294 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



truly wild white Polecat, although I have seen a pure white Stoat 

 (which had not even the usual black tip to the tail), and also a 

 pure white Weasel. 



In ' The Zoologist' for 1878 (p. 55), a curious case of hydro- 

 phobia resulting from the bite of a wild Polecat is quoted by Mr, 

 Southwell from the Journal of Robert Marsham, of Stratton 

 Strawless, the friend and correspondent of Gilbert White. 



ON THE COMMON WREN OF THE SHETLAND ISLANDS. 

 By Henry Seebohm. 



Mr. Richard M. Barrington has sent me four examples of a 

 species of Wren from the Shetland Islands, with the request that 

 I would examine them, and give the readers of * The Zoologist ' 

 what information I could respecting them. This I have great 

 pleasure in doing. 



I may premise, that in the colour of the upper parts the 

 various species of Wrens in Europe and Asia completely 

 intergrade. It is impossible to draw a hard and fast line at 

 any point between the palest desert forms from Algeria or 

 Turkestan, and the darkest tropical forms from the Himalayas. 

 The tropical forms appear to be more distinctly barred on the 

 upper parts than is usual in temperate regions ; but some 

 examples from France and Norway equal them in this respect. 

 In the colour of the under parts there does, however, seem to be 

 a gap between the dark birds of India, China and Japan, and the 

 paler birds of Europe and Western Asia. 



The Common Wren, Troglodytes parvulus, appears to be con- 

 fined to the Western Palaearctic Region. It varies in three 

 directions, — in dimensions, in colour, and in the amount of 

 barring across the feathers. The Faroese race is the largest and 

 the most barred, and is fairly entitled to be regarded as sub- 

 specifically distinct under the name of Troglodytes parvulus 

 borealis. The Shetland race only differs from it in probably 

 being, on an average, intermediate in size between it and the 

 typical form. In Algeria in the west, and in Turkestan in the 

 east, the palest and least rufous examples are found, which are 

 known as Troglodytes parvulus pallidus. On St. Kilda a fourth 



