has already nearly lost all the white marks. I hear that there are several more of the same species in the possession of a mandarin here, and I intend shortly visiting him to inspect them. As far as I have yet ascertained, the species is purely Formosan; a larger stag, with large branching horns and having a redder coat (i. e. summer vesture), replacing it in Shantung and North China. This other species I am assured is also found in Formosa, but this requires confirmation. The small muntjac (Cervulus Reevesii), ‘kina' of this dialect, is abundant in Formosa, having myself met with it there and seen skins. The other deer-skins shown me on my tour round Formosa were all of the spotted species. You say that no elaphine deer are found, in India, south of the Himalayas. Let me remark that this deer is from Formosa, where I have seen mountains covered with snow in summer; and it is most probable that these animals are sold by the savages to the Chinese settlers, as in our inland tour over the hills for some forty miles we met none, and the Chinese spoke of them as coming from the mountains, and of their skins as forming articles of barter. We have a Japanese deer at Amoy with horns short and somewhat like those of the Formosan. It is not so elegant as mine, shorter in the legs, about the same height, and of a far more stag-like aspect. This, I doubt not, is the Cervulus Sika of Schlegel; but what our large northern stag can be I have not had the opportunity to ascertain. There are a few of the horns of the Formosan species to be got, which I will try to procure for you.”— Id. : The Pangolin.-The Chinese, like the natives of India, class the pangolin as a fish, and it is curious that both people approximate it to certain carps. Thus, in India, this animal is known as the jungli-mátch (jungle-fish) or Bán rohi (jungle rohi), in reference to the Rohita vulgaris, or Cyprinus rohita of B. Hamilton. In some amusing notices of Chinese Natural History, published in the Chinese Repository' for 1838, p. 48, we find the pangolin thus described :—“ The ling-le, or ' hill carp,' is so called, says the Pun Tsaou,' because its shape and appearance resemble those of the le or carp; and since it resides on land, in caves and hills, it is called 'ling,' a character compounded of 'yu,' fish, joined to the right half of‘ling,' a high rocky place. It has by some been termed the lung-le,' or dragon-carp,' because it has the scales of the dragon; and by others' chuen shan kéas,' or boring hill-scales,' because it is the scaly animal that burrows in the hills: the last name is the one by which the creature is best known among the people of Canton. An ancient name is shih ling yu,' or 'stony hill-fish,' given to it because the scales on its tail have three corners, like the • ling kéa,' or 'water calthrops,' and are very hard. This animal, for which the Chinese have as many synonyms as some anomalous perch or Hedysarum, is the manis, pangolin, or scaly ant-eater, and is often seen in the hands of the people of Canton, by whom it is regarded as a very curious' muster.' They consider it as a fish out of water,' an anomaly irreconcileable with any classification; and in the standard treatises on Natural History it is placed among the crocodiles and fishes." Further details are given; but I pass to an amusing description of this animal by the old Dutch traveller Linschoten, translated into quaint old English. He, too, describes it as "a strange Indian fish," caught in the river of Goa; "the picture whereof, by commandment of the Archbishop of that city, was painted, and for a wonder sent to the king of Spaine." He says:-- "It was in bignesse as great as a middle-sized dog, with a snout like a hog, small eyes, no eares [the particular species has a small earconch], but two lobes where his eares should be; it had foure feete like an elephant, the tayle beginning somewhat upon the backe, broad and then flat, and at the very end round and somewhat sharpe. It ranne along the hall upon the floore, and in every place in the house, snorting like a hog. The whole body, tayle, and legs heing covered with scales of a thumbe breadth, harder than iron or steel. We hewed and layed upon them with weapons, as if men should heate upon an anvill, and when we strooke upon him he rouled himself in a heape, head and feete together, so that he lay like a round ball, we not being able to judge whether he closed himself together, neyther could we with any instrument or strength of hands open him againe, but letting him alone and not touching him, he opened himself and ranne away, as I said before." -E. Blyth. The Musk Cat of Shanghai. So little is known of the Mammalia of China that any contribution on the subject is of interest to zoologists. There is an animal known at Shanghai as the "musk cat," which I suspect is a species of marten unknown to naturalists. It is thus described :-" A beautiful animal, of about the size of the common cat, but longer in form; in fact, somewhat resembling the marten, with a long bushy tail, like the brush of a fox. Emits an exceedingly powerful and by no means disagreeable musky odour. Lives in holes of the ground, and also climbs into trees and bushes in search of birds and their nests. Exceedingly destructive to the pheasants when sitting, and is much hunted by the natives for its fur.”—Bengal Sporting Magazine. Probably identical with the " large marten" of the Amûr territory, noticed in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society' for 1858 (vol. xxviii. p. 424).—Id. Wild Swine in Sumátra.— “ A species of wild hog in Sumátra, of a gray colour, and smaller than the English swine, frequents the impenetrable bushes and marshes of the sea-coast; they associate in herds and live on crabs and roots. At certain periods of the year they swim in herds, consisting of sometimes a thousand, from one side of the river Siak to the other at its mouth, which is three or four miles broad, and again return at stated times. This kind of passage also takes place in the small islands, by their swimming from one to the other. On these occasions they are hunted by the Salettians, a Malay tribe residing on the coasts of the kingdom of Siak. These men are said to smell the swine long before they see them, and when they do this they immediately prepare their boats. They then send out their dogs, which are trained for this kind of hunting, along the strand, where, by their barking, they prevent the swine from coming ashore and concealing themselves among the bushes. During the passage the boars precede, and are followed by the females and young, all in regular rows, each resting its snout on the rump of the preceding one. Swimming thus in close rows, they present a singular appearance. The Salettians, men and women, meet them in their small flat boats. The former row, and throw large mats, made of the long leaves of the Pandanus odoratissima interwoven through each other, before the leader of each row of swine, which still continue to swim with great strength, but soon pushing their feet into the mats, they get so entangled as to be either disabled altogether from moving, or only to move very slowly. The rest are, however, neither alarmed nor disconcerted, but keep close to each other, none of them leaving the position in which they were placed. The men then row towards them in a lateral direction; and the women, armed with long javelins, stab as many of the swine as they can reach. For those beyond their reach they are furnished with smaller spears, about six feet in length, which they dart to the distance of thirty or forty feet with a sure aim. As it is impossible for them to throw mats before all the rows, the rest of these animals swim off, in regular order, to the place from which they had set out, and for this time escape the danger; and the dead swine, floating around in great numbers, are then pulled up and put into larger boats, which follow for the 6 where read a similar account of the habits of Sus papuensis. Of the large Indian Logs, I am now satisfied of the existence of three well-marked races or species, which are quite as distinct from each other as are the various species of the Archipelago, figured and described by Dr. S. Müller and others. One is the proper Bengal boar, found also in Kuták, which is by far the most powerful, as shown by the entire skeleton, and which has the longest and most formidable tusks of any, the lower commonly protruding from the socket from three to three and a half inches over the curve. It is specially distinguished by the breadth of its occipital plane, which is two inches to two inches and a quarter where narrowest; and by the shortness of the tail, which numbers only thirteen or fourteen vertebræ. This may be distinguished as S. bengalensis, nobis. Another is the ordinary S. indicus, Gray (S. cristatus, Wagler), as noticed by Dr. Gray, from the Madras Presidency; it being found over the whole of India, the highlands of Ceylon, and also in Arakan, but I cannot pronounce on its diffusion further. It is likewise an inhabitant of Lower Bengal, as we have a stuffed specimen of a particularly fine boar of this race that was speared near Calcutta. The domestic pigs of India appear to be mainly (if not wholly) derived from it. The entire skeleton is conspicuously less robust than in the preceding, the tusks less developed, the lower rarely projecting two inches and three-fourths from the socket; the occipital plane, where narrowest, rarely exceeds one inch and five-eighths; and the tail is conspicuously much longer, consisting of about twenty vertebra. We have the skull of a sow of this race which has the fully-developed tusks of the boar; of course a rare anomaly. The third is the species with very elongated skull and narrow occipital plane (where narrowest one inch only), inhabiting the lowlands of Ceylon, which I have denominated S. zeylonensis, and which may also be S. affinis, Gray, from the Nilgiris, mentioned in the List of the Osteological Specimens in the Collection of the British Museum,' where S. indicus is cited from the Nepal hills and 'tarai,' and also Malabar. I have no skull of an European wild boar for comparison, but, judging from Blainville's figures, our S. indicus approximates it more nearly than S. bengalensis or S. zeylonensis. In the new Russian territory of the Amûr it appears that "of cattle or horses few were seen, but many swine of a peculiar kind, and fowls." Wild hogs are found at all elevations in the Himalaya, and generally over Asia; those of Indo-China, China, and the Malayan peninsula require to be carefully examined: as many as three species are reported to inhabit the plain of Mesopotamia. Wood, Vkes place 1 bese ca · in his Journey to the Source of the Oxus,' remarks that, "descending the eastern Bats in Aberdeenshire. — Close by one of the finest reaches of the river Dee, and near the hazely brae where the youthful Byron roamed and gathered nuts, are the church and the well of St. Peter. Much is to be met with in that neighbourhood, of interest alike to the naturalist or archæologist, the tourist or valetudinarian; and not VOL. XIX. 3 G a little might be written of these matters here; but the title affixed to this-a paragraph for the Zoologist,' suggested by Dr. Kinahan's paper (Zool. 7617) on the bats of Clare-confines the present notice to two species of Vespertilionidæ, and to a locality in which they are to be met with in numbers. Bats are wide spread; but their economy, from their nocturnal flight and the whole of their lives being spent in darkness, is but little known. Even the slightest contribution to the history of their habits will, it is hoped, not be unacceptable. It had for some time been known that the roof of the church of Peterculter, or more correctly that part of the roof which extends from the slates to the lath and plaster of the ceiling, and upwards of six feet high in the middle, was the haunt of bats. A recent ascent was made to this domicile, when a hundred and fifty or two hundred bats were found hanging, chiefly in clusters. At least two species congregate there-the long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus of Bell's 'British Animals'), and a smaller one (most likely Vespertilio pipistrellus of the same treatise). The numbers of the former somewhat preponderated. Each species clustered by itself; no mixture of the two was observed. Individuals were seen, in some instances, hanging alone, or occasionally two or three together, but always of the same species. They did not seem to be much disconcerted by the light of a candle, and were easily taken with the hand, one of the invaders carrying off several in his cap and pockets, soon to be set free again, a privilege of which they readily availed themselves, the larger species rising easily on the wing, after a very short scramble, from a flat surface. The power of the smaller species to do so was not observed or tried at the time. The colour of two or three of the long-eared species, in their rusty white fur, had a well-marked difference, in its lighter tint, from the mass. Their bite is more dreaded than dangerous. The temperature was high, and sufficient to make the blood and nervous influence circulate with the greatest force; yet their teeth scarcely abraded the scarf-skin of the fingers. Low in the walls, and at each end of this long and narrow apartment where the bats dwell, there is an air-hole or opening, two or three inches in diameter, cut in the well-known gray granite of the district. They are used by the bats for their exit and entrance. Immediately under these holes there are lengthened mounds of débris, showing that on their leaving or entering their abode the bats drop their faces, and the quantity indicates a long possession by numbers. The church of Peterculter is about being repaired. It is to be hoped, for the sake of the rising school of Natural History in Aberdeen, as well as for the sake of preserving so many animals useful in destroying myriads of insect vermin, that the worthy heritors will not allow architect or craftsman to dispute or interfere with this now prescriptive right of occupancy held by the colony in the upper regions of that substantial fabric.-George Gordon; Birnie by Elgin, August 17, 1861. Birds of Shetland. — I have, unfortunately, little to add to the list of the birds of Shetland. A man was reported to have the skins of three rare birds shot in North Unst, and I visited them, in the hopes of discovering some prize; but the possessor, having already promised them (and even their reversion), was unwilling to display them, and said he had promised not to do so. At last, however, his conscience allowed him to let his daughter show them to us, he standing by; and from the cursory examination I could thus make I believe the three were the pomerine skua, the hawk owl, and the goshawk. Mr. Gatherer, of Lerwick, also informed me that the sand martin and the woodpecker had both been observed near Lerwick. As regards the bridled guillemot, they certainly do not nest apart from the others; nor are the eggs distinguishable; indeed the very bridle mark is variable in individuals. Brunnich's guillemot we could never see or hear of. Dr. Edmonston has previously mentioned that during the breeding season Richardson's skua feeds largely on the berries of the heather, and this we found to be the case last year. It seems probable that the snow bunting may occasionally breed in Shetland, as we heard of a pair or two remaining till the end of June, though we could not succeed in finding any nest. The common skua will soon, I am sorry to say, disappear from the list of British breeding birds: a very few pairs now remain on Hermanness. Dr. Edmonston, at a heavy expense, maintained a keeper for twenty years, and these fine birds increased from three to about fifty pairs. A Swiss collector or dealer, or amateur dealer, or something of that disreputable class, then shot down some sixteen pairs, wounding, at the same time, many others, and since then the eggs have been taken yearly, so that no young birds are hatched; and four or five years will witness their extinction. Mr. T. Edmonston of Booness, the proprietor, allows me to state that he will appoint a keeper, if a fund for the purpose can be obtained; about £5 or £6 would be sufficient, and he has kindly agreed to subscribe £2 himself towards the amount. Auy gentle. man who would lament the loss of such a bird to our fauna, and does not expect to gain "an equivalent," as collectors say, will perhaps be kind enough to write to the editor of the Zoologist' or to myself. — W. D. Crotch; Uphill House, Westonsuper-Mare. Destruction of Small Birds: an Appeal to the Farmer, &c.— I invite attention from all who claim as their right an enlightened mind. Who amongst us, as early spring advances, revealing itself to our gladdened sight, after perchance a stern and severe winter, but delights to hear pouring forth, from tree, shrub and every leafy dale, the sweet harmonious carol of our common songsters? There is scarcely an Englishman who does not claim this as his peculiar right. Yet these harmless creatures are daily, hourly and quietly disappearing from our land. In proof of this we have only to notice the ravages of caterpillars among gooseberry and currant bushes this season. Great spaces are made in gardens by these destructive enemies of the gardener, who adopts, as the only apparent means of saving the fruit, the precaution of gathering as fast as possible. It is well known that small birds have been and are ruthlessly and systematically destroyed, quite harmless species sharing the fate of those which may by chance steal a sced or two. To the natural foes that each tribe has to contend with may be added the professional destroyer, whose quack nostrum is advertised in every paper as capable of poisoning large numbers. It must not, in future, surprise farmers, gardeners and others, if insects become formidable in the field and garden, in the absence of those whose natural food is the insect tribe. We learn that our French neighbours have taken up the subject, and that the Senate, after being occupied with a long Report on the lark and sparrow question, requested the Minister of Agriculture to adopt some practical plan for stopping the indiscriminate killing of birds. In the course of the sitting a complete exposition of entomology, in reference to the various insects destructive of the olive, vine, grain, garden crops, &c., was set forth, and State interference on behalf of the winged vermin-hunters urged. The thoughtless man nails a bat, an owl or a crow to his barn door; but a scrutiny of what fills the crops of these supposed nuisances would teach him sense. No senator seemed aware of the efforts made to import and naturalize the common field birds of England |