Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/272

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THE ZOOLOGIST.

Hare, being the stronger of the two, has driven the other out of the European plain into the mountains. This supposition is further supported by the behaviour of the two species in Scotland, where their respective ranges meet."

Some other interesting facts are given as to the introduction of Irish Hares into Great Britain, and Scotch Hares in Ireland and South Scotland.


Our excellent and invigorating contemporary, 'Natural Science,' in its last number, remarks on the present somewhat dilapidated condition of the Newcastle Museum—that is, the building, not the contents. "The connection of this Museum with Albany and John Hancock is well known, and many other naturalists of repute have carried on their work there. In consequence of this the collections are of more value than is usual in a provincial museum, and it is certainly some consolation to find "that the members of the Natural History Society of the Counties of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle held a special meeting on March 16th to consider how funds could be raised to provide the necessary repairs. We are glad to see that considerable financial support was promised, and that before long there is every prospect of the necessary £2500 being acquired.


We regret to notice the deaths of Mr. George Christopher Dennis, for many years President of the York and District Field Naturalists' Society, which took place on the 22nd of last December; and of Mr. James I'Anson, a valued President of the Darlington and Teesdale Naturalists' Field Club, on the 30th March.


A specimen of the Common Sandpiper, seen in St. James's Park, is recorded in the 'Field' of May 7th:—"On April 25th I had the unusual pleasure to a Londoner of seeing a Common Sandpiper (Totanus hypoleucus) in St. James's Park, just outside the Cormorant's inclosure, and on the edge of the island. I saw it alight, uttering its usual sharp note, and it seemed as much at home there as on a Welsh llyn or a Scottish lochside, stepping daintily along, with much tail-waving, in search of food. The keeper had not seen it, though he knows the bird as a casual spring visitor there, and it is not unknown on passage on the Serpentine and the foreshore at Battersea."—Charles H. Emson.