MAMMALS 



more distant, and seen a few others. This 

 seems noteworthy, because the valley is per- 

 fectly dry as a rule, but a landspring broke 

 out in consequence of the wet summer of 

 1903, and these water shrews seem to have 

 anticipated it, and some were obtained before 

 the water appeared. No doubt they would 

 find moisture before the water was sufficient 

 to be perceptible to human beings. One of 

 these caught alive on 8 August gave birth to 

 a litter of four or five young during that 

 night ; they were blind and naked, and 

 hardly larger than common house flies, not 

 nearly so large as bluebottles. She had had 

 no time to prepare a nest, and after taking 

 every care of them for two whole days, she 

 ate them during the third night. 



Up to the time of writing she has thriven 

 on a ' diet of worms,' occasionally varied by a 

 beetle, grub, moth, etc., and captured a fly 

 which incautiously came of its own accord 

 within reach. A cockchafer was evidently 

 considered a great (in both senses) prize, and 

 she attacked it standing on three legs, one or 

 other forepaw in turn being held raised, ready 

 for action perhaps in case the victim resented 

 being eaten piecemeal. It is amusing to 

 watch her with a large worm when the latter 

 is lively ; the encounter then becomes heroic. 

 She does not care for snails so long as the 

 worms continue in such plenty. Of these I 

 reckon that she eats quite once and a half her 



own bulk daily, and fully twice her own 

 weight. The amount which passes from her, 

 consisting chiefly of the earth contained in 

 the worms, is on a correspondingly surprising 

 scale. When excited she utters a rather 

 shrill chatter, which is always, so far as I 

 have noticed, sustained for half a minute or 

 so, and never limited to a single note. 

 As may be expected from the elongated, 

 delicate snout, the shrews hunt their prey by 

 scent. This specimen raises its long flexible 

 nose nearly straight up, and bends it on itself 

 rapidly from side to side, and very quickly dis- 

 covers the whereabouts of a worm. When 

 yawning the flexible nose is turned consider- 

 ably up nearly to a right angle with the 

 gape, and the upper incisor teeth then show 

 as of surprising length. Mr. C. Harper of 

 Grendon Underwood informs me that he 

 once saw a pair of water shrews in a brook 

 near Brill, and watched them ' sporting 

 about ' for some time ; and in May 1 903 he 

 saw one in a brook close to Aylesbury. Dr. 

 J. C. Baker, M.B., M.B.O.U., and Mr. 

 F. H. Parrott of Aylesbury inform me that 

 the water shrew is found in colonies on the 

 banks of the canal between that town and 

 Aston Clinton, nearer the latter ; attention 

 was directed to them from finding piles of 

 empty snail shells on the banks. The Sorex 

 remifer, or oared shrew, is now admitted to be 

 merely a variety of this species. 



CARNIVORA 



[Wild Cat. Felts catus, Linn. 



The wild cat has so long been exter- 

 minated in the county that no record or 

 tradition of it remains. It must have been 

 already very scarce if not altogether gone, 

 when first the churchwardens of the different 

 parishes took to paying rewards for the killing 

 of various carnivorous animals, as I have in 

 no case met with an entry referring to it. 

 On two occasions at Great Marlow I trapped 

 cats which I am convinced were feral cats 

 that had never been under a roof in their 

 lives, but born in a wild state, descendants of 

 run-away ancestors. They were coloured 

 and marked almost exactly like wild cats, so 

 much so that my animal keeper, who is in 

 daily touch with specimens of the true Fein 

 catus, in both cases thought they were real 

 wild cats ; but the smooth coat, thin taper- 

 ing tail, and inferior bone, left me in no 

 doubt even momentarily as to their nature. 

 I once lost a wild cat at Great Marlow, 

 which for all I ever heard to the contrary 

 may still be roaming the county ! In captivity 



I have usually found the gestation to be sixty- 

 eight days, in one case sixty-six, and in one 

 other sixty-five days.] 



14. Fox. Vulpes vu/pes, Linn. 



Bell Vulpes vulgaris. 



A few have been turned down in the 

 county, but probably a much larger number 

 have been poisoned. One of the latter, a 

 vixen suckling a strong litter, was found by 

 me on my farm in Hambleden (but not 

 poisoned there !) on 15 March 1901. Mice, 

 probably any species they meet with, and 

 moles certainly enter largely into the dietary 

 of this species, and fruits (in their season) of 

 almost any kind obtainable. I have kept 

 several specimens in captivity, but finally 

 gave up doing so, on account of the strong 

 and lasting smell which is beyond comparison 

 worse than that of badgers and polecats, 

 which are usually credited as special offenders 

 in this respect. Foxes, however tame, have 

 an underhand way of sneaking up to one 

 from behind, in marked contrast to the 



157 



