( 147 ) 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Variety of the Badger. — Mr. Newstead's Badger, recently de- 

 scribed {ante, p. Ill), is not an uncommon erythristic variety of this 

 animal, tending to albinism. I sent a description of a female of this 

 variety, dug out of its "earth" near Longton, Staffordshire, to 'The 

 Field ' of August 19th, 1905. This animal is now in the London 

 Zoological Gardens, with a male of the same variety from Oakham, 

 Eutland. There is also a specimen in the Cromwell Eoad Museum ; 

 another is described in ' The Zoologist ' for 1880, p. 252 ; another 

 was in the Zoological Gardens in 1890 ; and another was reported 

 from Oxfordshire by Mr. Aplin in ' The Zoologist ' for September, 

 1907, p. 331. This animal seldom breeds in captivity, but it is 

 possible that if the two animals in the London " Zoo " were provided 

 with a more naturally formed "earth," instead of the present cage in 

 which they were placed when I last saw them, success might result. 

 — John R. B. Masefield (Eosehill, Cheadle, Staffordshire). 



A VE S. 



Range of the Twite. — Mr. 0. V. Aplin, in his notes on the Linnet 

 [ante, p. 112), refers to the range of the Twite, and it may be of interest 

 to state that the northern parts of the county of Staffordshire appear 

 to be about the southern limit of its breeding range. As to the Twite 

 in winter in this county, I cannot do better than quote from a letter 

 recently written to me by Mr. B. Bryan, of Longton, who is a most 

 accurate observer of wild bird-life. He says : — " I have met with the 

 Twite singly and in small flocks. It usually occurs in company 

 with the Linnet and Lesser Eedpoll. Sometimes aU three species 

 associate. The Twite is often caught on the limed twigs and bents 

 of grass used by birdcatchers, which are placed in the vicinity of 

 a 'call-bird.' The Twite is not in much demand as a cage-bird 

 locally, and consequently the birdcatchers, when they find Twites 

 entangled in their bird-lime, often kill the birds rather than take the 

 trouble to clean the bird-lime off the flight-feathers and release the 

 birds. I once kept a Twite in captivity for about a fortnight, but the 



