128 
Field Notes. 
As we are never in this district visited by the great hosts of 
pigeons which now and then descend upon portions of the 
East Coast and the South of England, the necessity of this 
organized destruction is not altogether apparent. A total 
bag of 695 birds was secured over a wide area. It is inter- 
esting to note that one bird shot at Roecliffe was found to 
have in its crop 871 oats, two barleycorns, and a small 
quantity of greenstuff, while another contained two handsful 
of clover. The contents of a third crop was ninety-seven 
field-peas and a few leaves, while a fourth contained nothing 
but green leaves, seventy per cent, of which were the young 
leaves of the hawkweed. the remainder being buttercup, 
sour-dock. dandelion, and a few clover. As farmers class 
both the Ringdove and Stockdove as Stockdoves, it is quite 
possible that the latter bird was really a Stockdove, for as 
Air. St. Ouintin and Mr. F. Boyes have recently clearly shown 
in ‘ The Field,’ the Stockdove rarely does any damage to the 
farmer, its food consisting mainly of the seeds and leaves of 
more or less harmful weeds. For this reason farmers would 
do well to discriminate between the two species. — R. Fortune. 
MAMMALS . 
Badger Notes. — At Aldborough. near Boroughbridge, on 
Friday, 22nd March, a sow Badger (weighing 22 pounds) was 
observed entering a disused fireplace originally used for 
heating a greenhouse. She was captured, with some difficulty, 
and confined in a washhouse, her detention being made addition- 
ally secure by a collar and chain. The captor proudly dis- 
played his prey to admiring friends on Saturday and Sunday, 
but on Monday morning the captive had fled. She had 
managed to slip the collar and push some stones away 
weighing about threequarters of a hundredweight. To tear 
a hole in the door proved an easy task, and this led her into 
a coal-shed with a window, open about two inches. This she 
pushed open, and then, breaking a way through the bottom 
of the yard door, she, we are glad to say, made good her 
escape. East year I had quite a small Badger sent to me, 
but I could not find a secure abiding-place for her— she 
burrowed out of every place in which I confined her. After 
being recaptured about half a dozen times, she effected a 
complete disappearance. A fortnight after I was requested 
to go to a garden about a mile away to inspect a strange 
animal which had made a tremendous burrow in the ground. 
‘ My Badger! ' said I. The surmise proved correct, but she 
had effected a retreat a short time before my arrival, being 
seen going across a field and some gardens. Nothing further 
Naturalist, 
