132 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



west coast of Mull, was captured a few days ago. It would be 

 interesting to know how this species was introduced into the island, 

 for His Grace the Duke of Argyll, to whom I mentioned this 

 subject, informs me that the Mole cannot swim. His Grace tells 

 me that he once threw a mole into a river and expected it to swim, 

 but although it floated, it was perfectly helpless and could not move 

 an inch across the stream. — J. A. Harvie-Brown. 



Hedgehog (Erinaceus europceus, L.) in Shetland. — I was some- 

 what astonished to be informed, when staying at Tingwall Manse in 

 October last, that the Hedgehog was well known along the shores of 

 the freshwater loch at Tingwall. Mrs. Bain told me that they were 

 introduced into Shetland by the farmer at Veersgarth, and that he 

 planted whins for their protection. This took place about thirty 

 years ago. They are supposed to have been introduced into the 

 Island of Burra by means of a cargo of empty casks, or the ballast 

 of a vessel. From Veersgarth they soon spread over the parish of 

 Tingwall. Mrs. Bain put them on several occasions into the walled 

 garden, but they soon died. — J. A. Harvie-Brown. 



Varieties of the Otter (Lutra vulgaris, L.) in Jura. — White and 

 cream-coloured Otters are not uncommon in Jura, and perhaps half- 

 a-dozen have been killed of late years to my knowledge. — Henry 

 Evans, Jura Forest. 



Wild Cat {Felts cattus, L.) in Sutherland. — On 2 2d September 

 1 89 1, whilst beating Gruambeg Wood, on the north side of Loch 

 Naver, the keeper and one of the gillies saw a Wild Cat. The wood 

 is a large rough wood of natural-grown birch, and part of it is a 

 huge mass of fallen rock and debris. The cat was within gunshot 

 of the gillie, and he had plenty of time within which to identify it. 

 I may add, that I have heard that two Wild Cats were trapped in the 

 same wood, some seven or eight years ago, by a man of the name of 

 Campbell. — E. T. Baldwin, Altnaharra, Sutherland. 



On the Appearance of the Brown Rat (Mus decumanus, Pallas) 

 on Ailsa Craig. — There is perhaps no animal that has so persistently 

 followed man in his migrations, or has so adapted itself to the varied 

 nature of climate or habitation, as the rat ; and there are few places, 

 indeed, in the occupancy of the human race where it has not obtained 

 a footing. Given suitable surroundings — and where is the place not 

 suitable ? — the rat will increase and spread its boundaries wider and 

 wider in spite of all the efforts made to extirpate it. Considering 

 these circumstances and its well-known fecundity and omnivorous 

 appetite, there are few situations in our islands that are free from 

 its ravages. One such, Ailsa Craig, in the Firth of Clyde, has quite 

 recently been conquered by the enemy. Up till the year 1889, rats 

 were unknown on the Craig, but in that year (the exact date is not 



