36i 



FIELD NOTES. 



MAMMALS. 



Badgers near Harrogate. — Badgers are not uncommon 

 in the district surrounding Harrogate, but it is not until recently 

 that they have approached the confines of the town. One was 

 caught early this year at Plumpton in a rabbit trap, he was very 

 thin, and had apparently found difficulty in obtaining sufficient 

 food. Early in July one was captured alive between Beckwith- 

 shaw and Rigton, and another one near Plumpton. These 

 occurrences seem to point to the fact that these interesting 

 animals are penetrating into the Crumple Valley, where they 

 have hitherto been unknown, coming probably out of the Tad- 

 caster district. Some years ago ' earths ' in the neighbourhood 

 of AUerton and Ribston were re-occupied after having been 

 rmtenanted for many years. Lord Mowbraj^ informed me that 

 they suddenly appeared in Allerton Park, occupying old ' earths' 

 where they had been unknown for a great nmnber of year". — 

 R. Fortune. 



Spotted Otters. — In connection with the note at the foot 

 of page 308, recording the capture of a speckled otter at Lough 

 Sheelin, Ireland, the following curious entry copied from the 

 Hawkstone Catalogue, wTitten by Harry Shaw in 1848, may 

 be of interest : — " In Scotland the vulgar have an opinion that 

 there is a king among the Otters, spotted with white ; that its 

 skin is endowed with great virtue as an antidote against in- 

 fection, a preservative of the warrior from wounds, and ensures 

 the mariner from all disasters upon the seas. The Viscount 

 Hill possesses one of these curious skins : the Otter from 

 which it was taken was killed in North Wales." The Hawk- 

 stone collection was removed to Peplow Hall (Mr. Beville 

 Stanier's) in 1904, since which date I have examined and 

 catalogued the entire series. The skin is not there now, and 

 seems to have perished years ago. Several specimens had to be 

 destroyed, being in bad condition, but the skin was not amongst 

 these. — H. E. Forrest. 



Black and Brown Rats. — At the beginning of the present 

 summer, Mr. H. A. Auden kindly sent me several specimens of 

 the old English Black Rat {Mus rattus) which had been caught 

 at Widnes, in Lancashire. I kept two of them alive in a home- 

 made cage, and have them yet. On looking into their nest in 

 the middle of August, we found six young ones, about three 



1909 Oct. 1. 



