NOTES AND QUERIES. 485 
Do Stoats and Weasels kill Moles ?—In reference to your editorial 
note on this subject (p. 457), Weasels are often caught in mole-traps in this 
neighbourhood, and I believe the general impression is that they are in 
pursuit of Moles at the time. I think Weasels probably only hunt for 
Field Mice in the old deserted runs, which the Mice would be more likely 
to use than those still frequented by the Moles, in which alone traps are set 
by Mole-catchers, and in which they would run the risk of falling victims 
to the fiery tempered and sometimes bloodthirsty “* Want.”—Oxtver V. 
Aptin (Great Bourton, near Banbury). 
Pied Variety of the Short-tailed Field Vole.—A black and white 
variety of the Short-tailed Field Vole, Arvicola agrestis, was caught in 
a field on the Sewage Farm, Harrogate, on July~2Ist, by the local 
taxidermist, and is now in my possession. —Francts R. FirzGERALD 
(Clifford House, Harrogate). [A black variety is recorded, p. 332.—Ep.]. 
BIRDS. 
New Species of Bullfinch from the Kurile Islands.—The ornitho- 
logical collection in the British Museum has contained for many years a 
specimen of a Bullfinch, from the Kurile Islands, which is apparently 
undescribed. Mr. Seeboln also possesses a pair of the same bird, collected 
by Wossnessensky in the same place. The following is a brief description 
of the species :—PyYRRHULA KURILENSIS, sp. n. Adult male; similar to the 
male of P. orientalis of Japan, but much lighter in colour, being pale ashy 
brown above instead of blue-grey, and pale drab brown below instead of blue- 
grey, but very faintly tinged with rosy on the breast. Total length 5:3 in., 
culmen 0:45 in. wing 3°5 in., tail 2.6 in., tarsus 0°7. (Type in Brit. Mus.). 
Adult female: Not to be distinguished from the female of P. orientalis. 
Total length 6 in., culmen 0-4 in., wing 3°25 in., tail 2°45 in., tarsus 0.7. 
(Mus. H. Seebohm). Hab. Kurile Islands. —R. Bowpter Sarre 
(Department of Zoology, British Museum). 
A Nest of the Long-tailed Titmouse.—A nest about as big, or nearly 
so, as an Ostrich’s egg, built chiefly of green moss, with perhaps a little 
hair woven in the interior, dappled over with lichen (or the slaty-grey 
growth found on old apple trees) on the outside, as if ornamentally ; 
entrance about the middle of its height; the nest egg-shaped,—that is, 
oval,—-with completed top and sides: the whole suspended by many strands 
of spiders’ web to a small branch of a yew tree, the spiders’-web threads 
being so closely and thickly used that they formed almost a small sheet 
of supports (like a balloon and its net if all were inverted and the net 
were made of very many strings). Hach thread was apparently brought 
separately by the birds and thrown over the branch, and no tag ends or 
irregular ends appeared, the top of the nest being thus from one to two 
inches below the branch or twig. The nest was well sheltered in ihe tree. 
