( 471 ) 

 NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 

 A Local Race of Light-coloured Mice. — Mr. Gordon Dalgliesh 

 {ante, p. 434), in writing of Mils flavicollis and other mice, says : — 

 " I have in my possession a M. musculus mouse, which I took in a 

 farm-building, so remarkable in colour — a bright yellowish fawn — 

 that had it been taken abroad would certainly have led to a suspicion 

 of its being a new species." An almost similar experience befell me 

 last year. I had heard of a peculiar light-coloured race of mice that 

 inhabited a solitary farm at the head of an isolated valley (The Wash- 

 burn) lying between vast expanses of high moors, and far away from 

 contact with other human habitations. Through the medium of a 

 friend I obtained a specimen in May, 1909, but far too " gamey " for 

 any hope of preserving it. It was a female — adult, but slightly 

 undersized — and of a fawn or sandy colour throughout. Coming 

 from a virgin district, the specimen was interesting to me, and 

 suggested possibilities ; but I had my suspicions, and I instituted an 

 inquiry through my friend to ascertain if any tame white or parti- 

 coloured mice had ever been kept at this farm. Later my friend 

 replied : — •" You have, I think, diagnosed the case exactly. ... I 

 found that at one time one of the family used to keep ' white ' mice." 

 Whether these light-coloured mice are the direct descendants of the 

 "tame" mice, or whether these latter have interbred with wild Mus 

 musculus, it would be difficult to say now. But that they appear to 

 have succeeded in producing a local race of fawn-coloured mice is, I 

 think, worthy of record. An analogous case amongst rabbits is 

 developing at present on some of the islands of the Fame group, viz. 

 on "The Brownsman " and on "The Fame." The bird-watchers there 

 have liberated some of the Belgian "hare" breed of rabbits, which are 

 interbreeding with the ordinary British wild rabbit, itself formerly 

 introduced into these islands, I am told. The result is that the 

 greater proportion of the rabbits there to-day are of a distinct type — 

 fawn-coloured, but of a lighter shade underneath. — H. B. Booth 



(Ben Ehydding, Yorks). 



A V E S. 



An Albino Bunting. — The word " Bunting " must be understood 

 here in a generic sense, for the bird in question was so perfect 

 an albino that I am unable to say whether it was, or rather is (for no 

 one wishes to shoot it), a Yellowhammer or a Beed-Bunting. A 

 Corn-Bunting it certainly is not. The movement of the tail proved 

 it to be a Bunting, and a careful examination with a binocular when 



