MancJiester Memoirs, Vol. Iviii. (1914), No. 9. 3 



clipterons, which, we may guess, would escape the attacks 

 of insectivorous birds. 



Matschie, in Brauer's " Die Siisswasserfauna Deutsch- 

 lands " (1909), includes two other bats, one of them the 

 Whiskered Bat, but the insectivorous habits of any of the 

 Vespertilionidae lead them occasionally to the presence of 

 water, and all might be included. We have seen the 

 Noctule flying high above Rostherne, and other unidenti- 

 fied species hawking near the margin, but their presence 

 is not habitual like that of the Water Bat. 



The Water Shrew 



Neomys fodiens bicolor (Shaw), occurs in the outflow, 



Blackburn's Brook, 

 but we have not met with it in the mere itself. The 

 brook is broad and slow-flowing but not very deep ; it is 

 an ideal habitat for this shrew, which feeds on small 

 crustaceans, insects and molluscs. 



It is doubtful if any 



Lutra hitra (Linnaeus). Otters reside permanently on 



the bank of the mere, but the 

 animal is a fairly constant visitor. It occurs not infre- 

 quently on the rivers Bollin and Birkin, and at Tatton 

 Mere. In 1866 the skull and skin of an Otter which had 

 been killed at Rostherne were exhibited at a meeting of 

 the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society,^ and 

 about the year 1880 one which had been trapped on the 

 mere was kept alive in Rostherne village for some time. 

 This water, however, does not appear to be so attractive 

 to the Otter as the neighbouring mere in Tatton Park, for 

 it is more unusual to find otter-killed fish at Rostherne 

 than at Tatton, nor have we heard the animal whistling 

 in the reed-beds as we have done after dark at the latter 

 mere. At Redesmere the Otter feeds upon the fresh-water 

 1 1S66. Proc, v., 122. 



