NOTES AND QUERIES. 849 



pale cream-coloured Long-tailed Field Mouse, killed in one of his hay -fields 

 a few days before the Vole. — J. Whitaker (Rain worth, Notts). 



Whiskered Bat in Shropshire and Lancashire.— I am able to add 

 these two counties to the list of those from which Vespertilio mystacinus 

 has been already recorded. At the beginning of June last, about 6 p.m., 

 one was knocked down with a stick in a garden at Hanwood, near Shrews- 

 bury. Another was caught in a bedroom at Lytham, Lancashire, in July, 

 1888. — Chas. Oldham (Ashton-on-Mersey). 



Albino Long-eared Bat in Lancashire. — Mr. R. Standen, of Man- 

 chester, has in his possession a Long-eared Bat, Plecotus auritus, of a 

 uniform light cream-colour, which he killed at Goosnargh, in August, 1866. 

 This bat, which was flying about at mid-day, attracted Mr. Standen 's notice 

 by its unusual colour, and after a smart chase he managed to secure it. 

 The eyes and nails were pink. — Chas. Oldham (Ashton-on-Mersey). 



Food of the Noctule.— On the 30th April last Mr. G. Sherriff Tye, 

 of Birmingham, sent me a Noctule, in the flesh, which had been killed 

 at Witton, near that town. When shot it had just seized a dor-beetle 

 (Geotrupes), the abdomen, the hind pair of legs, and one of the long trans- 

 parent wings of which were protruding from its mouth. Do not our larger 

 Bats feed, as a rule, on soft-bodied moths in preference to the mail-clad 

 Coleoptera? Bell (Brit. Quadrupeds, p. 14) mentions one in confinement 

 which ate parts of Melolontha vulgaris ; but, speaking of Vespertilio 

 murinus (p. 38), he says, " They feed on various kinds of nocturnal and 

 crepuscular insects, particularly the nocturnal Lepidoptera." — Charles 

 Oldham (Ashton-on-Mersey). 



Shakespeare's Knowledge of Deer. — In my early boyhood I lived on 

 the edge of one of the most beautiful parks in England. The park-keeper 

 was a thorough sportsman, and under his tuition I had the opportunity of 

 learning much of the habits of the deer, and was continually with him when 

 hunting them. There were occasions when the keeper had to hunt and 

 catch a dozen or more of the Fallow-deer to be put in the paddock to be 

 fattened for early venison. This was always a private affair, and there 

 were never more than three mounted on horseback, usually two with the 

 keeper's assistant on foot, with a deerhound in leash accompanying. We 

 used to ride up to the herd — say of about twenty or thirty Fallow-deer of 

 different ages. The park-keeper pointed out the deer required — I being 

 the young lad generally did most of this part of the work — viz. riding 

 through the herd and dividing it in two. The selected buck with half-a- 

 dozen of his fellows would thus be separated from the main body of the 

 herd, which looked wonderingly at what was happening. After a moment's 

 rest I again rode at the smaller herd, which tried to rejoin the larger one. 



