NOTES AND QUERIES. 377 



for awhile under a neighbouring tree, finally climbed up and hid among 

 its foliage. I observed that its tail was quite black. Mr. Butterfield states 

 that he has never seen a Squirrel of this appearance in August before. 

 Are Squirrels' tails normally this colour at any particular period of the 

 year? The Squirrel to which I now refer was in the avenue belonging to 

 Brambridge House, on the road between Winchester and Botley. — G. W. 

 Smith (College, Winchester). [See Zool. 1895, pp. 103, 150.— Ed.] 



Present Status of the European Bison. — While the Bison of North 

 America is on the point of extinction, the European Bison, which is still 

 found in Russia and the Caucasus, is sensibly decreasing in numbers, in 

 spite of the efforts made for its protection by the Imperial Government. 

 Herr Buchener, in a memoir on the subject recently presented to the 

 Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, regards it as likely soon 

 to share the fate of its American relative. In the forest of Bialowicksa, in 

 the province of Lithuania, a herd of these fine animals has long been 

 preserved, and forty years ago, namely in 1856, numbered about 1900, but 

 of late years this has dwindled down to less than 500, and there is no 

 encouraging sign of any material increase. Herr Buchener attributes the 

 cause of this to continued "in-breeding" and the comparatively restricted 

 area in which the animals are confined. In 1894 a hunting expedition to 

 the Kuban district of the Caucasus was organized by the Grand Duke 

 Michael, Prince Demidoff, and one or two other Russian sportsmen, and 

 they came across a few Bison there, one of which was killed. Through the 

 courtesy of Prince Demidoff, a photograph of this animal is now before us. 

 If the Russian Government would only give instructions to have some of 

 the Caucasian Bison captured alive and transported to Lithuania for the 

 purpose of resuscitating the herd there, no doubt in a few years a marked 

 improvement might be effected. The enterprise would necessarily be 

 attended with considerable difficulty and great expense, but in view of the 

 scientific importance which would attach to the result of the experiment* 

 it would be well worth undertaking. 



North American Weasels.— Dr. Hart Merriam, of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, has recently published a synopsis of the Weasels 

 of North iVmerica, illustrated with five plates. He recognises one species 

 of Ferret and no less than twenty-two species of Weasel as being at present 

 known to inhabit North America. The former he places in the subgenus 

 Putorius and the latter in the subgenus Ictis. Exactly one half of the 

 twenty-two species of Weasel are described as new or hitherto unrecognised, 

 a remarkable fact when we consider how actively the North American Fauna 

 has been investigated of late years. 



The Age of a Horse. — We learn from our French contemporary, 'La 

 Revue Scientifique,' that a mare belonging to a Monsieur de la Ferronays 

 ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XX. — OCT. 1896. 2 G 



