NOTES AND QUERIES. 429 



of beetles, some containing those of the large dor-beetles. After 

 quitting their home in late June and early July this colony of Bats 

 evidently " camped out " for the remainder of the summer, either in 

 the woods or elsewhere. The most curious thing, however, was that 

 we could never see or hear them returning to their winter quarters 

 after the summer was over. Probably they returned singly and silently 

 in the autumn, as they were always there again when the spring came 

 round. This was proved during the autumn of last year. The hole 

 having been again securely nailed up, for more than a week the Bats 

 tried to get in nightly, and in the mornings several were found in 

 the back yard, badly maimed in their endeavours to find or force an 

 entrance. During the present year they have not attempted to regain 

 admittance into their old quarters, so no doubt they have given them 

 up for good and gone elsewhere. For my part I am very sorry, as this 

 colony was always a feature of great interest to me when in that 

 neighbourhood. I have longed many times to enter their dormitory 

 and examine them in their winter sleep, but this would have been 

 impossible, except by removing part of the slated roof. North-west 

 Norfolk must be a good field to work for any one interested in 

 Chiroptera. Bats are certainly very numerous there, although, 

 besides the Noctule, I had only the opportunity of identifying the 

 Pipistrelle (V. pipistrellus) and the Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritus). 

 The latter I met with several times during the day in barns and hay- 

 lofts near farmhouses. — Harry B. Booth (Shipley, Yorks). 



Sorex minutus in Shropshire. — On Oct. 6th last I picked up a 

 female Lesser Shrew on the Long Mynd, Church Stretton, at an 

 elevation of over 1500 ft. It was lying dead on one of the grassy 

 tracks through the heather. It was a little difficult to measure, having 

 apparently been trodden upon, but the head and body were about 

 50 mm. and the tail 40 mm. in length. The species has been 

 previously recorded for Shropshire (H. E. Forrest, ' Zoologist,' 1900, 

 p. 186), but I do not know if it has been met with in England at so 

 great an elevation ; in Scotland, however, it appears to ascend to a 

 much greater altitude, for one was brought by a Cat into the observ- 

 atory on the summit of Ben Nevis (' Annals of Scottish Natural 

 History,' 1897, p. 42).— T. A. Coward (Bowdon, Cheshire). 



White Stoat. — A very fine male Stoat (Putorius ermineus) in perfect 

 white winter dress was sent for preservation to Mr. Travis, from Caven- 

 ham, near Bury St. Edmunds, about the last day of September. I saw 

 it about a fortnight later, and Mr. Travis, who has had dozens of Stoats 

 through his hands, told me that a white one at this time of the year 



