( U8 ) 

 NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Mus rattus at Great Yarmouth.— Mr. A. Patterson has sent me 

 several typical specimens of Mus rattus from Great Yarmouth, where he 

 informs me they have suddenly become very abundant. They appear to be 

 restricted to a portion only of the town, but show an inclination to increase 

 their radius. Mr. Patterson is of opinion that this species has never been 

 absent from Yarmouth within his recollection, but if so, it appears strange 

 that it should only recently have attracted attention ; it seems more likely 

 that it is a recent importation by grain ships, and that having fallen into 

 suitable quarters, it has increased in numbers very rapidly, as is the manner 

 of all the members of the genus ; this seems the more probable from the 

 circumstance that the last example sent me was not Mus rattus, but the 

 closely-allied race Mus alexandrinus. Mr. Patterson has also sent speci- 

 mens to Mr. Eagle-Clarke and Mr. Barrett-Hamilton. — T. Southwell 

 (Norwich). 



C E T A C E A . 



Dolphin in the Thames at Chiswick. — I have been viewing a Dolphin 

 which was taken in the Thames here on April 10th. It is a female, 

 measuring over eleven feet from the snout over the back to the tail. The 

 back is black, shaded off on the lower parts of the animal to white. Its 

 captors called the creature a Porpoise, but the shape of the jaws, which 

 form a snout, prove it to be a Dolphin, probably Delphinus delphis. — 

 Alfred Sich (Burlington Lane, Chiswick). 



[The Porpoise has the head rounded, with no distinct beak. In the 

 Dolphin the beak is as long as the brain-case or longer. The Porpoise has 

 only from twenty to twenty-six teeth in each jaw, while the Dolphin has 

 double that number. As regards dimensions, an adult Porpoise generally 

 measures from four to five feet in length, an adult Dolphin about a couple 

 of feet longer. Eleven feet, as above mentioned, seems to us an extra- 

 ordinary length. Perhaps it is the Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Delphinus tursio. 

 —Ed.] 



BIRDS. 



Snow Buntings at the Mouth of the Thames.— On March 14th I 

 saw four Snow Buntings (Plectrophanes nivalis) on the cliff between 

 Southend and Shoeburyness. Is not this late for these birds to remain 

 here, particularly after so mild a winter '? I was walking with a young 

 Canadian, who is undergoing a course of instruction in gunnery at Shoe- 

 buryness, and on my asking him if he recognised the bird, he replied that 

 it appeared to resemble their " snow bird." I have several times this 

 winter been " flighting " on the east end of Canvey Island, and there, on 



