MAMMALS 



Thirty-six species of mammals may be included in the fauna of 

 Staffordshire as still, or very recently, living more or less in a state of 

 nature within the borders of the county. 



Of the Cheiroptera or bats 7 species are recorded, the rarest being 

 Natterer's bat (Myotis nattereri) of which one instance only is known. 

 The whiskered bat (M. mystacinus) has of late years proved to be more 

 abundant in the county than was formerly thought to be the case, especi- 

 ally in the north. In other districts it may possibly be confounded some- 

 times with a black variety of the pipistrelle. 



All five British species of Insectivora are represented in Staffordshire, 

 the hedgehog, mole and common shrew abundantly, whilst the pigmy 

 shrew and water shrew are more local in their distribution. 



The genuine wild cat and the wolf have, of course, long been ex- 

 tinct in the county, although the latter continued abundant even in the 

 reign of Edward II. The fox, the weasel and the stoat still abound, but 

 the pine marten became extinct about fifty years ago, and the last pole- 

 cat seems to have been killed about 1884. The badger, on the other 

 hand, is still far from rare in the wilder parts of Staffordshire, and, 

 thanks to the humane preservation that is afforded it at the hands of a 

 small but, we are glad to note, increasing number of landowners, may 

 probably long remain so. The outlook for the otter is not so bright, 

 but it still occurs in most of our rivers, particularly in the Dove, where 

 as I learn from the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, protection is afforded it ' by 

 a few riparian owners, particularly Capt. H. E. Clowes of Norbury, and 

 Mr. A. C. Duncombe of Culwich.' On the upper waters of the Dove 

 otters are shot down relentlessly, and Mr. Jourdain considers that 'probably 

 most of the otters that are seen on the Dove and Trent are wanderers 

 from the protected length.' 



The rodents are well represented perhaps too much so, the brown 

 rat especially being, sixty years ago, quite a scourge in the valley of 

 the Trent. This happily is no longer the case, but it is still far too 

 abundant and in some districts is almost as amphibious as the water 

 vole. The black rat appears to have been early exterminated, as John 

 Horatio Dickenson in his ' Sketch of the Zoology of Staffordshire ' in 

 Shaw's History says that it had become extinct in his time (1798). The 

 mountain or ' Scotch ' hare has been recently introduced into the moor- 

 land districts of the county, but Staffordshire has long been noted for 

 the large size and weight of its indigenous ' brown ' hares. 



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