NOTES ON THE MICE AND BIRDS OF ST. KILDA 199 



it, or a very closely allied form, may, on full investigation, 

 be found to be a more or less prevalent race of House 

 Mouse throughout the group generally. The only other 

 House Mice I have seen from the Outer Hebrides came from 

 Breasclet on the west side of the Island of Lewis, and they 

 were ordinary examples of Mus musculus. 



The object of these preliminary remarks is to call atten- 

 tion to these hitherto overlooked but interesting facts relating 

 to the Hebridean House Mice, in the hope that they may be 

 the means of stimulating necessary investigations, including 

 the collecting of specimens between Barra Head to the Butt 

 of Lewis. I shall be glad to examine and report upon 

 specimens submitted to me from any of the Hebridean 

 Islands. 



NOTES ON THE MICE AND BIRDS OF 

 ST. KILDA. 



By JAMES WATERSTON, M.A. 



THE following notes were made during a stay in St. Kilda 

 from the I ith of June to the loth of July. 



Mus HIRTENSIS. On the evening of the i/th a search 

 was made for runs of this Field Mouse, but with little success, 

 though in the morning a well defined track had been seen 

 among some luxuriant grass on the N.E. slope of Connacher. 

 As a rule the only indication of the presence of mice was a 

 slightly worn spot opposite a hole, either in a dyke or under 

 a stone. On Dun there was noted a clear path running 

 round a boulder and ending in a burrow beneath it. 

 Hirtensis seems to spend most of its time in the neighbour- 

 hood of cleits, 1 pens, dykes, etc. On Hirta it is very shy 

 in its habits, and though I spent several nights in the open 

 it was never detected far from refuge, i.e. never on the bare 

 hillside. Had it been present in such situations it would 

 certainly have been noted, for in June there was virtually no 

 night. During the day it w r as never seen except once on 



1 Small oval stone buildings scattered over the hills, and used for storing 

 corn, hay, and peat. 



