Page:VCH Hertfordshire 1.djvu/259

 MAMMALS unable to find more than one record of it. This is in Mr. Harting's article on the British marten which appeared in the Zoologist for 1891, p. 456, where it is stated that a speci- men was obtained in Oxhey Wood near Wat- ford on December 26th, 1872, which animal is, I believe, now preserved at Bushey. 11. Polecat. Putorius putorius. Linn. Bell Mustela putorius. This species is nearly, if not quite, extinct as a Hertfordshire mammal, although at one time not an uncommon resident. In the neighbouring county of Buckingham polecats are still to be found, and may occasionally still travel into Hertfordshire. Mr. T. Vaughan Roberts has informed me that Seymour of Hertford, who was at one time keeper at Ware Park, trapped one there about 1885. Mr. Roberts also stated that a polecat was obtained some years ago near Hitchin. These are the only specific records I can find of this animal in Hertfordshire. 12. Stoat. Putorius erminius, Linn. Bell Mustela ermlnea. This is a common inhabitant of the county although it suffers a great deal at the hands of gamekeepers. This species occasionally fre- quents mole-runs, as is evidenced by one being caught in a mole-trap at Knightlands Farm, Barnet, in February, 1891. Albino speci- mens have from time to time been procured in Hertfordshire. 13. Weasel. Putorius nivalis, Linn. Bell Mustela vulgaris. The weasel is also common throughout the county, though its numbers, as in the case of the last species, are well kept down by game- keepers. The extreme fearlessness of this animal is wonderful, and is shown by the fact that Lord Aldenham's keeper once killed one with his foot when it approached him in the grass, while he was feeding young phea- sants. 14. Badger. Meles meles, Linn. Bell Meles taxui. Although perhaps not so plentiful as for- merly, the badger is still far from being ex- tinct in Hertfordshire, and breeds in large earths in many parts of the county. The late Dr. Brett wrote a short article on it in the Trans, of the Watford Nat. Hist. Sac. for 1877, in which there is a great deal of infor- mation about its occurrence in Hertfordshire. From that article it would appear that this animal was to be found at Ashridge, Ashlyns near Berkhamsted, Langleybury, The Grove, Cassiobury Park and Munden near Watford, Aldenham and Hadham Hall. At Cassio- bury between 1830 and 1840 there was a badgers' earth at a spot called Badgers' Dell, from which badgers were obtained and sold to a man at Croxley Green, who kept a public-house at which he used to have badger- baiting. This was also done annually at Sandridge Fair near St. Albans ; while at Aldenham there lived for many years an old man who was a kind of purveyor of badgers for this amusement. By 1887 the badgers in the neighbourhood of Watford appear to have nearly died out, though from 1880 to 1883 there were several litters found in the district. In 1886 a badger weighing 25 lb. was caught in Lord Cowper's park at Pans- hanger about the middle of February, while in the society's Transactions for 1892 Mr. T. Vaughan Roberts mentioned Odsey as an additional locality for this species. In the following year, in a paper on Hertfordshire Mammals in the same journal, he gave a very interesting account of a large earth at Ashlyns which had existed there for many years. 15. Otter. Lutra lutra, Linn. Bell Lutra vulgaris. This animal cannot be considered common in Hertfordshire, although it has occurred on a good many occasions. It is to Dr. Brett again that we are indebted for particulars of it in the county. About 1856 an otter was killed in some osier beds past Tolpits in the neighbourhood of Watford, while a young one was killed in the Colne above that town. In 1810 one was seen at Piggott's End on the river Gade. The Hon. A. Holland-Hibbert has a stuffed otter in his collection at Munden, which was shot there in February, 1875. This animal, which was a male, weighed over 32 lb. and measured 4 feet i inches in length. In 1880 traces of otters were again found near Munden, while in 1883 two animals of this species were seen near Cassio- bury. Seymour showed Mr. Vaughan Roberts two others, one of which was trapped in Ware Park about 1888, while the other was shot about a mile and a half from Hertford in 1892. 219