112 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



take its length, 8 feet 3 inches, by a hasty application of the foot 

 rule. Of the other, that stranded on the 3rd, I was able to make 

 a more thorough examination, and I took the following measure- 

 ments : Length in a straight line from tip of beak to fork of tail 

 8 feet 8 inches, depth in front of dorsal fin rather more than 2 feet, 

 height of dorsal fin i foot i inch, length along the anterior margin 

 of same 2 feet, length of anterior margin of flipper i foot 7 inches, 

 length of beak beyond facial groove 2\ inches, from tip of beak 

 to eye io| inches, mandible projecting perceptibly beyond 

 beak, width across tail approximately 2 feet 4 inches, the points 

 having been cut off. General scheme of coloration dark slaty 

 black above, white beneath and over the beak. The distribution 

 of these colours and their modifications was almost exactly as 

 described by Sir William Turner in his account of the adult female 

 taken off Stonehaven in July 1888 ("Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc.,"x. 14). 

 I especially noticed the greyish white ridge behind the dorsal fin. 

 Unfortunately many of the teeth had been removed, so that I 

 cannot state their original number, but I estimated it at about 48 

 in each jaw. This was a female, and so also, I believe, was the 

 other, which was very similar to it in every respect. 



Several of these cetaceans were stated to have been frequenting 

 the estuary about the time these two were stranded. This is but 

 the second occasion on which the white-beaked dolphin has been 

 recorded from the Firth of Forth. The first record is that by 

 Mr. Bruce Campbell ("Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist.," 1907, p. 65) of a 

 male captured off Cramond in March 1907. WILLIAM EVANS, 

 Edinburgh. 



Albino Weasel near Loeh Awe. Colonel E. S. Evans, C.B., 

 writes me that he shot an Albino Weasel (Mi/stela -vulgaris) on 

 "3rd December 1901, close to the junction of the Oban and Ford 

 cross roads." This specimen, which was a genuine Albino having 

 " brilliant pink eyes," was unfortunately lost owing to the stuffer to 

 whom it was sent being away from home. RICHARD ELMHIRST, 

 Marine Station, Millport. 



A Friendly Stoat. A Stoat (Mustela erminea) in its winter 

 dress, save only a brown patch on the nape, has been a constant 

 and welcome visitor here since the end of last November. Ex- 

 tremely tame and confiding it came daily for a time in mid-winter 

 to the food put out for the birds within a few feet of the windows, 

 never attempting to molest the birds, which paid but little attention 

 to it beyond fluttering a few yards away. On one occasion it was 

 seen climbing nimbly in a hazel-bush, some 10 or 12 feet from the 

 ground ; and still frequents the immediate vicinity of the house. 

 Formerly there were always rats about, but since the advent of the 

 Stoat not one has been seen ; some moles, too, that were trouble- 

 some have also disappeared. With a plague of rats throughout the 



