OCCASIONAL NOTES. 123 
at present engaged in tracing the past and present history of the Squirrel 
in Scotland ; its former distribution there before it became extinct or nearly 
so; and its increase and spread, and the lines of its advance from the 
different centres of restoration. Localities where it has been introduced, 
known to him at present, are four in number—Dalkeith, Minto, Dunkeld, 
and) Beaufort Castle, Inverness. The third he considers requires authen- 
tication, and the date of the first seems not laid down with sufficient 
exactitude. On any of the above points he would be glad of information, 
as well as of statistics of the amount of damage done in one season. 
Returns of the numbers of Squirrels killed on any one (or more) large 
estate in each county of Scotland would be desirable, and information 
regarding the destruction done to eggs of game or other birds, from personal 
and actual observation, with exact dates of first appearance at any localities 
in any part of Scotland, would also be interesting. The Gaelic name of the 
Squirrel is “ fheoraig.” —Ep. 
Norse on SHREWS OBSERVED In NorForx.—In J uly, 1878, a specimen 
of the Lesser Shrew was captured in a tool-house at Northrepps, which is 
only the second Norfolk specimen of this Shrew, which, so far as I know, 
has been satisfactorily identified, the first having been killed at dusk, 
June 14th, 1874, on Sparham Heath, by Mr. Frank Norgate, and recorded 
by him at p. 465 of the second volume of the ‘ Transactions of the Norfolk 
and Norwich Naturalists’ Society.’ On December 20th, 1878, a specimen 
of the Common Shrew, not quite full-grown, was caught in a mouse-trap, 
baited with cheese and placed under the boards of the floor in a room on 
the second storey of Northrepps Hall—the severe cold which then prevailed 
having probably caused the Shrew to seek the shelter of so unusual a 
situation. This specimen was also remarkable for the almost black colour 
of its fur, both on the back and still more on the under parts, being the 
nearest approach that I have seen to a melanism of this species. 
Mr. F. Norgate kindly allows me to add to the above note two recent 
observations ‘of his own. On April 80th, 1878, he saw at Coltes- 
hall, in Norfolk, nine Common Shrews, all full-sized with the exception of 
‘one rather small one, which had been killed by a boy, who stated that he 
had found them all in one hole at the bottom of an old gate-post, together 
with the skins of two others, which may perhaps have been killed and 
partially devoured by their companions. On the 18th November, 1878, 
Mr. Norgate saw at Sparham a black and white Shrew diving. This was 
probably a specimen of the typical Sorea fodiens, which is a much rarer 
animal in Norfolk, and I expect also more exclusively aquatic, than the 
closely allied Oared Shrew, though both races are referred to the same 
species in the last edition of Bell’s ‘ British Quadrupeds.—J. H. Gurney 
(Northrepps, Norfolk). 
