Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/103

Rh every care lavished on them. A Cat is a delicate animal, with innumerable ailments. It easily becomes ill. It is a cowardly animal—if I may so express myself—and allows itself to die by not struggling against its malady, though at the end it dies hard. When a Cat gets a cold, or pleurisy, or distemper, it loses, through its nose being 'bunged up,' all taste and sense of smell. The moment it cannot smell its food it will not touch it, and dies of starvation even with a dish of food alongside it. Therefore a Cat, when ill, must at once be forcibly fed, or it will let itself die. Every one of these 13,994 Cats have passed through my hands, therefore I ought to know something about them."

Polecats in Wales.—Last November I had two of these animals (Mustela putorius) sent to me from a certain district in Cardiganshire, where they are not so uncommon as is supposed. They were both males, and in excellent pelt. The larger of the two is a beauty, his total length 23 in., length of tail 7 in., weight 2 lb. 3 oz. The fur is of great length and thickness. — (Heworth, York).

White Stoat.—Although the winter has been so mild, I procured, during the last week in December, the whitest Stoat (Mustela erminea) that I have in my collection; barring the black tip to the tail and a few brown hairs round each eye, it is pure white. Its dimensions were—total length, 12½ in.; length of tail, 3¼ in.; weight, 6¼ oz.; female. As will be noticed, the tail is very short, and the black tip only measured half an inch. Now, in my small series of skins, this is the second short-tailed Stoat that I have procured. The assumption would be that they had met with some accident, and part of the member was missing; but they were both skinned by myself. The tail tapered off to a fine point as in normal specimens, and there was nothing to indicate that any injury had been received. I should mention that the other of these short-tailed Stoats is a male. A friend of mine has a theory that these white Stoats are in several ways different to the common form—more slender in make, fur more silky, &c.—but in this I cannot agree with him. Certain it is, however, that they differ inter se very considerably in the length of their tails, and in the size of the black tip at the end.— (Heworth, York).

Great Grey Shrike in Warwickshire.—A specimen of Lanius excubitor was taken by a birdcatcher at Harbury Spoil Banks, near Leamington, on Dec. 27th, 1898. It was caught on the bird-lime, having made a dash at the stuffed decoy Goldfinches fixed upon a bush. Evidently a young bird of the year, as I noticed the markings on the edges of the breast feathers were very distinct. When I saw the bird a fortnight after it had been