NOTES AND QUERIES. 267 



N. Bloomfield some months ago he informed me that a number of these 

 Bats have established themselves under the eaves of his residence (Guest- 

 ling Rectory, near Hastings). Since then I have had two opportunities of 

 satisfying myself that the species is rightly identified. I am happy to add 

 that Mr. Bloomfield and his sisters take great interest in the little animals, 

 and will not have them disturbed. — W. Ruskin-Butterfield. 



RODENTIA. 



Albino of the Beaver. — With reference to the communication of Mr. 

 Service in * The Zoologist ' (ante, p. 220) concerning a white Beaver 

 (Castor canadensis), I should like to record a specimen of a skin exhibiting 

 this abnormality which came under my own notice. In 1893 or 1894 

 a taxidermist and dealer in Manchester showed me a beautiful albinic 

 skin of this animal. This taxidermist, who was a Canadian, had been a 

 trapper, and himself obtained the animal the pelt of which he showed 

 me. — K. Hurlstone Jones (H.M.S. 'Repulse,' Channel Squadron). 



AVES. 

 Blackbird and Ivy-seeds. — With regard to the note on a male 

 Blackbird (Turdus merula) storing seeds at the nest (ante, p. 181), I do not 

 think it is at all likely that a male Blackbird would try to feed his mate on 

 the seeds of the ivy. The berries of the ivy are eaten by Blackbirds and 

 Thrushes in considerable quantities at the end of winter and in early 

 spring. But the seeds are not digested by the birds ; they are voided 

 whole, and may be seen at that season piled up in small heaps all about my 

 shrubbery and elsewhere. May I suggest the possibility of the seeds seen 

 by Mr. Lewis piled on the side of the nest having been deposited in this 

 manner?— 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



Is the Whinchat a Mimic? — To this question, propounded by Mr. H. 

 S. Davenport in 'The Zoologist' [ante, p. 208) as to whether Pratincola 

 rubetra is a mimic, I unhesitatingly answer, Yes. On May 20th, 1897, I 

 was attracted by two Whinchats singing very diverse songs in a thin wood 

 on the Pentlands ; one of them was perched on the very summit of a Scotch 

 fir, and began its song with the alarm-cry of the Redshank twice repeated, 

 whilst the other had no such note in its song. I have also noted the 

 Whinchat imitating the Sand Martin, the Sandpiper, and the Yellow- 

 hammer ; and I believe that the great variations noticeable in the songs of 

 individual birds of this species are the direct result of imitation — Robert 

 Godfrey (46, Cumberland Street, Edinburgh). 



Blue-headed Wagtail in Cumberland. — After waiting upwards of 

 seventeen years, I have at last detected Motacilla flava in Lakeland. On 



