﻿30 
  THE 
  ZOOLOGIST. 
  

  

  NOTES 
  AND 
  QUERIES. 
  

  

  .MAMMALIA. 
  

  

  Gestation 
  of 
  Badgers. 
  — 
  The 
  article 
  in 
  ' 
  The 
  Zoologist 
  ' 
  for 
  Decem- 
  

   ber, 
  1903, 
  on 
  this 
  interesting 
  subject 
  made 
  me 
  refer 
  to 
  sundry 
  notes 
  in 
  

   my 
  possession. 
  Some 
  years 
  ago 
  I 
  made 
  inquiries 
  of 
  Mr. 
  J. 
  Paterson, 
  

   Rutherford, 
  near 
  Kelso, 
  who 
  has 
  kept 
  Badgers 
  for 
  many 
  years, 
  and 
  

   who 
  has 
  bred 
  these 
  interesting 
  animals 
  in 
  confinement, 
  and 
  reared 
  

   their 
  young. 
  He 
  had 
  no 
  doubt 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  period 
  of 
  gestation, 
  viz. 
  eight 
  

   months. 
  Mr. 
  Paterson 
  attends 
  to 
  his 
  Badgers 
  himself, 
  and 
  so 
  his 
  

   statement 
  is 
  the 
  result 
  of 
  personal 
  observation, 
  and 
  not 
  information 
  

   received 
  second 
  hand, 
  nor 
  the 
  theories 
  of 
  others. 
  He 
  has 
  seen 
  the 
  act 
  

   of 
  copulation, 
  and 
  the 
  young 
  were 
  produced 
  in 
  due 
  course 
  eight 
  months 
  

   after. 
  He 
  lias 
  found 
  his 
  female 
  Badgers 
  come 
  in 
  season 
  but 
  once 
  a 
  

   year, 
  towards 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  June 
  or 
  beginning 
  of 
  July, 
  the 
  young 
  being 
  

   born 
  towards 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  February 
  or 
  March 
  following. 
  The 
  rutting 
  

   season 
  of 
  the 
  female 
  seems 
  to 
  come 
  on 
  each 
  year 
  almost 
  to 
  a 
  day, 
  and 
  

   the 
  young 
  are 
  similarly 
  born 
  almost 
  to 
  a 
  day 
  eight 
  months 
  after 
  copula- 
  

   tion. 
  One 
  young 
  female 
  Badger 
  had 
  her 
  cubs 
  on 
  her 
  own 
  birthday. 
  Two 
  

   female 
  Badgers, 
  housed 
  together, 
  have 
  been 
  known 
  by 
  Mr. 
  Paterson 
  to 
  

   suckle 
  indiscriminately 
  the 
  cubs 
  of 
  each 
  other 
  in 
  the 
  most 
  amicable 
  

   manner. 
  I 
  trust 
  that 
  the 
  above 
  information, 
  which 
  may 
  be 
  relied 
  on 
  

   as 
  accurate, 
  may 
  be 
  of 
  interest 
  to 
  readers 
  of 
  ' 
  The 
  Zoologist.' 
  — 
  Charles 
  

   Cook 
  (11, 
  Belgrave 
  Crescent, 
  Edinburgh). 
  

  

  The 
  Lesser 
  Shrew 
  in 
  Yorkshire. 
  — 
  When 
  out 
  for 
  a 
  walk 
  on 
  Dec. 
  

   Gth, 
  1903, 
  my 
  daughter 
  picked 
  up 
  a 
  dead 
  example 
  of 
  the 
  Lesser 
  Shrew 
  

   (Sorex 
  pygmccHx) 
  in 
  Long 
  Lane, 
  Ackworth, 
  in 
  the 
  West 
  Riding. 
  Within 
  

   a 
  few 
  inches 
  of 
  it 
  was 
  laid 
  a 
  dead 
  Mouse, 
  which, 
  from 
  the 
  description, 
  

   I 
  think 
  was 
  a 
  Short-tailed 
  Field- 
  Vole 
  {Arvicola 
  agrestis). 
  Although 
  

   the 
  Lesser 
  Shrew 
  has 
  been 
  reported 
  from 
  widely 
  separated 
  localities 
  in 
  

   Yorkshire, 
  it 
  has 
  not 
  been 
  frequently 
  identified 
  in 
  the 
  county 
  ; 
  but 
  it 
  is 
  

   not 
  at 
  all 
  improbable 
  that 
  it 
  may 
  often 
  have 
  been 
  overlooked 
  and 
  not 
  

   distinguished 
  from 
  the 
  Common 
  Shrew 
  (Sorex 
  araneus). 
  Dr. 
  P. 
  Chal- 
  

   mers 
  Mitchell 
  kindly 
  identified 
  the 
  specimen. 
  — 
  Walter 
  B. 
  Arundel 
  

   (High 
  Ackworth, 
  Pontefract). 
  

  

  