MAMMALS 



the mole. In the village and country house 

 gardens the moles have ancient main galleries 

 in the hedges and banks, even running under 

 drives and roads. These galleries must have 

 been used by the moles for generations. In 

 the Thames valley they are less common, 

 being frequently drowned in floods, which 

 also drown the earthworms. 



10. Common Shrew. Sorex araneus, Linn. 



Judging by the evidence of their dead 

 bodies, which here as elsewhere are seen lying 

 about on the roads, the shrews are not very 

 plentiful in Berkshire. It is only occasionally 

 that a dead shrew is seen. Very possibly the 



abundance of moles is connected with the 

 absence of shrews, a fact noted in Bell's 

 British Quadrupeds. 



II. Water Shrew. Neomys fodiens, Pallas. 



The water shrew is strictly an inhabitant of 

 running ditches, which are by no means com- 

 mon in the county, being totally absent both 

 on the downs and in the vale, while only a few 

 are found in the Thames meadows. There 

 the water shrew may be seen, and also in the 

 upper channels of the little streams rising in 

 the chalk. It is also common in the Rennet 

 valley, where the water cuts and channels in 

 the meadows are much to its taste. 



CARNIVORA 



12. Fox. Vul-pes vulpes, Linn. 



Bell Vulpes vulgaris. 



The ' old Berkshire ' country, which in- 

 cludes the Vale of White Horse, and the north 

 side of the Downs up to the ridgeway, is full 

 of foxes. There are earths in the large fences 

 between the vale meadows, and another range 

 of earths in the greensand where the villages 

 are and the springs break out, as in Kingston 

 Lisle Park and the ' Wilderness ' at Sparsholt 

 House. Another set of earths is at Childrey 

 Warren, in Bearwood, near the Great White 

 Horse, and at Moss Hill, on the way to Lam- 

 bourn. The foxes on the downs sit out a 

 good deal on the rough grass in spring. They 

 may often be seen doing this in the open park 

 above Kingston Lisle House. In the vale 

 they regularly hunt along the Great Western 

 Railway in the early morning for birds killed 

 by the telegraph wires. The ' Craven Coun- 

 try ' includes all the downs up to the ridge- 

 way, with the Kennet and Lambourn valleys. 

 The ' Down ' foxes are drawn for at a trot, as 

 no one can say where they are lying. In the 

 woods of Woolley and Catmore foxes also 

 abound. A terrible epidemic of mange, 

 which began by the introduction of some 

 foxes which developed mange, and were 

 turned down in Mr. Garth's Country about 

 1885, attacked the Berkshire foxes for many 

 years. Some might be seen with tails 

 like a stick, quite naked of fur, instead of a 

 brush. One poor animal was seen entirely 

 devoid of all fur, and numbers died from 

 the affliction. Nearer London foxes are 

 becoming increasingly rare. 



[Pine Marten. Mustela martes, Linn. 



Bell Martes abietum. 

 This animal is extinct in the county.] 



13. Polecat. Putorius putorius, Linn. 



BeKMusttla putorius. 



With the great woods of Oxfordshire as a 

 reserve there is always a chance of polecats 

 being found in Berkshire. One was seen in 

 Wittenham wood on the Thames in 1896, and 

 specimens are said to have been killed within 

 recent years in the ' wild ' woods at Ilsley, and 

 in Fence wood, on the Didcot and Newbury 

 line. It is, however, very difficult for a game- 

 keeper, who is usually the person who traps 

 the animal, to distinguish between a genuine 

 polecat, and an escaped polecat ferret, some 

 of which are lost every year, and tend to be- 

 come wild. 



14. Stoat. Putorius ermineus, Linn. 



Bell Mustela erminea. 



The amount of trapping diminishes the 

 numbers of the stoats. They are common 

 alike in the vale and on the downs, and in the 

 wooded districts near Windsor, Virginia Water 

 and Sunningdale. The banks of the Thames 

 are a favourite hunting ground, where they 

 capture water rats, young waterhens, and 

 other small mammals and birds. In harvest- 

 time they leave the corn-fields and enter the 

 woods, or raid the rearing fields where young 

 pheasants are growing up. In the vale they 

 move into the hedgerows as soon as the hay- 

 fields are cut, and there live almost entirely 

 on rabbits till the grass grows the next May 

 and June. Very large specimens are some- 

 times killed. It is very rare to see a white 

 stoat in Berkshire, even in hard winters. 



15. Weasel. Putorius nivalis, Linn. 



Bell Mustela vulgaris. 



Weasels, fortunately for game preservers, 

 are not very common in Berkshire. Their 



169 



22 



