MAMMALS 



unable to find more than one record of it. 

 This is in Mr. Harting's article on the British 

 marten which appeared in the Zoologist for 

 1891, p. 456, where it is stated that a speci- 

 men was obtained in Oxhey Wood near Wat- 

 ford on December 26th, 1872, which animal 

 is, I believe, now preserved at Bushey. 



11. Polecat. Putorius putorius. Linn. 



Bell Mustela putorius. 



This species is nearly, if not quite, extinct 

 as a Hertfordshire mammal, although at one 

 time not an uncommon resident. In the 

 neighbouring county of Buckingham polecats 

 are still to be found, and may occasionally 

 still travel into Hertfordshire. Mr. T. 

 Vaughan Roberts has informed me that 

 Seymour of Hertford, who was at one time 

 keeper at Ware Park, trapped one there 

 about 1885. Mr. Roberts also stated that 

 a polecat was obtained some years ago near 

 Hitchin. These are the only specific records 

 I can find of this animal in Hertfordshire. 



12. Stoat. Putorius erminius, Linn. 



Bell Mustela ermlnea. 



This is a common inhabitant of the county 

 although it suffers a great deal at the hands of 

 gamekeepers. This species occasionally fre- 

 quents mole-runs, as is evidenced by one being 

 caught in a mole-trap at Knightlands Farm, 

 Barnet, in February, 1891. Albino speci- 

 mens have from time to time been procured 

 in Hertfordshire. 



13. Weasel. Putorius nivalis, Linn. 



Bell Mustela vulgaris. 



The weasel is also common throughout the 

 county, though its numbers, as in the case of 

 the last species, are well kept down by game- 

 keepers. The extreme fearlessness of this 

 animal is wonderful, and is shown by the 

 fact that Lord Aldenham's keeper once killed 

 one with his foot when it approached him in 

 the grass, while he was feeding young phea- 

 sants. 



14. Badger. Meles meles, Linn. 



Bell Meles taxui. 



Although perhaps not so plentiful as for- 

 merly, the badger is still far from being ex- 

 tinct in Hertfordshire, and breeds in large 

 earths in many parts of the county. The 

 late Dr. Brett wrote a short article on it in 



the Trans, of the Watford Nat. Hist. Sac. for 

 1877, in which there is a great deal of infor- 

 mation about its occurrence in Hertfordshire. 

 From that article it would appear that this 

 animal was to be found at Ashridge, Ashlyns 

 near Berkhamsted, Langleybury, The Grove, 

 Cassiobury Park and Munden near Watford, 

 Aldenham and Hadham Hall. At Cassio- 

 bury between 1830 and 1840 there was a 

 badgers' earth at a spot called Badgers' Dell, 

 from which badgers were obtained and sold 

 to a man at Croxley Green, who kept a 

 public-house at which he used to have badger- 

 baiting. This was also done annually at 

 Sandridge Fair near St. Albans ; while at 

 Aldenham there lived for many years an old 

 man who was a kind of purveyor of badgers 

 for this amusement. By 1887 the badgers 

 in the neighbourhood of Watford appear to 

 have nearly died out, though from 1880 to 

 1883 there were several litters found in the 

 district. In 1886 a badger weighing 25 lb. 

 was caught in Lord Cowper's park at Pans- 

 hanger about the middle of February, while 

 in the society's Transactions for 1892 Mr. 

 T. Vaughan Roberts mentioned Odsey as an 

 additional locality for this species. In the 

 following year, in a paper on Hertfordshire 

 Mammals in the same journal, he gave a very 

 interesting account of a large earth at Ashlyns 

 which had existed there for many years. 



15. Otter. Lutra lutra, Linn. 

 Bell Lutra vulgaris. 



This animal cannot be considered common 

 in Hertfordshire, although it has occurred on 

 a good many occasions. It is to Dr. Brett 

 again that we are indebted for particulars of it 

 in the county. About 1856 an otter was 

 killed in some osier beds past Tolpits in the 

 neighbourhood of Watford, while a young one 

 was killed in the Colne above that town. In 

 1810 one was seen at Piggott's End on the 

 river Gade. The Hon. A. Holland-Hibbert 

 has a stuffed otter in his collection at Munden, 

 which was shot there in February, 1875. 

 This animal, which was a male, weighed 

 over 32 lb. and measured 4 feet i\ inches in 

 length. In 1880 traces of otters were again 

 found near Munden, while in 1883 two 

 animals of this species were seen near Cassio- 

 bury. Seymour showed Mr. Vaughan 

 Roberts two others, one of which was 

 trapped in Ware Park about 1888, while the 

 other was shot about a mile and a half from 

 Hertford in 1892. 



219 



