624 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



been there some weeks a large stray domestic cat tm^ned up at the house and 

 drove our pet away. If I had been there, I would have shot the brute ! How- 

 ever, after two weeks she came back one night, and woke my mfe up by shov- 

 ing her cold little nose agaiast her face, and oui" children also woke and hurried 

 off joyfully to get her milk and meat. But to everyone's sorrow she was driven 

 away agaia after a few days by the cat, and never returned, though she was 

 seen several times in the neighbom-hood by different people. The last news 

 of her was, that some Badaga boys in the village just below the house had 

 found two lately born Leopard-cat kittens in the scrub between the village 

 and the garden, and had tried to rear them, but that they had died. A great 

 disappointment to my wife, as if they had only told her at once, for she had 

 offered a reward to anyone who either brought the Leopard-cat or showed her its 

 where abouts, she would have gone to the place and watched, and probably 

 recovered " Kittycat " and her kittens. 



The 2 photographs, taken by my wife, are successful likenesses of her pet. 



We still hope that she may yet come back, for she was so tame, but fear she 

 will have become quite wild after having had kittens. 



Palagapandy Estate, A. M. KINLOOfl, f.z.s. 



KOLLBNGODE Pl. O., MaLABAB, 



IQtJi October 1920. 



No. II.— THE OCCURRENCE OF THE ERMINE IN THE PUNJAB. 



On the 19th September I came across, and captured, a small male of 

 what I took to be the Ermine or Stoat (F. er^ninea). The colouring cliffeied 

 somewhat to that given, for this species, in the " Eauna of British India " 

 (Mammalia) p. 166. Blanford says : — " Colour. In summer dull chestnut 

 (reddish brown) above, white or yellowish white below, the terminal portion 

 of the tail black." 



The colourino- of the specimen in question was a dull sepia brown on the 

 body, very slightly darker on the head which also had the faintest tinge of 

 reddish and the tail was somewhat lighter than the back, except the tip 

 which was blackish. The whole of the underparts were pure white, 

 including the tail except the extreme tip. There was not the faintest tinge 

 of reddish or chestnut on the body at all. 



According to Blanford the only authentic records of this species are of 

 one which was obtained by Griffith in Afghanistan, and Hodgson who 

 records it in Nepal, and one shot by Dr. Henderson in Dras, north of the 

 Zoji-La, Kashmir. 



My specimen was procured at an elevation of about 13,000 ft. on the 

 Larka Pass, N. E. of Dharmsala, and is the first of its kind I have seen, in 

 over a quarter of a century of wanderings in the Himalayas. 



It appeared absolutely fearless of man and regarded us from a cleft in a 

 large boulder as we passed, and allowed me to approach to within 4 or 5 ft. 

 before disappearing into its stronghold. 



I noticed that each time I retreated it came out again, so a slip-knot 

 was made at the end of a long bit of twine and placed over the spot where 

 it always appeared and I sat down some 10 ft. away with the other end 

 of the twine. As soon as the head showed again I gave the twine a pull 

 and had it safely by the neck. To ensure its not making off elsewhere, we 

 lit a small fire on the further side of the rock and the wind being favour- 

 able all the smoke went into the cleft where the little beast had lodged, 

 and further expedited his movement in the direction of the noose. 



I had it for a couple of days and it had got the length of taking meat 

 out of my hand, without the usual dart forward to bite, accompanied by a 



