ON A BLACK VARIETY OP THE WATER VOLE. 383 



I. Scotland. 



(1). Tweed Area. — A few records of this species occurring 

 sporadically on the Berwickshire streams are scattered through 

 the 'Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club,' 1874-76 ; 

 judging from which, the black variety appears to be extremely 

 local in this area. 



(2). Forth Area. — Prof. Duns, D.D., states in his paper 

 " On the Habits of the Water Vole" :— "I do not know of any 

 instance of the black variety (Arvicola ater, Macgillivray) ever 

 having been met with at any considerable distance from the 

 water. It is more rare than that now under notice [the brown 

 form], though it is described as abundant at Aberdeen (Wernerian 

 Memoirs,* loc. cit), and [the late] Mr. [R.] Gray, our secretary 

 informs me it was very plentiful near Dunbar some years ago."* 



(3). Tay Area. — In his paper on the Mammalia of North- 

 West Perthshire, Mr. W. Horn says, " Both varieties of this 

 species [are] extremely abundant along the banks of the Tay, 

 Tummel and other streams and burns." f Mr. J. G. Millais 

 informs Macpherson, "In Perthshire there is an equal number of 

 both the brown and the black, which I believe breed occasionally 

 with one another, as I have ■ seen a specimen of an intermediate 

 colour." Mr. J. A. G. Drummond Hay writes in reply to Aplin's 

 letter in 'The Field': — "I have often seen it in the Carse of 

 Gowrie (the stretch of alluvial land between Perth and Dundee) ; 

 there is hardly a stream or ditch there in which I have not 

 observed them at various times when fishing, though of late they 

 have become much less common than they used to be. A very 

 fine specimen (buck) was killed by a terrier in the ' Pow ' near 

 Glencarse station in February, I think, of this year, and has 

 been, I believe, preserved for the Museum of the Perthshire 

 Natural History Society" (in litt. June 30th, 1890). In the 

 Crieff district, Macpherson was personally assured of the common 

 occurrence of the black form by those well acquainted with it. 



(4). Dee Area. — Macgillivray stated, as early as 1830, that 

 this variety was " very common in many parts of the counties of 

 Aberdeen and Banff."! We must apparently refer, for his latest 



* Proc. Rov. Phys. Soc. v. 1878—80, p. 355. 

 ■f Proc: N. H. Soc. Glass, v. p. 123. 

 JHHem. Wern. N. H. Soc. vi. p. 424. 



z2 ' 



