382 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Variety of Badger.— In 'The Zoologist' (1904, p. 227) I described a 

 variety of the Badger in which all those parts which are normally black 

 were of a pale brown colour. A similar animal was recently trapped in 

 Hawkstone Park, Shropshire, where there is a large and old-established 

 earth containing more than one pair of Badgers. In this example, 

 however, the eyes were pink, although the animal could not be styled 

 an albino. — H. E. Forrest (Hillside, Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury). 



Melanic Short-tailed Vole. — On my way to Norfolk I stopped at 

 Ely, and bought a half-grown specimen of the above species. It was 

 of a pure jet-black. As animals of this colour are much rarer than 

 either cream or white, its occurrence is of much interest to collectors 

 of varieties. It was caught in a mowing-field near the city on July 7th, 

 1907. — J. Whitaker (Rainworth Lodge, Notts). 



Daubenton's Bat (Myotis daubentoni) in Hertfordshire. — On Sept. 

 21st I saw several Daubenton's Bats on the Grand Junction Canal in 

 the neighbourhood of Grove Mill, near Watford. I am not aware of 

 any previous Hertfordshire record, but this Bat is probably not un- 

 common in suitable localities, and has merely been overlooked. — 

 Chas. Oldham (Knutsford). 



AVES. 



Status of the Grey Wagtail. — In 'The Zoologist' (ante, p. 151) 

 Mr. W. H. Parkin asks for information relating to the status of the 

 Grey Wagtail (Motacilla melanope) in the north. In Wensleydale, 

 Yorkshire, a pair of Grey Wagtails are to be found by most of the 

 larger becks running into the River Ure, and M. melanope is fairly 

 common, though local, by the River Ure itself. Last summer I saw 

 a small party of eight by one of the falls at Aysgarth, and this con- 

 stitutes the largest number I have seen at one time in the same locality. 

 I think that M. melanope is slightly decreasing in numbers ; to what 

 this is due I cannot say. The Grey Wagtail occurs in Wharfedale, 

 where it is local and not very numerous. In the neighbourhood of 



