VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 63 



common. I have caught one in broad daylight, when in the act 

 of crossing a country road, but it is more frequently seen dead 

 than alive. 



Mustela erminea, Linn. Stoat. Generally passes by the name 

 of Weasel, as it does also in Ireland. The Manks name is 

 Assag, pronounced Atthag, and 'Daney as attag,' "Bold as a 

 weasel " is a well-known saying. 



Phoca vitulina, Linn. Common Seal. Eaun or Ehoan. 

 Usually one or two are to be seen about the coast in the summer. 



Mas sylvaticas, Linn. Long-tailed Field Mouse, Lugh- 

 varghey, i.e., Meadow-mouse, and Lugh-slieau, Mountain-mouse. 



M. musculus, Linn. Lugh. Very plentiful. I have known 

 it make a very neat little nest of shreds of paper which it had 

 torn off, regardless of the contents. " Singing mice" I have 

 heard, and been since told of by others. 



M. rattas, Linn. Black Bat. Appears now to be extinct. 

 I have never seen one here, and only occasionaly heard of it. 



M. decumanus, Pall. Brown Bat, Boddan. Introduced 

 probably towards the end of last century, and their numbers 

 constantly recruited. 



Lepus timldus, Linn. Common Hare, Mwaagh. The Manks 

 equivalent to "Birds of a Feather" is Furree yn mwaagh rish 

 e heshey, i. e., " The Hare will be found with his mate." It is the 

 object of superstition, and a favourite form to be assumed by a 

 witch, and, the son of a witch who himself dabbled in the black 

 art, has been known as Gaaue mwaagh, — " The Hare-smith." 

 The natives would not think of eating a hare. 



L. cuniculus, Linn. Babbit, Conning (no doubt a cor- 

 ruption of the English word 'Coney'). It sometimes nests in 

 the gorse without burrowing. Plentiful in 1658. I have not 

 met with an earlier notice. 



Phoccena communis, Less. Common Porpoise, Perkin. The 

 dictionary gives Garmanagh, a word I have never heard, and 

 adds, "we also use Muc-varrey." The Porpoise is common 

 especially about Peel. Perkin vooar, i.e., " big porpoise," may 

 be applied indiscriminately to this or some larger cetacean. That 

 other forms have approached our shores is certain. In 1885, I 

 received a letter from Mr. Corrin, of Peel, in reply to some 

 enquiries concerning one taken about 1860. He wrote: — "The 

 large * fish' captured off Peel twenty-five years ago was not a true 



