388 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Pigmy Shrew in Yorkshire. — Those interested in the distribution 

 of the Pigmy Shrew {Sorex minutus) may be glad to learn that I 

 trapped four examples at Kilnsea, near Spurn Point, in Yorkshire, last 

 August. It was apparently quite as abundant there as the " Common 

 Shrew," and, curiously enough, commoner than Mus sylvaticus, which, 

 owing perhaps to the prevalence of Stoats and Weasels, was unusually 

 scarce. — E. I. Pocock (Brit. Museum, Nat. Hist.). 



Stoat and Weasel Trapping. — It may interest some readers of 

 ' The Zoologist ' to know that Stoats and Weasels can be trapped 

 without difficulty with large Schuylers. This, at least, was my expe- 

 rience at Kilnsea, near Spurn Point, in Yorkshire, this August. The 

 first Stoat caught in this way was taken in a trap baited with bread, 

 and set for Water-Eats. It was snapped across the middle of the 

 neck, but was strong enough to pull the trap into the water, where I 

 found it in the morning drowned. I was inclined to suppose at the 

 time that this catch was due to the lucky chance of the Stoat running 

 into the trap, and accidentally setting it off, when hunting along the 

 Water-Eat runs ; but the position of his head with regard to the bait 

 suggested an attempt at tasting it. Hence I resolved to try again, 

 and, baiting this time with the skinned carcase of a Bank- Vole, set in 

 a dyke, at the mouth of a hole supposed by a farmer's lad to harbour 

 a Weasel. Two days afterwards I found a fine Stoat lying dead, killed 

 on the spot by the fracture of the parietal bone of the skull, and with 

 the bait, in spite of its unsavoury odour, clenched fast between its 

 teeth. I afterwards caught a Weasel in the same way, the trap being 

 baited with Bank-Vole unskinned. The Weasel was caught well 

 behind the skull, but was apparently killed without a struggle. — E. I. 

 Pocock (Brit. Museum, Nat. Hist.). 



AVES. 



Chififchaflf Singing in Autumn. — While dressing on the mornings of 

 Sept. 28th and 29th, I distinctly heard a Chiffchaff {Phylloscopus rufus) 

 singing, my bedroom window being open at the time. As I was rather 



