A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



1895. In east Sussex this bat has been ob- 

 tained in the following places : St. Leonards, 

 Hastings, Hollington, Battle, Rye, Guestling, 

 Catsfield, Bexhill, Udimore and Brede. 



Like most of this genus the whiskered bat 



shows a partiality for the neighbourhood of 

 water, but it may also be found flying in and 

 out of trees and searching for insects close to 

 the foliage. In flight it closely resembles the 

 pipistrelle. 



INSECTIVORA 



t. Hedgehog. Er 

 Common. 



europa;us. 



12. Mole. Talpa europaa, Linn. 

 Abundant. 



13. Common Shrew. 8orex aiancus, Linn. 

 Common and generally distributed. 



14. Pigmy Shrew. Sorex mtnutus, Pallas. 



Bell — Sorex pygmaus. 

 The pigmy shrew seems to be generally dis- 

 tributed in east Sussex. It was first noticed 

 near St. Leonards June 1 6, 1898, and after- 

 wards taken at St. Helens, Bexhill, Holling- 



ton, Catsfield, Brede, Udimore and Lewes. 

 In west Sussex it appears to be rare, Mr. 

 Pratt of Brighton having only received one 

 specimen in twenty years, yet it is probably 

 common locally. The lesser shrew is fond o( 

 making its runs under ivied walls and is easily 

 trapped. 



15. Water Shrew. Neomys fidiens, Pallas. 

 Bell — Sorex fodietts. 

 This species is fairly numerous in suitable 

 localities throughout the county. An albino 

 was caught near Pevensey April 11, 1900 

 (Mr. Daniel Francis in lit.) 



CARNIVORA 



16. Fox. Fu/pes vulpes, Linn. 



Bell — Vulpes vulgaris. 

 Generally distributed. As an instance of 

 the great distances these animals will travel 

 and their homing instincts, a dog fox, half 

 of whose brush had been removed by a gin 

 trap, was recently hunted from Graylands, 

 Horsham, to the South Downs, after a run 

 which in the windings cannot have been less 

 than forty miles. Early next morning it was 

 found dead outside its earth at Graylands. 



17. Pine Marten. Mustela martei, Linn. 



Bell — Martes abietum. 

 'About the year 1841 a marten was caught 

 in a rabbit-wire by one of the Duke of Nor- 

 folk's keepers at Clapham Wood near Findon ; 

 and about the same time another and a finer 

 one was killed at Wadhurst by Mr. Gill of 

 Applesham. On that gentleman's death and 

 sale of his collection this specimen was pur- 

 chased by Mr. R. D. Drewitt of 53, Holland 

 Park, Kensington, who furnished this informa- 

 tion. A third, killed about the same time, 

 was taken in a rabbit-wire in Michelgrove 

 Woods, Arundel, and was for a long time in 

 the possession of one of the Duke of Nor- 

 folk's gamekeepers. It turned up at a sale at 

 Pettering near Arundel on August 26, 1 89 1, 

 but who became the purchaser I have not 

 ascertained. The last marten believed to 

 have been seen in the county was killed by 

 the Crawley and Horsham foxhounds at 

 Holmbush near Crawley five - and - twenty 



years ago. It was stuffed by Leadbeater of 

 Brewer Street, London, for Mr. Borrer of 

 Cowfold, in whose collection I have seen it. 

 ... It was subsequently however destroyed 

 by moth, and only the skull is now preserved ' 

 (Harting, Zoologist., 1891, pp. 457, 458). In 

 Mr. Borrer's collection there is another mar- 

 ten which has all the appearance of having 

 been mounted early in the last century. This 

 may possibly be the other specimen which is 

 referred to in the collector's notes as follows : 

 'Nov. 30, 1850. This day Thos. Broad- 

 wood, Esq., most kindly presented me with a 

 stuffed specimen of the marten shot at the 

 back of his house, Holmbush, Horsham, in 

 the year 1825. This is the last I have heard 

 of killed in Sussex. I think it is immature.' 

 This stuffed specimen has no birdstuffer's 

 name on the back of the case. It is certainly 

 immature ; and it cannot be the same as 

 the specimen previously noticed, because Mr. 

 Borrer himself acknowledges receiving the 

 mounted specimen in its case. 



18. Polecat. Putorius putorius, Liinn. 

 Bell — Mustela putorius. 



A polecat was killed at Udimore, Rye, in 

 October, 1848, by the gamekeeper to Mr. 

 F. Langford (J. B. EUman, Zoologist, p. 2406). 



The late Sir Anchitel Ashburnham told 

 Mr. Ruskin Butterfield in 1897 that he 

 recollected a very fine polecat being trapped 

 at Broomham, Hastings, 'about thirty years 

 since.' Major Sir Archibald Lamb writes 

 that one was caught at Beauport, Battle, 



