MAMMALS 





specimen, killed in one of his hayfields at Wistow 

 Grange, in August, 1890." 



24. Harvest-Mouse. Mus minutus, Pallas. 



Rare. Harley appears to have been uncertain 

 whether this species was found throughout the 

 county, he having met with it in only one or two 

 parishes in the southern division as, for instance, at 

 Cosby and Whetstone. He stated, however, that it 

 had also occurred in the eastern portion of the 

 county namely, in the parish of Woolsthorpe, on the 

 estate of the Duke of Rutland. Mr. Ingram, writing 

 from Belvoir, does not mention it, but the late 

 Mr. Widdowson wrote, on 6 February, 1885 : 

 'A few not many have come into my hands.' 

 Writing again on the 1 2th, he said : ' The last 

 harvest-mouse I had was from Burton Lazars. Dis- 

 tributed thinly, I think near here.' Fortunately the 

 record of the harvest-mouse does not rest at this, for 

 Mr. R. Groves brought me a pretty little nest, built 

 between three cornstalks, found in a field about a mile 

 from Billesdon, towards Uppingham, on 1 2 September, 

 1888. Mr. Stephen Pilgrim, of the Borough House, 

 Hinckley, gave me the following note : 'On 

 1 8 January, 1889, Mr. Ludlow gave me two dead 

 harvest-mice obtained from a barn on Mr. Freeman's 

 farm at Dadlington. They weighed half an ounce 

 the pair, fawn colour, white under parts, narrow 

 heads, feet pale or flesh colour." These mice were 

 killed when some corn in a barn was being thrashed, 

 and there were said to be several of them. 



25. Water- Vole. Microtus amphibius, Linn. 



Bell Arvicola amphibius. 



Locally, Water Rat. 



Resident and generally distributed. I was witness 

 to a curious trait in the character of this animal on 

 II April, 1885. Walking in the meadows at Ayle- 

 stone with my dogs, I observed some rat-catchers at 

 work on an old hollow willow-tree, whence they 

 dislodged, with the help of their ferrets and dogs, 

 several common rats and three water-voles, two of 

 which evaded them by swimming. The third one 

 was, however, caged with three of the common brown 

 rats. The latter appeared abjectly terrified at our 

 approach, and at that of the dogs, and huddled 

 together with their heads tucked under their bodies. 

 It was otherwise, however, with the water-vole, 

 which upon our approach reared itself upon its 

 haunches, bared its teeth and snapped them, squeaked 

 and shook its paws at us with the most threatening 

 gestures, and would have flown at us outright had it 

 not been for the protection of the bars. Its conduct 

 regarding the other rats was antagonistic in the 

 extreme, for it bit them in the most severe and 

 impartial manner whenever they approached. Indeed, 

 one rat nearly 'left his tail behind him,' under the 

 quick strokes of the plucky water-vole's formidable 

 incisors. One was brought to the Leicester Museum 

 early in 1903, caught in a sewer in Tower Street, 

 hard by, a most unusual position and locality. 

 Harley observed that it is ' liable to variety.' 

 Regarding the last statement, I was always of opinion 

 that this species, with the exception of the black 

 variety mentioned by Bell, was most constant in its 

 coloration, having had the opportunity of examining 

 some hundreds from all parts of England since 



11 Zaol. Sept. 1890, p. 348. 



boyhood, but the late Mr. R. Widdowson assured me 

 that he could, any season, procure near Melton a 

 constant, light-red variety, and in proof of his asser- 

 tion, he sent me in 1883 a mounted specimen 

 which, though apparently sun-faded on the one side, 

 appeared to be of a very light-red, almost yellowish- 

 rufous, on the other. Soon after his death I was at 

 Melton, when his widow showed me a beautiful 

 variety of a light, golden-yellow colour, caught or 

 shot in the vicinity of Melton on 6 March, 1885. 

 Mr. W. Whitaker informed me that, whilst fishing at 

 Desford, in August, 1879, he saw 'a light yellow 

 water-vole ' ; and Mr. T. Aulay Macaulay, whilst 

 fishing at Beaumanor on 3 April, 1888, saw another, 

 which came and sat within five yards of him, and 

 which he described as being of a pale-fawn or cinna- 

 mon colour. Mr. F. Bouskell informed me that he 

 obtained two specimens of the ' cinnamon ' variety at 

 Knighton Brook, in June and July, 1884. Mr. J. 

 Whitaker mentions that one, a pale sandy variety, was 

 shot during August, 1 890, on the brook at Wistow 

 Grange, and says that varieties of this species are rare." 

 Specimens of the ' yellow vole ' were seen in the 

 Blackbrook near Shepshed in 1 904-5 by Mr. H. Butler 

 Johnson, B.A., of St. George's Lodge, Swannington. 

 It would appear, therefore, that we have in 

 Leicestershire a constant though rare variety, pro- 

 bably peculiar to the district. 



26. Field-Vole. Microtus agrtstis, Linn. 



Bell Arvicola agrestis. 



Locally, Short-tailed Field-Mouse. 

 Resident and common. Mr. J. Whitaker, F.L.S., 

 F.Z.S., of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, informs me 

 of a light buff or cream-coloured variety of this species, 

 procured at Wistow Grange, in 1884. The Leicester 

 Museum possesses a group consisting of the male, 

 female, and five young, taken at Aylestone on 7 July, 

 1885. 



27. Bank- Vole. Evotomys glareolus, Schreber 



Bell Arvicola amfhibius. 



Locally, Red Field- Vole. 



Since the publication of my Notes on the Vertebrate 

 Animals of Leicestershire this animal has turned up 

 quite commonly at Belvoir, whence I have re- 

 ceived, through the kindness of John Ryder, several 

 specimens. Out of nine field-voles sent to me on 

 2 and 3 July, 1885, four were of the rarer species, 

 which, with others, were exhibited at a meeting of 

 the Zoological Section, ' E,' of the Leicester Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, and upon which I made 

 certain remarks, afterwards. 14 



28. Common Hare. Lepus europaeus, Pallas. 



Bell Lepus timidus. 



Resident and commonly distributed. Some winters 

 ago (circa 1884) the local papers recorded the fact of 

 a hare running through the principal streets of the 

 town of Leicester, and being ultimately caught in 

 Lancaster Street ; and the Leicester Daily Post of 

 12 October, 1886, mentions the occurrence of a hare 

 in Belvoir Street. The late Rev. Charles Hentin Wood, 

 chaplain to the Leicestershire and Rutland Lunatic 



"Ibid. Ibid. 1885, p. 219. 



14 Tram. Leic. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Oct. 1886, p. 27. 'On the 

 Occurrence of a Mammal, hitherto unknown aa inhabiting 

 Leicestershire.' By Montagu Browne, F.Z.S. also Zool. 1888, 

 pp. 65-6. 



