202 



NOTES ON MA MM ALT A. 



The Noetule Bat in Co. Durham.— In the Newcastle Museum 

 there is a specimen of a Bat which was taken in the year 1836 at Mr. Swinburne's 

 house, between Harton and Cleadon, in the county of Durham, and not far from 

 Newcastle. It was recorded among the donations to the museum as the Serotine : 

 ' A species of Bat ( Vespertilio serotijius) taken near Cleadon — Mr. A. Swinburne,' 

 1836 (Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc, 4to, vol. ii. ). It also figures as the Serotine in Messrs. 

 Mennell and Perkins' Catalogue of the Mammalia of Northumberland and Durham. 

 The identification is, however, incorrect. Mr. Thomas Southwell, of Norwich, 

 visited the museum last year, and after such inspection as can be given to a speci- 

 men in a closed glass case, considered it to be in all probability a Noctule ( Yes- 

 peTiigo nochila). He wrote me to this effect in September. When, therefore, 

 I visited Newcastle some weeks after I was sufficiently interested to make inquiries 

 on the subject, and found that Mr. Richard Howse, the curator, had investigated 

 the subject, and shared Mr. Southwell's view. He also showed me the specimen, 

 and after examination I fully coincided in their opinion. The specimen was old 

 and much bleached from exposure to light, but it seems to present all the external 

 structural characters of the Noctule. 



The settlement of the correct name of the specimen is of interest from a 

 geographical point of view from its being a northward extension of the range of the 

 Noctule, which has not before been satisfactorily recorded for any locality north of 

 the River Tees. Why it should not occur, and commonly too, in the county of 

 Durham, is an enigma ; for it is not only widely diffused throughout Yorkshire, 

 but is a common species in that county. Probably, however, our Durham friends 

 will meet with it when they pay more attention to their native species of Bats.^ — 

 W. Denison Roebuck, Leeds, March 20th, 1885. 



Whiskered Bat (Vespertilio mystacinus) at Warsill, near 



Pateley Bridge. — I lately met with this species at Warsill. in Nidderdale. 

 There was a large colony in a building there. One evening I counted nearly a 

 hundred as they came out to feed. They had begun to come out when I reached 

 the place, and were still coming out when I left. Mr. Roebuck has seen one of the 

 specimens, and confirms my naming. — ^James Ingleby, Eavestone, near Ripon, 

 July 19th, 1884. 



Capture of a Badger in Nidderdale. — Foxes having been very 

 troublesome during the past few weeks, farmers have been driven to protect them- 

 selves by placing traps. In one of these a large male Badger {Meles taxus) was 

 caught. It measured 3 ft. in length from the nose to the tip pf the tail, and weighed 

 27 lbs. This is the only occurrence of the Badger in this dale on record for the 

 past forty years. At the time of waiting the animal is alive and in the possession 

 of its captor. It was taken at Brimham Rocks. — Wm. Storey, March loth, 1885. 



Squirrel attacked by a Small Bird.— At Riding Mill I have several 

 times seen a Squirrel crossing the railway from the woods on one side to those on 

 the other. I am told it has done this every morning and evening for some years 

 past. One night last summer it crossed the line as usual, and ran up into the 

 nearest tree. After going a short distance, it came to a tree in which a small bird 

 (a Chaffinch I think it was) had its nest. On its approach the bird grew very 

 excited, and attacked the Squirrel most vigorously, flying at it from right and left, 

 uttering all the time sharp cries of anger and alarm. The Squirrel seemed quite 

 unable to retaliate, and beat a hasty retreat, leaving the bird in undisputed posses- 

 sion of the tree which it had chosen for its abode. — A. W. Price, Tynemouth, 

 February 15th, 1885. 



Squirrel's Method of Carrying its Young.— I don't know 

 whether the habit of the Squirrel of carrying its young in its mouth after the 

 manner of the domestic cat is of any interest to you, or generally known. Some 

 years since, when walking through a park in the neighbourhood *of Shrewsbury, I 

 observed a Squirrel so carrying its young one, which I captured before it was able to 

 reach a tree. I afterwards withdrew, but upon returning shortly to the spot, I 

 found the old one quartering the ground in search of its lost one. — Geo. W. 



Oldfield, London, 28th February, 1885. 



Naturalist, 



