76 NATURAL HISTORY 



The eagle-owl, could it be proved to belong to us, is so ma- 

 jestic a bird that it would grace our fauna much. I never 

 was informed before where wild-geese are known to breed. 



You admit, I find, that I have proved your fen salicaria to 

 be the lesser reed-sparrow of Ray; and I think that you may 

 be secure that I am right ; for I took very particular pains to 

 clear up that matter, and had some fair specimens ; but, as 

 they were not well preserved, they are decayed already. You 

 will, no doubt, insert it in it's proper place in your next edi- 

 tion. Your additional plates will much improve your work. 



De Buff on, I know, has described the water shrew-mouse: 

 but still I am pleased to find you have discovered it in Lin- 

 colnshire, for the reason I have given in the article on the 

 white hare*. 



As a neighbour was lately ploughing in a dry chalky field, 

 far removed from any water, he turned out a water-rat, that 

 was curiously laid up in an liybernaculum artificially formed 



Scotland^ especially in the mountainous districts, and in the whole of 

 Ireland. In the former, the fur changes colour on the approach of winter, 

 becoming gradually white, excepting the tips of the ears, which are per- 

 manently black. On the return of spring the white fur comes off, and is 

 replaced by its grey summer coat. As it seldom if ever changes its colour 

 in Ireland, it was supposed that the Iristthare was a distinct species ; and 

 it was described as such by Mr. Yarrell, with the name of Lepus liiber- 

 nicus. There is, however, no structural difference to warrant such a dis- 

 tinction; and the persistence of its ordinary colour throughout the winter 

 must doubtless be attributed to the milder climate of Ireland (see Brit. 

 Quad. 2nd edit. p. 346). T. B.] 



* [Some years since I observed the water-shrew (Crossopus fodiens) in 

 the stream which passes in front of the Grange Farm in Selborne. It was 

 hunting at the bottom of the water among the aquatic plants for insects, 

 and was so flattened that the white of the bellv was conspicuous as a 

 narrow margin on each side of the black back, forming a striking and 

 pretty object. I found also in my garden a specimen, recently killed, of 

 the black-bellied variety, formerly known as Sorex remifer. It was far 

 from any water. That the neighbourhood of water is not an essential 

 element in its habitat is shown by the following account, sent me by James 

 Salter, Esq., of its occurrence in Charlton Park (in Dorsetshire) : (( On 

 the highest part of the Park, very far removed from any water, I caught a 

 water-shrew. It was running towards a belt of trees on the top of the 

 Park, some of the highest and driest ground on Spettisbury Down." 

 T. B.] 



