NOTES AND QUERIES. 221 



RODENTIA. 



Climbing Powers of the Long-tailed Field-Mouse. — lu 1899 my 

 friend Mr. C. Oldham contributed a note to • The Zoologist ' (p. 27) on the 

 climbing powers of the Long-tailed Field-Mouse, in which he described its 

 habit of using an old birds'-nest as a platform on which to eat the hips 

 gathered from the wild rose trees, or acorns carried up from the ground. 

 For some time before we captured a number of Long-tailed Field-Mice on 

 these nests, we had been puzzled by the litter of gnawed kernels and pulp 

 which filled the nests, and, although we made many enquiries, we could 

 not find out that anyone had ascertained what species was responsible. A 

 few days ago I was looking through a volume of children's poems — Mary 

 Howitt's ' Sketches of Natural History,' 1834, and I came across the 

 following verse in a poem on the Wood-Mouse : — 



" In the Hedge- Sparrow's nest he sits, 



When its summer brood is fled, 

 And picks the berries from the bough 



Of the hawthorn overhead." 



From the context it is perfectly clear that Mary Howitt refers to Mus 

 sylvaticus. In nests, besides hips, we have found haws, seeds of the black- 

 berry and holly, and stones of the sloe, from all of which the kernel has 

 been extracted in a similar manner by chiselling off one end. — T. A. 

 CowAED (Bowdon, Cheshire). 



The Coloration of the Variable Hare. — My friend Mr. Coward's 

 note on the above subject [ante, p. 73) interested me not a little, especially 

 in regard to some questions indirectly touched therein. Firstly, regarding 

 the introduction of Scotch Hares into England or Wales, and the retention 

 by them when in presumably milder surroundings of their original white 

 winter coloration, I am aware of several similar instances. In fact, it may be 

 taken as the rule, that when variable Hares are transferred from Scotland to 

 some more southern country they will continue to assume their white winter 

 coat, apparently to the same extent as when in their natural surroundings. 

 Sooner or later, however, the habit is usually dropped, but I am in want of 

 exact statistics as to the manner in which the change is effected. I am not 

 aware, in fact, whether the originally transferred individuals gradually 

 change less and less white in each succeeding season, or whether it is only 

 in their progeny that the white colour ceases to appear. Mr. Coward's 

 letter seems to supply a fact of interest in this connection, since he states 

 that the Hares which formed the subject of his note are the descendants 

 of some Perthshire animals which were exported about twenty years ago. 

 In this case, unless, indeed, the climate of their new home is sufiiciently 

 severe to keep the white winter coat in constant use, we might perhaps 

 assume that the loss of the winter coat may not be effected even after a 



