NOTES AND QUERIES. 187 



number of little heaps (in some places an inch in depth) of haw-pips and 

 haw-rind, in many cases at the mouths of small holes in the bank, in other 

 cases in the grass close to a network of runs which extended all over the 

 hedge-bank. The pips were guavved in on one side and the kernels extracted. 

 Being anxious to ascertain what species of Mouse was responsible for this, 

 I set a few small traps at the mouths of these holes and captured four 

 specimens of the Bank Vole, Arvicola glareolus. Bell states that the food 

 consists of fruit and roots, carrion, insects, worms, and snails; and in 

 confinement some Bank Voles he possessed showed a partiality for goose- 

 berries. It seems to me that, from the nature of its haunts, the fruit of 

 the hawthorn (both kernel and mesocarp) forms a very much larger portion of 

 its diet than has been hitherto suspected. In his description of the Bank 

 Vole, Bell mentions that it is a good climber. It would be interesting to 

 ascertain whether this little rodent climbs the hawthorn for the haws, and 

 whether its tail is prehensile. No doubt a few berries which had fallen 

 would be scattered about under the hedge, but in the case which came 

 under my immediate notice the quantity of fragments of those eaten was 

 so considerable as to suggest that the little fellows had had many a climb 

 to obtain their food. — John H. Teesdale (St. Margaret's, W. Dulwich). 



[The Bank Vole is an expert climber, but the tail is not prehensile in 

 this or any other species of Vole. — Ed.] 



Note on the Long-tailed Field Mouse. — It may be well to place 

 on record the occurrence, at Ashford, Kent, of the Mouse described by 

 Mr. de Winton (Zool. 1894, p. 441) as Mus flavicollis. I caught a specimen 

 answering to his description in a hollow hazel-stump in which I had pre- 

 viously taken the typical Mus sylvaticus. In the rlesh this animal appeared 

 strikingly different from the common form. — G. H. Caton Haigh (Grainsby 

 Hall, Great Grimsby). 



[The fact of this specimen having been found in a hole from which a 

 typical Mus sylvaticus had been taken somewhat conflicts with Mr. de 

 Winton's view that the two forms do not associate, and we must confess 

 that we are not yet assured of their specific distinctness. We may add that 

 on March 12th last we received a specimen of the so-called flavicollis from 

 the neighbourhood of Malvern. The head and body measured 4 in., the 

 tail 3£ in.— Ed.] 



BIRDS. 



Notes on the Grouse.— Mr. Macpherson assures me that I am mis- 

 taken in attributing to him (p. 107) an opinion that Bed Grouse do not 

 migrate seasonally. Looking again at the passage to which I referred (in 

 " The Grouse," Fur and Feather Series) it seems a natural interpretation 

 to put upon his words, but I of course express my regret that I have mis- 

 understood him. — Heney H. Slater (Thornbaugh Rectory, Wansford). 



