170 T. V. EOBEETS — HEETFOKDSHERE MAMMALIA. 



describes one that used to flit about a room and would take a fly 

 from its mistress's lips in the gentlest manner, alighting on her 

 cheek. These bats are playful in confinement, and their somewhat 

 uncouth gambols are very amusing. They are very clean, and 

 spend much time in combing their hair with their claws. When 

 asleep the large ears are folded down so that there is no sign of 

 them. The species is often found in the roofs of houses, nesting 

 between tiles. 



The hedgehog {Erinaceus eiiropmis) appears to be partial to gar- 

 ens in Watford. In my friend Mrs. Bishop's grounds I was shown 

 two nests formed for hybernating, one in a hedge partially protected 

 by the roots of the trees, and the other under a heap of branches 

 and sticks lying against an outhouse. Each nest was formed in 

 the same maimer, the interior full of dry leaves, and the whole 

 encased with grass, just like the outside of some birds' nests. A 

 slight hollow or depression in the ground was made in each case as 

 the foundation. The nest in the hedge had been disturbed, and the 

 occupant had left it, but we found a hedgehog in the other one, 

 which we took out and afterwards put back. Hedgehogs specially 

 affect haystacks and outhouses, where straw, turnips, and other 

 things are kept, and they have often made their nests inside an 

 outhouse in Mrs. Bishop's grounds. In the ' Zoologist ' for Septem- 

 ber, 1887, an account appears of hedgehogs eating swedes. This 

 may account for their taking up their quarters in Mrs. Bishop's 

 outhouse where mangolds or swedes were stored. In 1891 a female 

 with yoimg was found in Mr. Sumner Knyvett's walled garden 

 under a pile of wood formed of sawn trees. It must have entered 

 from the Clarendon Road. 



I have seen a few specimens of the common shrew ( Sorex vulgaris) 

 dead on paths, but not many. I have also seen the water-shrew 

 {Crossopus fodiens) in a small brook on Mr. Stone's farm near Cassio 

 Bridge. They are interesting little creatures to watch when one 

 gets the chance. They swim under water with great facility. My 

 friend Mr. Fry tells me that he has noticed water-shrews in the 

 Gade in Cassiobury Park. 



As mentioned in my paper on ' Terrestrial British Quadrupeds,' 

 badgers {Meles taxus) are not imcommon in Hertfordshire. In 

 December, 1891, I paid a visit to the celebrated badger earths at 

 Ashlyns. I was taken to see them by Mr. HoUiday, of Haresfoot. 

 He told me that his father, who had lived all his life in the 

 locality, died some years ago at the age of 93, so that he could 

 carry his recollection and knowledge of the earths back for a period 

 of about 100 years from the present time; and he knew that badgers 

 had inhabited the spot as far back as memories and traditions went. 

 The place in question is a large depression or wide pit in the chalk, 

 with beech trees growing in and around it. It may be natural, or 

 the ground may have been dug out at some distant period. The en- 

 trances to the main earths are situated at one side where the ground 

 rises. The holes run in various directions, but all terminate (it is 

 said) in a large chamber some distance off, excavated under the 



