MAMMALS 



will reveal its presence in all the rural dis- 

 tricts, and that, although we have but few 

 specific records of its occurrence, it is fairly 

 common on all likely waters. Jenyns, in his 

 Manual of British Vertebrate Animals (1835), 

 mentions under the name of ' oared shrew ' 

 (a well-known variety of the water shrew, 

 believed for a long time to have specific dis- 

 tinction) the occurrence of this species in 

 Surrey (q.v. p. 18). Brewer includes it in 

 his Reigate list of mammals (Flora of Reigate, 

 1856), and Smee in 1872, writing of the 



Wandle, says : ' We occasionally see it 

 here . . . but it is very shy . . .' 

 (My Garden, pp. 520, 521). We have also 

 notes of its occurrence within quite recent 

 years from the Lade Brook near Redhill 

 (Gough in lit.), Chobham (Le Marchant in 

 lit.), the Wey near Guildford (Latter in lit.), 

 Reigate (Reeves in lit.), and Headley (Buck- 

 nill), and when more attention is paid to the 

 mammals of the county, it will be no doubt 

 found to be much more common than it at 

 present appears to be. 



CARNIVORA 



15. Wild Cat. Fills catus, Linn. 

 Almost, if not completely, extinct in Eng- 

 land, at the present day there is, as far as 

 we can ascertain, only one record of the 

 occurrence of this species in Surrey in which 

 any sort of claim can be made to a genuinely 

 feral origin. 



In the Letters of Rusticus (pp. 5, 6) a long 

 account is given by the late Mr. Edward 

 Newman of the trapping of a specimen of the 

 true Felts catus by one Chalcraft, keeper to a 

 Mr. Mellersh of Godalming. The exact 

 spot where it was taken was a wood sur- 

 rounding Mr. Mellersh's seat, known as 

 ' Blunden's,' a place situated a little south of 

 the town. The skin alone was preserved, in 

 the form of a cap, the local taxidermist, 

 Mr. Waring Kidd, being too unwell at the 

 time to set up the animal. The occurrence 

 was shortly noticed in the Zoologist, 1849, 

 p. 2,439, and that year was the date in 

 which the Letters of Rusticus were published, 

 but the account refers to a considerably earlier 

 period, probably to the early twenties. 1 



As Mr. Newman was a very able and 

 accomplished naturalist, and draws a long and 

 careful contrast between this specimen and 

 the 'outlying tabby,' it is probable that the 

 record may be considered an authentic one, 

 particularly as the story carries us back to 

 times when the country round Godalming 

 was almost terra incognita. 



1 6. Fox. Vulpes vulpes, Linn. 



Bell Vulpei vulgaris. 



Still common enough in the rural districts, 

 but becoming quite scarce in the neighbour- 

 hood of the suburban areas. Even in the 

 country it is, owing to the great increase of 

 close game preservation, much less abundant 

 than it was thirty or forty years ago. A 

 curious litter of cubs was reared near Farn- 



1 Cobbett believed that he saw the true wild 

 cat near Waverley. Date uncertain, but before 

 the Blunden specimen (Rural Rides, p. 279). 



ham in 1896, in which the heads were per- 

 fectly white and the bodies marked with 

 white spots (Field, August 8, 1896). 



17. Pine Marten. Mustela martes, Linn. 



Bell Martes abietum. 



This species has long been extinct in Surrey, 

 and very few records of its occurrence in the 

 county are in existence. In May, 1834, one 

 was caught in Richmond Park by Thomas 

 Neal, an underkeeper employed by Mr. J. 

 Sawyer. It was recorded in the Field, 

 March 10, 1860. Mr. H. Sawyer informs 

 us that the species was not uncommon in the 

 park sixty or more years ago, but has now long 

 disappeared (in lit.). At a meeting of the 

 Surrey Natural History Society, held at the 

 Museum, Guildford, June 3, 1847, Mr. R. A. 

 Austen, one of the vice-presidents, announced 

 that a marten had been recently caught in a 

 wood near Blackheath, Albury, by Mr. Bray 

 of Shere (Zoologist, 1847, p. 1,806). Both 

 these specimens are referred to by Mr. Hart- 

 ing in his paper on this species published in 

 the Zoologist, 1891, p. 157. The marten is 

 included by Brewer in his Reigate list with- 

 out remark (Flora of Reigate, 1856). On 

 May 12, 1879, Mr. G. E. Lodge observed 

 a specimen in a large wood known as the 

 Redlands Wood near Holmwood and Dork- 

 ing. This wood is of several hundred acres 

 in extent, composed chiefly of Scotch, spruce, 

 silver and larch firs, oak, Spanish chestnut and 

 beech, and is very wild, so that the locality is 

 suitable for the occurrence. 8 Mr. Lodge says 

 (in lit.) that he had an excellent view of the 

 animal, which appeared to be chasing a rabbit. 

 A full note of this story appears in the 

 Zoologist, 1892, p. 190. 



We have no further notes of the local ap- 

 pearance of this species. 



2 A great part of Redlands is not suitable for 

 pheasants, and so not strictly preserved. The 

 same or another specimen was seen close to Red- 

 lands by Mrs. H. E. Maiden shortly after 1879. 



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