Armitage : Whiskered Bat near Barnsley. 147 



every instance the ' warbles ' had been opened and the grub 

 extracted. In the case of the larger roots, which were not 

 easily turned over, the warbles on the lower side were still 

 entire. Here and there a natural swelling on the Swede had 

 been mistaken for a gall, and the huge slashing cut left by the 

 Rook's (?) bill was remarkable ; only in one case did I find that 

 an attempt had been made twice. The blow is struck from one 

 side just to cut off the top of the ' warble ' and expose the 

 grub. Some of the holes by which the grubs had been taken 

 out were so clean and gimlet-like that I cannot help thinking 

 they were the work of Thrushes. The grubs themselves varied 

 in colour from cream-white to deep orange in the same field. 

 Can there be two species ? Those that bore into the root above 

 and below ground. I could find no difference between the 

 'warbles' of the roots grown on clay-carr, i.e., peat mixed with 

 a little Oxford Clay, and gravel-carr, i.e., chalk drift gravel and 

 peat. Only in one case did I find that a bird had been feeding 

 on the Swede itself. The hole was long, narrow, and deep, and 

 was on the middle of a. fairly flat surface where a ewe had been 

 feeding ; I do not doubt the bird was a Pheasant. 



This reminds me of a passag'e in an article by the late 

 John Cordeaux on 'Some Foot Prints in the Snow' ('The 

 Naturalist,' 1887, p. 72-74). I think it is worth while to make 

 a short extract. Remarking on the mischief the Fieldfares were 

 doing to a 'plot of sw r edes,' he continues, ' I shot one old bird 

 with his head buried in the root, and his beak filled with yellow 

 pulp ; upwards of one hundred roots were more or less exca- 

 vated. In some instances little more than the outer rind was 

 left. Neither had Hares or Rabbits first attacked the roots, 

 and thus given countenance to the hungry birds. Some roots 

 were quite freshly attacked, with a hole pierced through the 

 smooth rind such as a gimlet would have made.' Perhaps my 

 observations were made in too open a time. In any case this 

 note is interesting, and would be more so if in the paper we had 

 any indication of the duration of the storm of January 1SS7. 



NOTE -MAMMALIA. 



Whiskered Bat near Barnsley. I took a specimen of 1 1 1 1 — species 

 {Vcsf>crlilio tuvstacinus) from Rocklev Abbey, near Stainborou^li Woods, 

 on the 14U1 of April. I may also state thai I took another specimen of 

 batterer's Hat ( \ \ naftereri) from the tunnel in Broom Royd Wood on 

 24th March. It escaped a tew (.lays later. JOSEPH ARMITAGE, i jo. Park 

 Road, Barnsley, 23rd April ic>oo. 



iixx' May 1. 



