MAMMALS 



CARNIVORA 



13. Fox. Cants vulpes, Linn. 



Bell Vulpes vulgaris. 

 Common and generally distributed. 



14. Pine Marten. Mustela martes, Linn. 



Bell Marlei abietum. 



Extinct within the memory of men still 

 living, and formerly fairly distributed in suit- 

 able localities, especially in the northern half 

 of the county. Garner says that it has 

 occurred in v/oods in Dilhorne, Consall, in 

 Needwood Forest and in the limestone dis- 

 trict. It seems probable that the headquarters 

 of this species in Staffordshire were the wood- 

 lands of the north and east, and that it was 

 never so abundant south of the Trent. Dick- 

 enson writing about 1798, although well 

 acquainted with the badger, otter and polecat, 

 which he calls fitchet, does not mention the 

 pine marten, so that it seems possible that 

 even in his day the ' sweet mart ' was very 

 rare even if at all known in the centre of the 

 county with which portion he was evidently 

 most familiar. 



15. 



Polecat or 

 Linn. 



Fitchet. Putorius 



Bell Mustela putorius. 



Nearly if not quite extinct although for- 

 merly occurring in most parts of the county. 

 Dickenson knew it well under the name of 

 * fitchet,' by which it is still commonly referred 

 to in Staffordshire, and records that he has 

 known ' a fitchet when confined and unable 

 to escape, attack a large greyhound.' In 

 1863 Sir Oswald Mosley wrote that it was 

 still found near Tutbury, ' although becoming 

 more scarce every year,' and at the same time 

 Mr. Edwin Brown reported it as ' occasionally 

 haunting detached out-houses ' near Burton- 

 on-Trent. It appears to have maintained a 

 precarious footing in the west of the county 

 until about 1884, when, as I am informed by 

 Mr. James Yates, M.R.C.S., one was killed 

 at Swinnerton. On asking Mr. Yates for 

 further particulars, he very kindly wrote me 

 as follows, under date 29 January, 1901 : 'I 

 am sorry I am not able to give you a very 

 satisfactory account of the polecat which was 

 killed at Swinnerton about 1884. I was told 

 of the fact by a gamekeeper who lived between 

 Trentham and Swinnerton, but I had not the 

 opportunity of seeing the animal myself. 

 When I was a boy the " fitchet " was fairly 

 common at Horsley a farm a few miles from 

 Eccleshall I have frequently seen them 

 caught in a rat-trap which was covered with 



fine moss and half-surrounded by a fence 

 made of sticks. The bait was usually a 

 hen's egg.' 



1 6. Stoat. Mustela erminea. Linn. 

 Common. In the winter specimens in 



the white or ' ermine ' dress are sometimes 

 obtained. 



17. Weasel. Putorius niva/is, Linn. 



Bell Mustela vulgaris. 



Common, and more frequently seen near 

 farms and out-houses than the last named. 



Badger. 



Meles me/es, Linn. 

 Bell Melcs taxus. 



Notwithstanding the persecution to which 

 the badger has been so long subjected, this 

 animal is still far more abundant in Stafford- 

 shire than is usually supposed. Its chief 

 haunts are in the high banks and wild park- 

 lands of the Needwood Forest district, and in 

 the north and west. The nocturnal habits 

 of the badger doubtless tend to its preservation, 

 but occasionally it ventures from its burrow 

 long before sundown, and has several times 

 been seen and captured in broad daylight. 

 Where it has long been undisturbed its bur- 

 rows are extremely extensive and might almost 

 be described as cavernous. Very heavy bad- 

 gers are sometimes captured. One, weighing 

 34^ Ib. was taken alive in 1894 in the Burnt 

 Woods near Ashley, and the event was re- 

 ported at the time in the Field newspaper. 



It is to be hoped that landowners will do 

 all they can to discourage the destruction of 

 this very interesting mammal. 



19. Otter. Lutra lutra, Linn. 



Bell Lutra vulgaris. 



Although much rarer than the badger in 

 Staffordshire, instances of the otter being seen, 

 and too often killed, in the county are recorded 

 nearly every year. Sometimes cubs are killed 

 showing that the otter still breeds within 

 the county boundaries. It occurs chiefly in 

 the Trent, in the Dove and in other smaller 

 tributaries, and also enters Staffordshire from 

 the Severn which crosses the south-western 

 extremity of the county near Arley. Otters 

 have on several occasions come down the 

 Trent to Burton, and on 23 April, 1884, 

 they were seen from Burton Bridge, and, as I 

 learn from Mr. J. E. Nowers, one was shot 

 about this time within the borough boundaries. 

 I heard of another example being seen near 

 the weir in November, 1899, and chased by 

 two ardent, if amateur, sportsmen with a 



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