198 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
This may be all very true of the district in which the above 
observations were made, but it does not follow that it is of 
universal application. Indeed we feel satisfied—from what has 
been stated by other good observers—that it is net. Circum- 
stances alter cases. 
Turning to the notes on Mammalia which are scattered 
throughout the book, we observe that the Dormouse occurs in 
Herefordshire in Penyard Wood (p. 102), where also, as in the 
Forest of Dean, the Squirrel is common :— 
“One of the woodwards of the Forest of Dean informs me that in 
the larch plantations over which he had wardship for some years past, 
he had now and then noticed large branches and even tops of the trees 
themselves broken off by tle wind. Some of them were of large size, 
thick as a man’s thigh; and for long he could not tell why Eolus was 
dealing such wholesale destruction, for there were acres upon acres of 
the larch woods strewed with the dead and broken branches. He learnt 
at length, discovering the cause to be Squirrels. Their mode of pro- 
cedure was by peeling off the bark, not only in isolated patches, but in 
broad rings all round the branch or bole of the tree,—their object, of 
course, being to eat it,—and thus naturally killmg so much of the 
branch as was above, which, after a time decaying, gave way before 
the wind.” 
The author states that ‘it is rare to meet with white Stoats 
so far south as Gloucestershire, though instances have occurred, 
some even in Cornwall” (p. 120). He mentions two which were 
taken in the parish of Flaxley, Gloucester, near the Forest of 
Dean boundary, one of which was ‘‘ nearly as white as a true 
Arctic Ermine.” 
Some experiments are detailed (pp. 128, 129) to show that 
the Mole will not eat “‘wire-worms” by choice, as has been 
alleged, but will greedily devour earthworms, which are believed 
to be its principal food. 
A chapter on Wild Cats, in which the author hints at the 
possibility of one “ having found its way into Herefordshire from 
the Welsh mountains, following the course of the stream down- 
ward, perhaps here and there making temporary sojourn,” closes 
with the remark (p. 146) that, “among the wooded ‘dingles’ 
where the Wye has some of its sources—very fastnesses—this 
now rare animal is believed still to have existence.” 
