332 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Variety of the Mole.—An orange-coloured variety of the Mole was 
killed during the first week of May in the immediate vicinity of Oxford.— 
Artruur H. MacruysErson (51, Gloucester Place, Hyde Park, W.). 
Black Variety of the Short-tailed Field Mouse.—On June 25th a 
black variety of the Short-tailed Field Vole, Arvicola agrestis, was killed in 
a clover-field in this parish by some haymakers. It was a female suckling 
young ones, all of which were, according to the men, of the normal colour. 
The fur of this specimen is thick and abundant, and is of a rich shining 
black above, the under parts being just a shade lighter. This species 
seems to be rather subject to variation, the capture of white and cream- 
coloured examples having several times been recorded. Lord Clermont, in 
his ‘ Quadrupeds and Reptiles of Europe,’ also mentions the occurrence of 
both black speckled individuals, but I believe these last to be more rarely 
met with.—G. T. Rops (Blaxhall, Suffolk), 
BIRDS. 
Redshanks and Lapwings breeding in Chatham Dockyard.—These 
birds breed quite commonly in many of the grassy meadows on the banks 
of the Medway, between Chatham and Sheerness; but I dare say it will 
surprise many of your readers to hear that they breed in Her Majesty's 
Dockyard at Chatham. Nevertheless such is the fact. Upon our arrival 
at Chatham, early in May, I was told that there were several pairs of 
Plovers breeding upon a piece of waste ground between the large basins 
and the sea-wall, but as I could scarcely credit it I did not go to see until 
I heard the statement repeated; and then, accompanied by one of my 
messmates, who had already seen the nests, I visited the spot on the 
11th of May. The piece of ground is about thirty acres in extent, covered 
with rough grass, and has one or two small muddy pools in it. It is in the 
form of a triangle, being bounded on one side by the river, on another by 
two large basins, and on the third side partly by small garden plots in the 
occupation of dockyard officials and partly by the extension works, where 
large numbers of convicts are daily employed. At every hundred yards or 
so by the sea-wall there is a sentry-box, where one of the prison warders 
keeps walking to and fro upon a raised platform all the time the convicts 
are at work. ‘To get to these boxes these men have to cross this ground 
several times during the day. Besides this, H.M.S. ‘ Pembroke,’ the 
admiral’s flagship, lies in one of the basins not more than three hundred 
yards off, and the ground is being constantly used by the blue-jackets and 
marines of the ship for foot-ball, cricket, &c. No one would think this a 
likely breeding-place for such shy birds as Redshanks and Lapwings. 
However, we had scarcely entered it when we heard the cry of a Lapwing, 
followed, a moment or two after, by that of a Redshank, and presently 
several pairs of each rose from the ground and flew round us in their usual 
