THE WEASEL. 445 



battle of life against the number of prowling cats and two-legged 

 enemies in our London parks, though in appearance it hardly 

 comes up to country form, and a friend has shown me some very 

 fair specimens recently taken at Fulham. 



[Mr. de Winton has been good enough to show us several skiDS of his 

 Mus flavicollis, with others of Mus sylvaticus for comparison. There is 

 certainly a remarkable difference in size ; but we have so frequently observed 

 such variation in the size of individuals of the same species (just as with 

 man himself), that we consider measurements go for little; while the other 

 points of difference relied upon are so slight (the dentition being admitted 

 to be identical), that it is doubtful whether they are of specific value. In 

 a review of Melchior's work which appeared, soon after it was published, 

 in Wiegmann's ■ Archiv fur Naturgeschichte,' 1836, p. 76, the editor 

 expressed his decided opinion (p. 78) that Mus flavicollis of Melchior was 

 nothing but a large variety of M. sylvaticus, and subsequent writers on 

 the subject seem to have been satisfied with this opinion. The subject, 

 however, is one that deserves reconsideration, and Mr. de Winton does well 

 to bring it once more under the notice of naturalists. — Ed.] 



THE WEASEL, MUSTELA VULGARIS. 



By the Editor. 



(Concluded from p. 423.) 



One of the witnesses, David Glendenning, who had been a 

 shepherd at Coom for eight years, on being asked by the Chair- 

 man of the Committee above mentioned whether he had ever seen 

 a Weasel kill a Vole, replied : — 



" Yes ; about three weeks ago I came upon a small brown Weasel 

 which had killed five in one of the sheep-drains. I followed it up, and 

 found it killing a sixth. A week past, on Sunday morning, I came down 

 a drain for 250 yards or so. A Weasel had been before me, and there were 

 twenty-two dead Voles in the bottom. I secured a specimen last night, in 

 order to show you the way a Weasel destroys a Vole. The blood is entirely 

 drawn from behind the left ear. There is not a bit of the Vole marked 

 otherwise, except by the tooth-marks on the head. All those I have seen 

 were killed in the same way " (222). 



On being asked whether the Stoat and the Weasel eat the 

 flesh of the Voles they kill, he replied : — 



