66 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



good to last, and a violent sandstorm on the Firth on I 2th 

 April was the opening fact in a long tale of disaster. 

 Driven by a north-easter the sand on the great banks, that 

 stretch for many a mile at low tide, was lifted up in thick 

 clouds and wafted across to leeward, much of it blown into 

 the channel, but vast quantities laid like deep snow-wreaths 

 completely on the other side. Snow fell to a depth of 

 some six inches on I4th April, and this was followed for 

 a week thereafter by hard frosts that blasted the promise of 

 flower and fruit for the remainder of the season. 



My notes of the more interesting items may be most 

 conveniently entered under different headings : 



MOLE (Talpa europcea). Some nice varieties have been sent 

 me. In addition to several of the ordinary pale yellow of various 

 shades, and of those showing the orange yellow abdominal patch, I 

 have a couple of others worth notice. One has a linear patch of 

 yellow, of irregular shape, fully one inch in length along the middle 

 line of belly. In addition to this, there is a similar but smaller 

 patch across the chest, and quite detached from the other. The 

 hind feet, fringes of fore feet, and about a \ inch of tip of tail, are 

 pure white. It is a 9 > an d was sent from Craigraploch, Rerrick, 

 on 1 4th November. The other mole is of a variety I have not 

 seen before, and my friend the catcher, who is a man of very long 

 experience, says he has only seen some two of the same colour. 

 The whole fur is of a glossy slaty black, with a strong suggestion of 

 plum-blue in the metallic shading. The under fur, when the upper 

 surface is parted, is a pure white all over the skin. This specimen 

 is also a 5 , and came to me on yth December from Talloquhairn, 

 Kirkbean. 



RABBIT (Lepus cuniculus). On 3rd July I came upon a rabbit's 

 nest placed a good bit above ground in the midst of some tangled 

 old brown fronds of the Male fern in Craigend wood. It contained 

 five young which, however, bolted when I put my hand amongst 

 them. They were perhaps sixteen or seventeen days old, and a 

 couple of them gave me a good bit of bother to catch. The nest 

 was made of the usual gathering of breast down, and placed amongst 

 the fern fronds quite neatly. There was no burrow near. 



WATER VOLE (Crossopus fodiens}. On i6th February I had a 

 very large 9 sent me of the black variety. Although perfectly 

 black it was non-lustrous. I got another , but only two-thirds 

 grown, from Auchencairn on 8th October. This is a beautiful 

 glossy black, and a small spot on forehead, a larger one on breast 

 betwixt the forelegs, right foretoes, some of the whiskers, and many 



