30 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 

 Bechstein's Bat (Myotis bechsteini) in the Isle of Wight. — I write 

 by request of Mr. Percy Wadham, the well-known naturalist of New- 

 port, to ask you to make this record. He caught two specimens of this 

 Bat during the months of July and August last in a small copse of oak 

 and fir, within one hundred yards of his own house. The first he killed 

 with a stroke of his butterfly-net ; the second he caught in the net 

 and kept alive for some days. His friend Mr. Jeffery, taxidermist, of 

 the same town, should have the credit of being the first to suppose 

 that they were a rare species, and when Mr. Wadham sent me the 

 female I was able to identify it without any doubt, being well 

 acquainted with its nearest relatives. Mr. Jeffery took the following 

 measurements of the female : Length of head and body, 1-75 in. ; 

 length of tail, 1*45 in. ; length of ear, fin. The male was somewhat 

 larger. At first sight one would call this Bat " long-eared," though 

 its ears are not nearly so long as in the species of that name ; they 

 are decidedly longer than in nattereri, daubentoni, and mystacinus. 

 Hampshire claimed for many years to be the only British home of 

 this species, but Millais records its occurrence in Oxfordshire, and 

 Mr. Heneage Cocks in Berkshire (Zool. 1909, p. 154). — J. E. Kelsall 

 (New Milton, Hants). 



Artifices by Cat to secure its Prey. — It is well known that Stoats 

 and Weasels will occasionally fascinate and cause their prey to 

 approach by performing strange and unusual antics which have the 

 effect of lulling suspicion and arousing the curiosity so highly de- 

 veloped in many wild animals. This peculiar habit has been described 

 in detail and illustrated by Mr. J. G. Millais in his ' Mammals of 

 Great Britain,' vol. ii. pp. 116 and 132. Possibly it is less commonly 

 known that a similar device is employed by domesticated Cats, from 

 which it may perhaps be inferred that wild members (Felidce) also 

 make use of this artifice. This is illustrated by the following observa- 

 tions made by the writer in Berwickshire : — During some very severe 

 and snowy weather food for wild Pheasants was placed outside and 

 close to a small covert about seventy yards from the house, and over- 

 looked by several windows. More than twenty birds took advantage 

 of this, and continued to visit the spot in the early mornings even 



