium 
saxatile, Corylus Avellana, Veronica Kuxbaumii, Draba verna, Ulmus campestris, 
Potentilla Fragariastrum, Matricaria inodora, Ranunculus Ficaria, Taraxacum 
Dens-leonis, Daphne Laureola, Erigeron canadensis, Veronica hederaefolia, Urtica 
urens, Chterophyllum sylvestre, Cerastium \ulgatum, Fragaria vesca, Taxus 
baccata, Tussilago Farfara, Primula vulgaris, Hypochceris radicata. 
The other from Mr. R. F. Towndiow, of plants observed in the neighbour- 
hood of Malvern, is as follows : — Ranunculus repens, R. Ficaria, Brassica Rapa, 
