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THE YELLOW-NECKED MOUSE IN SHEOPSHIRE. 

 By Frances Pitt. 



This handsome variety or sub-species of the Long-tailed 

 Mouse {Apodemus sylvaticus) was formerly considered rare in 

 Shropshire, only two or three isolated examples having been 

 taken ; but in the summer of 1913 1 found thoji A , Jiavicollis ivintoni 

 (Barrett-Hamilton) was very common in this neighbourhood, i. e. 

 the district around Bridgnorth. 



I have taken many specimens alive and kept them in 

 captivity, and have had the pleasure of noting several interesting 

 facts concerning them. In life the difference between the two 

 races is far more marked than an examination of a series of 

 skins would lead one to suppose, and its superior size, brighter 

 colouring, longer tail, its heavier build, and the fawn collar, 

 from which it takes its name, make the Yellow-neck by far the 

 handsomer Mouse of the two. There is no difficulty in dis- 

 tinguishing it, even when running about, and the typical 

 sylvaticus appears dull and dark beside its larger relative. It 

 is Jiavicollis which is the " Greyhound Mouse" of the country- 

 people, and they have good cause to know it, as it is a most 

 determined thief of such things as peas, potatoes, etc. 



Nearly all the Yellow-necks that I have caught have been 

 taken in the house, usually in the larder and cellar, where it 

 has been quite the exception to catch a Long-tailed Mouse, 

 though a trap set out of doors has been just as certain to capture 

 a Long- tail. I have many times placed a trap beneath a bush 

 in which some old bird's-nest bears witness, by the remains of 

 the berries it contains, that there is a Mouse about, but the 

 result has invariably been the capture of a sylvaticus. But it 

 is different when you get to the neighbourhood of buildings, 

 where the chances seem to be equal, and. inside (failing the 

 Common House Mouse !) it is just as certain to be a Yellow- 

 neck. 



