THE MAMMALIAN FAUNA OF CHESHIRE. 219 



side of Burley Hurst four years ago." The Rev. J. E. Kelsall's 

 note (Zool. 1893, p. 102) appears to refer to one of these two, but 

 there is a discrepancy in the dates. We have examined a speci- 

 men in the possession of Mr. Alfred Salmon, which was killed in 

 the Bollin Valley, near Bowdon, about five years ago. In the 

 early part of the present century the Polecat was hunted regularly 

 at night by a scratch pack of dogs in the neighbourhood of North- 

 enden and Baguley, and Mr. Thomas Worthington, of Wythen- 

 shawe, informs us that an old farmer at Gatley once showed him 

 a small bell, which was hung round the neck of the leading dog, 

 and which he treasured in memory of many nights' sport in which 

 he had participated. Mr. Worthington states that no Polecats 

 have been seen on the Wvthenshawe Estate, near Northenden, 

 since the year 1856, when one was caught in a rabbit-trap. 



M. vulgaris, Erxl. ; Weasel. — Common and generally dis- 

 tributed. This species is usually reported by gamekeepers to be 

 less common than the Stoat, but this is probably owing to the 

 fact that it seeks its food principally in the runs of Voles and 

 Field-mice and the galleries of the Mole, whereas its larger con- 

 gener preys upon rabbits and game, and is therefore more fre- 

 quently taken in the keepers' traps. Mr. Newstead, however, 

 says (in lit) that in the neighbourhood of Chester the Stoat is 

 certainly the commoner species. 



M. erminea, L. ; Stoat. — Common and generally distributed. 

 The Stoat is often called " Foumart " in Cheshire. Examples 

 in the white winter pelage are frequently taken on the hills of 

 the eastern border, and are by no means rare on the Cheshire 

 plain. All that we have seen, however, retained a few patches of 

 brown hair on the face and shoulders. 



Meles taxus (Schreb.) ; Badger ; Brock. — The Badger is by 

 no means extinct in Cheshire, and is even common in certain 

 districts. In Wirral it appears to be rare. Byerley mentions 

 one that was killed near Hooton about the year 1848, and states 

 that many years prior to the date of his list examples had been 

 obtained at Oxton Hill, Caldy, and Moston Hall, near Chester. 

 Captain W. Congreve informs us (in lit.) that one was shot near 

 Burton in June, 1893. Mr. Newstead says: — " Thirty years ago 

 this fine animal was common in Delamere Forest, on the Manley 

 side of which there must have been a large colony of them, as 

 traces of their burrows still remain, and the place is called 



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