276 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



MAMMALIA. 

 The Lesser Shrew (Sorex minutus) in Yorskhire. — This smallest 

 of British mammals is no doubt much commoner and more generally 

 distributed than is often supposed, it being easily overlooked unless 

 systematically trapped for, and published records not being very 

 numerous. I have for many years been familiar with it in North- 

 umberland and on the Scottish Border, and have likewise met with 

 it in Merionethshire, Devon, and Cornwall, and having during the 

 last two years taken upwards of a dozen specimens in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Ilkley-in-Wharfedale (where it had hitherto been 

 looked upon as not at all common, though a single example had 

 already been taken near Bolton Abbey, and one or two have since 

 been reported from neighbouring localities), perhaps the fact may be 

 worth putting on record. My first specimen was rescued from a cat, 

 on the edge of Ilkley Cemetery, during a hard frost with the ground 

 covered with snow, in January, 1909, since which date others have 

 been trapped on both banks of the Wharfe, as at Middleton, Bow 

 Gill, and on the slope of the moor between the town and the well- 

 known Cow and Calf rocks. And, as at least one example has been 

 taken in almost every spot in which traps have been set, it is obvious 

 that the species is not uncommon here. Specimens have been 

 presented to Ilkley, Bradford, and Keighley Museums. — George 



BOLAM. 



AVES. 

 Nidification of the Whitethroat (Sylvia cinerea). — The Common 

 Whitethroat is generally a rare bird about Hebden Bridge ; it is out- 

 numbered both by the Blackcap and the Garden- Warbler. This year 

 it has returned in even less numbers than usual, but on June 9th I 

 watched a male in vigorous song, but did not see a female. The 

 following day the bird was singing in the same tree, and J. Fenton 

 Greenwood and myself searched closely for a nest, but were un- 

 successful. On the 11th the bird was still singing lustily, and 

 Mr. Greenwood saw it descend to a blackberry-bush. Examining 

 this later he found a completed but empty nest, undoubtedly be- 

 longing to this species. The nest was kept under observation, but 



