NOTES AND QUERIES. 215 



already, extinct in the deer-forests of that county, no trace of one having 

 been seen for some years, although twelve or fifteen years ago a season 

 seldom passed without some of these animals being trapped or otherwise 

 captured. It is a melancholy reflection that in a very few years the Wild 

 Cat, like the Wolf and the Wild Boar, will have entirely disappeared from 

 our islands. — William Yellowly (South Shields). 



Wild Cat in Yorkshire. — In Murray's 'Handbook for Yorkshire' 

 (1882, p. 478), there is an account of the Wild Cat legend already referred 

 to (p. 176-7), and a description of Barnborough Church. No mention, 

 however, is made of any picture in the church commemorating the event. 

 The guide-book says : — " The church itself contains the curious monuments 

 of Percival Cresacre (living in 1455) and of his wife Alicia, died 1450. On 

 her gravestone nine strings of beads are so arranged as to form a cross. The 

 tomb of Percival Cresacre is between the chancel and the north chapel. 

 His effigy in oak lies on it; and the front and sides are covered with the 

 rosary, the favourite device of the Cresacres, and with short inscriptions. 

 This is the Cresacre said to have been killed by the Wild Cat, and the lion 

 at the feet of the effigy passes, in local opinion, for that animal. A wild cat 

 was the crest of the Cresacres, whose interest in Barnborough passed by 

 marriage to the family of the great Sir Thomas More." — John Cordeaux 

 (Great Cotes, Ulceby). 



The Polecat in Sutherlandshire. — On the 22nd December, 1889, 

 I received a fresh-killed female Polecat or " Foumart," its fur being in 

 beautiful condition. It was caught in Strathnaver, in the north of 

 Sutherland. The Polecat is now extremely rare in the north of Scotland, 

 especially in Sutherlandshire. — Wm. Yellowly (South Shields). 



Water Shrews in North Ayrshire. — In August, 1885, when 

 botanising on the Glen Burn, between West Kilbride and Fairlie, I had 

 an opportunity of observing, under very favourable circumstances, an 

 apparently full-grown example of this fine species. Nearly a mile above 

 its entrance to the sea, the stream flows over a ledge of sandstone rock, 

 and makes a considerable fall into a deep gorge, the sides of which are 

 picturesquely wooded. Having descended into the bed of the stream 

 immediately below the fall, I was engaged in examining some large moss- 

 grown stones, when I observed the Shrew in the act of emerging from a 

 hole beneath one of the largest. It raised its head, and stood for a few 

 moments sniffing the air and looking towards me, apparently uncertain 

 whether to advance or retire. It then retreated into the hole, and did not 

 again make its appearance. My close proximity, as well as the position 

 assumed by the animal, afforded me a satisfactory opportunity of observing 

 the elongated muzzle so characteristic of the genus, and the conspicuous 



