426 T/HE ZOOLOGIST. 



localities like the others — namely, Porterbelly in Kirkgunzeon, and Castle- 

 creavie in Rerwick. The last one of this sort that I got was on Burnside 

 of Mabie." Mr. Johnstone's experience appears to indicate that in certain 

 places these curious varieties may be regularly met with. The district 

 round about Thornhill seems to be quite prolific, for the late Dr. Grierson 

 had over a dozen of them. — Robert Service (Maxwelltown, Dumfries). 



Albino Squirrel. — It may be worth recording that I received, for 

 preservation, on Sept. 19th, an albino male Squirrel with pink eyes. It 

 was shot on Captain Holford's estate, Weston birt, near Tetbury, on Sept. 

 11th. It is not for sale.— H. W. Marsden (Bath). 



[Albino Squirrels are by no means common. One was killed at Holt, 

 Norfolk, in November, 1885, as noticed in 'The Field' of Dec. 12th in 

 that year. Another was caught by a retriever in a plantation at Guraley, 

 near Market Harborough, as recorded by the Rev. A. Matthews (Zool. 1892, 

 p. 20).— Ed.] 



Decadence of the Vole Plague in Scotland.— As time goes on, the 

 signs that Voles are being at last reduced to their normal number become 

 increasingly evident. The finest grazing ever produced on the sheep farms 

 in the south of Scotland is on the tracts which were devastated by the 

 Voles. This fact is rather remarkable in view of the statements circulated 

 by the alarmed farmers during the height of the plague. What has 

 regularly happened elsewhere on the cessation of these plagues has now 

 come to pass in the sheep-farm districts above referred to. The birds of 

 prey are starving, and in the case of the Short-eared Owls in particular, 

 dead ones are being found lying about in many places. Mr. McKay, our 

 local birdstuffer, received over a dozen in one week. Some that I found 

 were thoroughly examined, and I failed to see anything but starvation and 

 consequent emaciation to account for death. — Robert Service (Maxwell- 

 town, Dumfries). 



Whiskered Bat in Scotland. — Writing in the ' Annals of Scottish 

 Natural History ' for July last (p. 146), Mr. William Evans reports the- 

 capture, on the 20th March last, of an example of Vespertilio mystacinus 

 in East Lothian, " on the links about a mile east of Dunbar." It is an 

 interesting addition to the list of Mammalia for the Forth district, and is 

 only the second instance in which this species of bat has been ascertained 

 to have occurred in Scotland. The first recorded specimen, which is 

 preserved in Owen's College, Manchester, was captured about five miles 

 from Rannoch, on the Pitlochry road, so long ago as 1874, and is noticed 

 by Mr. Evans in his 'Mammalian Fauna of the Edinburgh District,' 

 p. 23 (1892).— Ed. 



Hairy-armed Bat in Co. Dublin. — While shooting in the vicinity 

 of Buckley's Hill, near Carrickmines, I observed a few large bats flying 



