( 185 ) 

 NOTES AND QUERIES, 



The Manuscript of White's 'Selborne.'— The sale by auction of this 

 manuscript, announced in our last number (p. 147), took place in London, 

 at the rooms of Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, on the 26th April 

 last. It was put up at £100, and the bidding having advanced gradually 

 to £294 (or two hundred and eighty guineas), it was knocked down for 

 that sum to Mr. J. Pearson, who, it was understood, purchased it on 

 commission for Mr. S. M. Samuel, of No. 6, Palace Court, W. 



MAMMALIA. 



Irish Hare turning white in Winter. 1 was surprised to see the 



discussion of this subject in the pages of 'The Zoologist,' as I imagined 

 that most people had now learnt that the often-repeated statements in 

 Natural Histories, such as that " in Ireland, doubtless owing to the mild 

 climate, the Mountain Hare does not turn white in winter" (vide Lydekker, 

 Brit. Mammals, pp. 226-7), are not true. Ever since the time of William 

 Thompson (Nat. Hist, of Ireland, p. 28) it has been known to Irish naturalists 

 that the Irish Hare can and often does undergo a considerable change in 

 winter; the amount of the change, no doubt, depending on weather and 

 other conditions ; and the late Mr. A. E. Knox has stated that Irish Hares 

 introduced into Petworth Park, Sussex (as I am informed by Prof. Newton), 

 kept up their former habit of turning white in winter for several seasons— 

 a fact which I have also noticed myself in the case of Mountain Hares from 

 Wicklow when turned down on the lowlands of Wexford. I have for years 

 been collecting information on this and other matters relative to the Irish 

 Hare, and have even taken the trouble to collect facts by means of a circular 

 sent round to many game-preservers, or their keepers, in Ireland, and I have 

 not the slightest doubt that some Hares which have turned nearly quite 

 white are to be found every season in Ireland. Pure white Hares are no 

 doubt rarer, but have certainly been recorded (vide Thompson loc. cit. and 

 G. H. Kinahan in 'Land and Water,' March 3rd, 1891), but it seems to 

 me that the really important point to notice is not whether any Hare has 

 ever turned quite white in Ireland in winter, but that in Ireland it is the 

 exception for a Hare to do so, or even to turn nearly white, whereas in 

 Scotland it appears to be the rule. I may add that in mountainous parts 

 of Ireland even leverets can partially undergo the winter change, as 

 evidenced by a leveret in my own collection which was sent me by 

 Mr. John Hunter, of Wooden Bridge, Co. Wicklow. — G. E. H. Barreti- 

 Hamilton (Trinity College, Cambridge). 



In addition to the evidence already adduced on this subject (pp. 104, 

 149), 1 may state that in February, 1894, I saw a perfectly white Hare 



