A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



while making their way across a field, but 

 were replaced in Calwich pond which com- 

 municates with the Dove. On the upper 

 Dove otters are relentlessly shot and trapped. 

 No less than four were killed between Christ- 

 mas 1899 and March 1900 on the Alstone- 

 field waters, and a dog otter weighing 22 Ib. 

 was also killed at Okeover in the following 

 April. Mr. Storer informs me that otters 

 have been met with in the Trent at Burton 

 quite recently, even within the borough boun- 

 daries. One was seen near the weir in 

 November 1899, and though chased managed 



to escape. In the Derwent and its tribu- 

 taries otters are comparatively scarce. Now 

 and then one is killed, but instances are 

 few and far between. 



The favourite prey of the otter in our 

 rivers appears to be the eel, though other 

 fish are taken as well. A 3 Ib. eel which 

 had been killed in this way was found by 

 Mr. G. M. Bond near the Dove in 1900. 



In the Rolleston Hall Museum is a white 

 otter which formed part of the old Burton 

 Museum collection and is believed to have 

 been captured in the Trent. 



RODENTIA 



20. Squirrel. Sciurus leucourus (Kern). 



Bell Sciurus vu/garis. 



Generally distributed over all the well- 

 timbered parts of the county, and where 

 protected exceedingly common. I have 

 known a pair of squirrels to take possession 

 of a newly finished magpies' nest and eject 

 the original occupants. 



21. Dormouse. Muscardinus avellanartus 



(Linn.). 



Bell Myoxus avellanaritu. 



Although this species appears to have been 

 tolerably numerous in former times, at the 

 present day it is exceedingly local and scarce 

 except in one or two places. In the shooting 

 diary of the Rev. F. Gisborne the following 

 entry occurs under the date of October 29, 

 1774 : ' Caught a dormouse alive in Stubbing 

 Wood [near Chesterfield].' Both Pilkington 

 and Glover include the dormouse in their 

 lists ; the latter adds, ' found in oat ricks.' 

 J. J. Briggs, writing in 1862, says : ' The dor- 

 mouse is becoming annually more rare . . . 

 was formerly abundant, and more especially 

 in the larger woods of southern Derbyshire. 

 It is now however, as far as I am aware, 

 seldom met with' (Reliquary, 1862, p. 159). 

 Mr. E. Brown omits this species altogether 

 from his account of the fauna of Burton, but 

 Sir O. Mosley speaks of it as resident in 

 woods but considered rare (Nat. Hist, of Tut- 

 bury, p. 27). 



In 1876 I found dormice in Lea Wood 

 near Derwent in the High Peak. Unfor- 

 tunately this wood is being partly destroyed 

 in connection with the Derwent valley reser- 

 voir works. Mr. W. Boulsover informs me 

 that they are found in the Lea valley near 

 Cromford, and in the Alderwasley and High 

 Tor woods they are tolerably common. 

 Probably further research would result in 



the discovery of other colonies, as Mr. J. 

 Whitaker has reported this species from 

 Worksop, just over the Nottingham boundary 

 (Zool. 1885, p. 207), and it is known to exist 

 in various parts of Staffordshire, Cheshire, 

 Yorkshire and Leicestershire. 



22. Brown or Common Rat. Mus decumanus, 



Pallas. 



Introduced into England about the be- 

 ginning of the eighteenth century, but well 

 established in the county in Pilkington's 

 time (1789). At the present time common 

 almost everywhere and terribly destructive. 



23. Black Rat. Mus rattus, Linn. 



This species is also said to have been intro- 

 duced into our country, but has been com- 

 pletely exterminated in Derbyshire for many 

 years. Even in 1789 Pilkington wrote : ' Of 

 rats there are very few of the black species ' 

 (A View of the present state of Derbyshire, 

 p. 318). Most of the later evidence is either 

 of a negative character or else is based upon 

 misconception. For instance, Mr. J. J. 

 Briggs writes thus : ' These mounds [i.e. 

 the British barrows in north Derbyshire] too 

 contain the bones of the black rat in great 

 abundance, showing that although it is now 

 nearly extinct in this country, it was formerly 

 met with in great abundance ' (Reliquary, 

 i. 1 80). The bones in question are of 

 course those of the water vole (Microtus 

 amphibius). 



24. House Mouse. Mus musculus, Linn. 

 Common in almost all inhabited places. 



25. Long-tailed Field Mouse. Mus sylvaticus, 



Linn. 



Locally, Wood Mouse. 



Commonly distributed over the more fertile 

 parts of the county. 



156 



