ON A BLACK VARIETY OE THE WATER VOLE. 285 



pure brown variety." * Macpherson is indebted to Mr. James 

 Sutherland, of Wick, for a specimen which he killed on a burn 

 in his own neighbourhood in April, 1890. This specimen is of 

 a deep black, and thoroughly typical of the variety which it 

 represents. Mr. Sutherland states that Black Voles are quite 

 common about Wick. 



(7). Orkney and Shetland. — Provost Peace, of Kirkwall, 

 assures Macpherson that the Water Vole is absent from the 

 Orcades. The species is mentioned by Messrs. Buckley and 

 Harvie Brown in the following observation : — " Id reference to 

 the Water Vole said by Messrs. Baikie and Heddle to have been 

 taken at Kackwick in 1844, Mr. Moodie-Heddle writes us that he 

 has never seen the species in Hoy. We ourselves never came 

 across a specimen, and so for the present we think it better to 

 keep the note in brackets." t There is no information as to the 

 existence of this Vole in any of the Shetland Isles, from which 

 its absence may safely be inferred. 



(8). West Ross and Skye. — The head-keeper at Sconser 

 and other persons well acquainted with West Ross have assured 

 Macpherson that the black variety of the Water Vole occurs not 

 uncommonly in Gairloch and other parts of the mainland. It is 

 believed to have once occurred in Skye, near Broadford. 



(9). Outer Hebrides. — The Water Vole has not been 

 detected hitherto in the islands of this group. 



(10). Argyll. — The only allusion to the occurrence of this 

 Vole in "Argyll" occurs in the paper by Prof. Duns already 

 noticed, in which he remarks of the black variety, " I have seen 

 it only twice ; in both cases in localities widely separated in the 

 neighbourhood of Oban." + 



(11). Clyde. — Thompson was apparently the first to record 

 this variety from the Clyde faunal area. " The black variety 

 (^4. ater, Macgillivray)," he writes, "taken at Ballantrae, Ayr- 

 shire, was sent to me by my friend Mr. John Sinclair, in August, 

 1842. It was found dead on the highway; and another was 

 taken about the same time in a mole-trap— contents of stomach, 

 vegetable matter only. From the last-named locality Mr ; 



* * Fauna of Sutherland and Caithness,' p. 92. 



\ « A Vertebrate Fauna of the Orkney Isles,' p. 85. 



I Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc, v. 1878—80, p. 355. 



