{Authors are responsible for nometulaiure used.) 



The Scottish Naturalist 



Nos. 95 AND 96.] 1919 [Nov.-Dec. 



THE FIELD MOUSE OF FOULA. 

 By Martin A. C. Hinton, British Museum (Natural History). 



I HAVE to thank Dr Eagle Clarke for allowing me to study 

 some Field Mice collected on the island of Foula chiefly by 

 Mr W. H. Greenavvay. Foula lies out in the Atlantic sixteen 

 miles west of the nearest point of the Mainland of Shetland. 

 It is three miles long and one and a half miles wide, with an 

 area of a little more than five square miles. Rising from the 

 sea in lofty cliffs, which swarm with sea-fowl during the 

 breeding season, its highest point attains an altitude of 1372 

 feet. 



As is now well known, Field Mice of the Apodeimis 

 sylvatiais group have been differentiated into a considerable 

 number of insular forms as the result of segregation in the 

 Shetlands, Hebrides, and St Kilda. It is no matter for 

 surprise, therefore, to find that the Field Mouse of Foula has 

 some peculiarities of its own which entitle it to recognition 

 as a distinct sub-species at least. On the whole its characters 

 make a nearer approach to those of A.fridariensis than to 

 those of any other species. A.fridariensis from Fair Isle was 

 originally described as a sub-species of sylvatiais by Kin near ; 

 but later Miller accorded it full specific rank. The present 

 writer has described a sub-species, A. f. grantii, from Mid 

 Yell, Shetland. It is proposed to treat the Foula Mouse as 

 a second sub-species, for which the name A. f. tJiiileo is 

 suggested. 



95 AND 96 U 



