74 
NATURE NOTES 
“ appreciations ” by leading men and women of letters, or pleasant chats on Sun- 
dials or the Plants of the Bible. 
The Parents' Review for March, amongst other excellent matter, contains the 
third of Mr. Collingwood’s practical and sympathetic Fesole Club Papers, full of 
the spirit of his master, John Ruskin. It is on “Flower Studies in the Fresco 
School.” 
Transactions of the City of London Entomological and Natural History'JSociety 
for 1902. Price 2s. 
Besides the usual routine matter of little interest to any but the members of 
the Society, this Report contains Mr. Prout’s Presidential Address, dealing with 
the sporadic apppearance of Lepidoptera in exceptional numbers, and several 
valuable, though necessarily technical, papers. 
Nottingham Naturalists' Society. Fiftieth Annual Report and Transactions for 
1901-2. 
In addition to Mr. Bradshaw’s Presidential Address, this Part of the Transac- 
tions of what we may now fairly term this venerable Society is mainly occupied by 
a most valuable paper on “ The Life History of a Mountain-Range,” by Mr 
J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S., Director-General of the Geological Survey, illustrated 
with diagrams of the structure of the Alps. 
Received : — British Carices , arranged by F. C. Crawford, a tabular chart of 
names ; Snake-feeding at the Zoological Gardens , Humanitarian League Leaflet ; 
Hints , No. 6, price id., containing a paper by Watkin Watkins on London Birds ; 
Board of Agriculture leaflets. Nos. 80 and 81, on The Use of Artificial Alanures 
and A Substitute for Dishorning respectively ; The Occasional Paper of the Berks , 
South Oxon, and North Hants Footpaths and Open Spaces Society, No. 12; The 
Butterflies and Aloths of Europe, by W. F. Kirby, F.L.S., Parts 22 and 23 ; The 
Victorian Naturalist for January; The American Botanist for February; The 
Naturalist, The Irish Naturalist, Nature-Study, The Humanitarian, The 
Animal World, The Animals' Friend, Our Animal Friends, and The Agricul- 
tural Economist for March. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Polydactylous Cats. — A few years ago I had a cat with an extra claw on 
the forelegs like that described in Nature Notes (p. 51), which came from 
a family all of whose members had the same peculiarity. This, I believe, is not 
uncommon in the domestic cat. 
March, 1903. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
In answer to the question signed by Elizabeth Hopkins, I wish to say that I 
now possess two tabby cats, brothers, and one has tw'enty-four toes and the other 
has twenty-six, all with claws, seven toes on each front paw and six on each 
hind paw. 
Castle Morton, Worcestershire. Adelaide Walters. 
What is the Barley-bird ? — I was told lately by a Dorsetshire clergy- 
man that there is a bird in his neighbourhood (near Poole) called the barley-bird 
by the country folk. He heard it in the summer and the call-note was a short, 
sharp “ tweet.” I find from Mr. Percival Westell’s “ Handbook of British Birds,” 
that the name of barley-bird is given to the siskin, but the siskin is unknown 
about there, and my relative thought it might be the wryneck, as in John’s 
“ British Birds ” the name barley-bird is given to the wryneck, thus adding another 
local name to the dozen already ascribed to it by Mr. Percival Westell. 
Teignmouth. ' Caroline E. Harley. 
Kestrel. — In answer to Mr. F. B. Doveton, w>ho writes in your March 
number concerning the kestrel, I should like to say that I kept one of these birds 
as a pet for some considerable time, and that it nearly always devoured the heads 
of the birds and small animals which I gave it as food first, and evidently did 
consider them to be “ tit-bits.” 
102, Alleyn Road, West Dulivich, S.E. 
March 5, 1903. 
Robert B. Firth. 
