290 NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
"March 23rd [1857]. I this day disinterred the toad on the drying ground
in the garden, found it alive and apparently quite well after being buried
13 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days."
The numerous sections given (nearly all of which are now
things of the past) are characterized by the minute and careful
observation for which Mr. Brown was noted, and would well
serve as rnodels for modern workers. There are many other
points of minor interest in the manuscript, but this note has been
written more for the purpose of calling the attention of Essex
naturalists to the book than for giving a detailed account of its
contents.
NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
ZOOLOGY.
MAMMALIA.
Badgers (Melis taxus) at South Ockendon and Billericay.—According
to the local newspapers, in the last week of March, a very fine dog Badger
was captured by some men who were rabbiting in Bonnykit Shaw, in the
occupation of Mr. Richard Manning, of Little Belhus, South Ockendon.
We have been unable to obtain any more definite information, two inquiries
addressed to Mr. Manning not having resulted in any response.
In November 1895, we received notice of the occurrence of a Badger
at Billericay, from General B. R. Branfill, which unfortunately escaped
record at the time. It was a fine female, weighing about 29-lbs. and was
found lying on the railway, 200 to 300 yards east of Billericay Railway-
Station, on November 16th. It was dead but quite warm when found at
7 o'clock by two workmen on the line (W. Candler and — Halls), and
was almost cut in two, as if it had been run over by the previous train.
The skin was sent to Mr. Wilson of the G. E. R. General Branfill added
"no badgers are known to have been hereabouts for many years past."
Polecats in Suffolk.—The Polecat (Mustela putorius) is unfortunately by
continued persecution becoming so rare in the Eastern Counties that Lieut.-
Col. Butler's (Brettenham, Park, Ipswich) record in the Field is worth quot-
ing. "I have just examined two polecats that were lately killed in Suffolk ;
one at Cavenham Hall, about six miles north-west of Bury St. Edmunds, on
Feb. 3rd, and the other near Mildenhall, about ten miles north-west of the
same town, on the 15th idem. Both were males in beautiful winter coat, and
have been preserved by Mr. Travis, taxidermist, Bury St. Edmunds." The
Rev. J. G. Tuck, Bury St. Edmunds, records in Zoologist for January another
Polecat killed about Dec. 20th, near Mildenhall Fen. He adds " in our
neighbourhood these animals are now very rare, but they still exist in some
numbers in the Fen country, where the voles, frogs and eels provide them
with an abudance of prey. The Zoologist for 1888 (pp. 183, 221), contains
some interesting information on the subject of Suffolk Polecats."