NOTES AND QUERIES. 71 



the Bats seemed to indicate that they too had fed recently. — Charles 

 Oldham (Knutsford). 



Mus alexandrinus at Yarmouth. — Mr. Rumbelow (ante, p. 26) is, I 

 think, correct in stating Mus rattus, and its compeer M. alexandrinus, 

 are on the increase hereabouts. I am constantly hearing of their 

 appearance in fresh quarters, and very little to their credit. Cats are 

 very fond of hunting them, and eagerly eat them, leaving only the 

 snout and teeth. The Eats themselves are not averse to anything 

 that promises the least nourishment, and are not above nibbling the 

 toe of a sound sleeper. A house in which a babe was some time ago 

 seriously mauled by Black Bats has since been shut up, for the smell 

 of those poisoned, after the carpenters had been at work, has made the 

 place as insanitary as it was before unsavoury. In warehouses, dates, 

 eggs, jars of jam — anything, in fact, is fish in their net. Passing a 

 sail-loft on January 25th, a sailmaker asked me if I could do with a 

 couple of Bats, "one of 'em a clinker I " i.e. an extraordinarily large 

 one. I gladly accepted, and sent them to Dr. S. H. Long, of 

 Norwich, who is much interested in the species. One was a jet-black 

 male Mus rattus, the other a very large example of Mus rattus alex- 

 andrinus. As it differs slightly from one referred by Mr. J. G. Millais 

 as coming from Yarmouth (Zool. 1905, p. 203), I have thought it 

 worth recording. Measurements : — Head and body, 8£ in. ; tail, 9 in. ; 

 weight, 1\ oz. Body of a smoke-brown generally, with slightly darker 

 hair on the back, and of a lighter hue below. Both fell victims to their 

 love of Bussian tallow, not a scrap of which that sailmaker dare leave 

 about at night, except some placed in a trap for their especial benefit 

 — and his own. When writing a very tarry smell emanated from the 

 hides of both Rats, due to their having made their beds of such tarry 

 twine as they found lying about the loft. — Arthur H. Patterson 

 (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth). 



AVES. 



Breeding of the Twite. — Mr. Butterfield (ante, p. 32) asks for 

 authenticated instances of the Twite breeding south of Derbyshire. I 

 have a clutch taken two years ago in Devonshire. They were found 

 by a friend who identified the parent birds, and kindly sent me the nest 

 and eggs. These were exhibited at a subsequent meeting of the British 

 Ornithologists' Club, and a note on the subject will be found in its 

 bulletin. — Charles E. Pearson (Hillcrest, Lowdham, Nottingham). 



Cirl-Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) in Cheshire. — On Jan. 23rd, 1906, 

 I wa3 fortunate in seeing a small party of Cirl-Buntings feeding 



