A HISTORY OF 
Rowney Warren has the white of the under 
parts considerably extended, white feet, and 
a white line along the upper part of the back. 
Dr. Sprigge mentions seeing one in the woods 
at Clophill in 1898, which appeared to him 
to be quite black, and Mr. A. Covington 
once had one sent him which had the tail pied 
black and white. 
19. Dormouse. Muscardinus avellanarius, 
Linn. 
Bell—Myoxus avellanarius. 
In an article upon the range of dormice in 
England and Wales (Zoologist, 1885), Mr. 
J. F. Woods, who formerly lived at Woburn, 
states that in 1856 he found several in that 
parish, also at Great and Bow Brickhill and 
on the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire. 
Writing to me in reference to these particulars, 
he adds that the dormice were taken in Lowe’s 
Wood, Charle Wood, about half a mile 
from the shire oak, the county border, and 
that since then he had also heard of their 
being in Milton Wood at Milton Bryant. 
20. Harvest Mouse. AZus minutus, Pallas. 
I have not yet met with this species in the 
county ; neither have I ever been able to 
trace any of its remains amongst the thou- 
sands of owls’ pellets that I have examined 
from various localities. My father neverthe- 
less mentions that it was not uncommon 
around his home at Blunham about 1830, and 
that he has found its nests there. Mr. J. 
King also assures me that when a resident at 
Southill about 1870 he found it tolerably 
common around there, but he never met with 
it elsewhere. 
21. Wood Mouse or Long-tailed Field Mouse. 
Mus sylvaticus, Linn. 
Abundant everywhere, and at times a very 
destructive little animal, especially in the 
market gardening lands, where it feeds on 
cucumber and marrow seeds. During last 
year I was assured by one man that he had 
trapped over seventy of this species in a few 
days on a piece of land about an acre in 
extent, the traps being baited with the mar- 
row seeds only. 
22. House Mouse. AZus musculus, Linn. 
Very abundant generally. Pied varieties 
have been occasionally met with. 
23. Brown Rat. Aus decumanus, Pallas. 
Far too common. Two albinos in m 
possession were caught at Cockayne Hatley 
in May 1895, and two of the melanistic 
form were killed at Stotfold in December 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
1896. Others which I have also been 
enabled to examine were killed—one in the 
neighbourhood of Luton about 1885, and 
another near Harlington in 1901. A male 
and female were killed at Astwick Mills 8 
December 1896. One was obtained during 
the summer of the same year at Kempston, 
and several specimens have been received by 
Mr. A. Covington from other localities. 
24. Black Rat. dus rattus, Linn. 
Probably at one time common enough ; 
the only information we have of its more 
recent existence is that Davis (History of Luton, 
1855) records it then as rare in that neigh- 
bourhood ; it is not improbable that he may 
have mistaken the black form of the brown 
rat (AZus decumanus) for this species. 
25. Field Vole. MJicrotus agrestis, Linn. 
Bell—Arvicola agrestis. 
Common generally. 
26. Bank Vole. Evotomys glareolus, Schreber. 
Bell—Arvicola glareolus. 
Fairly abundant. Since this species was 
first recorded in Bedfordshire (Zoo/ogist, 1895) 
I have occasionally found it even exceeding 
the field vole in number. In some owls’ 
pellets recently examined from Sandy, Brom- 
ham, Clophill, Sharpenhoe and Rowney 
Warren, the remains of 155 mice (chiefly MZus 
sylvaticus), 2 rats, 9 field voles and 10 red 
bank voles were found, besides 38 finches and 
8 insectivorous birds. 
27. Water Vole. Microtus amphibius, Linn. 
Bell—Arvicola amphibius. 
Common in the immediate vicinity of all 
our waterways, streams and larger pools. I 
have sometimes noticed considerable damage 
to osier beds caused by this vole gnawing and 
felling the osiers in a similar way to the 
beaver felling trees, but for what purpose 
I fail to understand ; no portion of the felled 
osiers had apparently been used as food. An 
albino of a dingy-cream colour with pink 
eyes was shot at Henlow Park 23 March 
1899. Several of the melanistic forms have 
been taken; one from a pond at Clapham 
Park in 1867 ; also two from near the river 
ford of that village, and two or more from 
Biddenham many years previously. 
28. Common Hare. Lepus europaeus, Pallas. 
Bell—Lepus timidus. 
Not so generally numerous as formerly, 
depending for its existence on the amount of 
protection afforded it. A jack hare shot at 
142 
