MAMMALS 



[Harvest Mouse. Mus minutus, Pallas. 



Although I am tolerably certain that this 

 mouse does exist in small numbers and very 

 locally in south Derbyshire, it must be con- 

 fessed that the evidence is somewhat meagre. 

 Glover mentions it when treating of the 

 short-tailed field mouse, and gives some 

 account of its habits. J. J. Briggs (Reli- 

 quary, 1862, p. 160) remarks : 'Is occasionally 

 found in this county.' Mr. E. Brown was 

 satisfied that a nest found near Burton, and 

 described to him, belonged to this species. 

 Some nests which were brought to me about 

 1 880 certainly appeared to be those of harvest 

 mice, and I am assured that several nests were 

 found in cornfields at Snelston in 1900 and 

 that the mice themselves were identified.] 



26. Water Vole. Microtus amphibius. Linn. 



Bell Arvicola amphibius. 

 Locally, Water Rat. 



Remains of this species have been found, 

 often in large numbers, in the barrows of 

 Derbyshire. At the present time it is found 

 commonly in all our slow flowing streams, 

 but becomes scarcer where the fall is rapid 

 and the bottom stony. Its remains are some- 

 times, but rarely, found in owl pellets. 



27. Field Vole. Microtus agrestis, Linn. 

 Found commonly in meadows, especially 



those which lie low. Although in some 

 years very numerous we have never yet 

 experienced a vole plague in Derbyshire. 

 Many hundreds are destroyed annually by 

 the owls which escape the pole trap and the 

 gun. 



28. Bank Vole. Evotomys glareolus, Schreber. 



Bell Arvicola glareolus. 

 Locally, Fox Mouse. 



This species was overlooked by earlier 

 writers on Derbyshire zoology, but in 1 863 

 the Rev. H. H. Crewe took six specimens in 

 a plantation near Calke Abbey (Nat. Hist, of 



Tutbury, Addenda, p. 407). Since that time 

 it has been found in several parts of the 

 county, and its remains have been identified 

 in considerable numbers in owl pellets from 

 the Dove valley (L. E. Adams). I find it 

 rather local in south-west Derbyshire, but not 

 uncommon, haunting the neighbourhood of 

 woods and gardens. 



29. Hare. Lepus europieus, Pallas. 



Bell Lepus timidus. 



Still fairly common in some parts, but 

 greatly diminished in numbers except where 

 preserved for sporting purposes. Mr. E. 

 Brown notes a light buff variety as occasion- 

 ally met with. 



30. Varying or Blue Hare. Lepus timidus, 



Linn. 



Bell Lepus variabiBi. 

 Locally, Moor Hare. 



A recent introduction to the Yorkshire 

 moors, where it is now established and has ex- 

 tended its range to the moors of north Derby- 

 shire. Mr. T. A. Coward informs me that 

 some time in the sixties Colonel J. Crompton 

 Lees turned out some blue hares on his moors 

 at Greenfield, Yorkshire, but they gradually 

 decreased in number and finally became 

 extinct. About 1 880-2 a further consign- 

 ment of fifty Perthshire hares was received, 

 and these have steadily increased in numbers 

 since that time and have now spread over a 

 large tract of moorland in Yorkshire, Cheshire 

 and Derbyshire. At the present time they 

 are very numerous on the Derwent moors 

 (cf. Zool. 1895, p. 176 ; 1901, pp. 73,223). 



31. Rabbit. Lepus cuniculus, Linn. 

 Locally, Coney. 



Common in most parts of the county, 

 especially where the soil is light and sandy. 

 Black individuals occur not infrequently, and 

 formerly Sudbury Park was inhabited entirely 

 by this variety. 



UNGULATA 



32. Red Deer. Cervus elapbus, Linn. 



At the present time this species only exists 

 in a semi-domesticated condition in the parks 

 at Chatsworth, Hardwick and Calke Abbey. 

 As Chatsworth was enclosed early in the 

 fifteenth century and the wild red deer of 

 the Peak Forest are known to have survived 

 till about the year 1 600 it is possible that this 

 herd may be partly descended from the old 

 Derbyshire stock. Pilkington however in 



1789 wrote thus : 'Yet I believe the fallow 

 deer are the only species now to be met 

 with in Derbyshire ' (perhaps meaning in a 

 wild state). Glover says : ' A few are kept in 

 parks. . . . This species of animal, now 

 almost if not quite extinct in this country, 

 at one period inhabited the Peak Forest,' etc. 

 R. Garner, on the authority of Sir O. 

 Mosley, says that after the enclosure of Need- 

 wood Forest at the beginning of the last 



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