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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 

 Present Status of the Squirrel in Britain. — Could any of the 

 readers of the ' Zoologist ' give me information regarding the present 

 state of the Squirrel population in different parts of the country ? I 

 should like to know whether it is stationary, on the decrease, or on 

 the increase, and if the latter, when was the increase first noticeable ? 

 I should also be glad to know if any signs of disease have been 

 observed. Here (Shropshire) Squirrels are now plentiful, after being 

 scarce for several years. — (Miss) Frances Pitt (The Albynes, Bridg- 

 north). 



Inherited Variation in Cat. — I wish to bring to your notice 

 a somewhat curious instance of variation in a domestic Cat which I 

 observed in Sussex this month. The cat in question, which was 

 a female of the familiar tabby-and-white variety, had an extra toe 

 placed on the inside of each fore-foot, so that it had five toes on each 

 of these feet as well as the usual claw half-way between the toes and 

 wrist, or if this is counted, six toes. The extra toe on each foot was 

 separate, and joined to the rest of the foot by a piece of skin, and had 

 a remarkable resemblance to the thumb of a Platyrrhine Monkey, as 

 it was turned outwards, but was, naturally, not opposable. Each 

 of the extra toes had a perfectly developed retractile claw. The 

 owners of the cat tell me that it has had kittens which also exhibit 

 this peculiarity, but such kittens are also always exactly like the 

 mother in colour and markings. Kittens of any other colour or 

 entirely " tabby " are without the variation in the fore-feet. — N. 0. E. 

 Serjeant (Great Wakering, Essex). 



AVES. 

 Black-bellied Sand Grouse (Pterocles arenarius, L.) in Malta. — 

 A female specimen of this species was taken at Gozo in the limits of 

 Nadur on April 11th. It was sent to my brother, who stuffed 

 it while I was out in the country. This is the second specimen 

 taken in these islands, and so it will probably be the fourth to 

 be included in the list of Italian birds. In Giglioli's list of 1907 only 

 two individuals are mentioned, and these were taken in Nice on 

 December 2nd and 16th, 1896, the same being also reported in Count 

 Arrigoni's list of 1913. The first specimen taken in these islands is 

 the one mentioned in my ' List of the Birds of Malta ' of 1915 ; it is a 

 male in full plumage. According to the data kindly furnished to me 



