274 THE ZOOLOGIST 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Black Rabbits. — Black Rabbits have, in my experience, always 

 been rare in this neighbourhood, and until last autumn I had not 

 seen one for a number of years. Then, curiously enough, I shot two. 

 The first was at Bloxham, on Oct. 25th — coal-black all over. The 

 other I got at South Newington Hill, about three miles off, on Nov. 

 28th. It was of a beautifully shining black, with a few white hairs 

 scattered over it, rather like " silver-fox" fur, and had a small white 

 spot about the size of an average sweet-pea seed on the under side of 

 the tail. There are a great many Rabbits at the latter place, and 

 during the last few years I have shot and seen a considerable number, 

 but I never before saw a " variety " of any kind there. I do not 

 think domestic Rabbits have ever been turned out there (or at Blox- 

 ham) ; the difficulty has been to keep the Rabbits down, although 

 Badgers live in the same hillside (and Foxes in the gorse below), and 

 are commonly believed to dig out the " stops " when the Rabbits are 

 breeding. In some parts of the country Black Rabbits are, I know, 

 not at all uncommon. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



Decrease of the Squirrel. — I should be glad to know if the Squirrel 

 has decreased in England generally. In this neighbourhood, in my 

 younger days, it was quite common (although there are no large 

 woods about here), inhabiting even small spinneys and plantation 

 belts, and being met with often in rows of trees away from them out 

 of the breeding season. They were in the habit of visiting orchards 

 and walled-in gardens in villages, where they used to steal the plums 

 and other wall-fruit. But for a good many years they have been 

 getting gradually scarcer, and I do not remember having seen one in 

 this parish for several years. Bloxham Grove was formerly a great 

 place for Squirrels, which used to breed in the big trees in front of 

 the house, and were a familiar sight running over the turf from tree 

 to tree. It was here, I think, that I first saw what have been 

 described as " white-tailed" Squirrels. They have all been gone for 

 years, and the owner told me a few days ago that one he saw on his 

 property about a year ago is the only Squirrel he has met with for a 



