April 15th, S., mild and warm. Phylloscopus trochilus heard; Hirundo rustica, several.
17lh, S., warm. Motacilla Rayi and Sylvia cinerea.
18th. Hirundo riparia.
20th, S., warm. Saxicola œnanthe, one, a male.
26th, N.E., cold. Cuculus canorus.
30th. Saxicola rubetra.
May 1st. Salicaria phragmitis ; Hirundo urbica, two.
3rd. Anthus arborea.
9lh. Sylvia hortensis.
14th. Muscicapa grisola.
16th. Grey Plover, Whimbrel aid Dunlin on Humber flats ; the former very numerous and in full breeding or summer plumage. No waders or shore birds seen after this date.
18th. Cypselus apus, many.
1 have neither seen nor heard of any Dotterel (Endromias morinellus) this season.
THE MAMMALS OF SHAKSPEARE.
By Henry Reeks, F.L.S., F.Z.S.
(Continued from p. 205.)
The Fox, Vulpes vulgaris.
That most enjoyable of all sports, fox-hunting, in llie proper acceptation of the term, appears to have been unknown in Shak- speare's time. Poor Reynard's name is generally applied as an epithet, denoting a low, cunning, selfish and disreputable person. " Vulpecides," in those days, were evidently looked upon as benefactors to mankind in general, and to the British farmer and poultry keeper in particular. The time-honoured fable of the "Fox and the Grapes" crops up in All's Well that Ends Well, Act ii., Scene 1.
The fox is mentioned upwards of thirty times, but a couple of quotations illustrating his fondness for lamb (and he is no bad judge either!) will be sufficient.
"The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb."
King Henry VI., Part II. Act iii., Scene 1.
