Protection of Wild Life im Yorkshire. 95 
of the Long-tailed Field Mouse, is easily distinguished by its 
size and the yellow on its neck. Observers state that they 
do not mate with the ordinary species. 
In Clarke and Roebuck’s Handbook, the Harvest Mouse 
is stated to be scarce and very irregularly and thinly distributed. 
I question whether it ever inhabited the county. In my 
younger days I frequently found the nests of some species of 
mouse intertwined amongst the corn stalks, without doubt 
the Long-tailed Mouse, and possibly this habit has caused the 
nests to be recorded at times as those of the Harvest Mouse. 
The Dormouse is an interesting creature which appears 
never to increase in the county. Judging from my experience 
in keeping them in captivity, there must be a great mortality 
amongst them during the hibernation season. They invariably 
die, though I have fed them up well beforehand and have kept 
them during their long sleep in as natural conditions as possible. 
One of the most interesting and ancient inhabitants of 
the county is the Badger, and one which I am glad to believe, 
is gradually gaining ground and extending its range. Noc- 
turnal in his habits, it is really a harmless creature. In its 
wanderings it follows the same line of ground with the utmost 
regularity, rarely straying from it. Extremely cleanly in its 
habits, it frequently acts as engineer in forming large earths, 
occupied conjointly by families of its own and foxes. A pack 
of hounds in the county recorded that they had hunted and 
killed over 100 badgers in a season. Hardly what one would 
call sport I think, hunting a creature like the Badger with a 
pack of hounds. 
This incident is on a par with the conduct of another set 
of sportsmen who chevied an Otter with a pack of hounds, 
up and down and round a small lake in Wharfedale, for seven 
hours before they encompassed his destruction. Otters are far 
more abundant in the county than most people imagine. I am 
nevertheless eager to know how a writer in a recent number of 
the Shooting Times is able to fix the Otter population of York- 
shire at 1,000. Otters are not nearly so destructive to game 
fish as they are made out to be, they destroy far larger quan- 
tities of eels, themselves great enemies to fish preservation, 
and coarse fish generally, besides large numbers of Water 
Voles, Field Mice, etc. They are also extremely fond of the 
large Swan Mussel. In fact their diet is very extensive and 
varied. I am quite certain that the extended period over 
which they are allowed to be hunted by hounds might with 
advantage be considerably curtailed. Motor cars, when 
travelling by night, are responsible for the death of many 
mammals and birds. At our last Vertebrate Section meeting, 
Mr. Sidney Smith reported that a motor car had run over and 
killed an Otter on the high road near York. 
a (To be continued). 

