Page:VCH Staffordshire 1.djvu/197

 MAMMALS Turning now to the ungulates or hoofed mammals, passing reference must be made to the famous herd of wild white cattle at Chartley. These grand animals which numbered 29 head in March, 1901, by April, 1903, were reduced to less than a dozen through tuberculous disease. A fine young bull and three heifers have been separated from the remainder of the herd in the hopes that they may thus escape con- tagion. Should they unfortunately fail to do so there is every probability that this historic herd may speedily become extinct. Of our three species of deer the red deer is now entirely a park animal, although formerly common enough in the county, and even so late as 1853 one was at large in Swythamly Woods, and in 1870 one was killed there (vide North Staffs Field Club Report, 1894, p. 39). The wild fallow deer which in Dickenson's time, 1798, were estimated at more than 3,000, are now represented by a few scattered individuals wandering amongst the oaks and hollies in the Needwood Forest estates and on Cannock Chase ; but many are kept in semi-domestication in the deer parks of the county. The beautiful little roe deer owes its inclusion in our list to the discovery of its cast antlers in Needwood Forest by Sir Oswald Mosley, where it undoubtedly lived when the wild boar whetted his curved tusks on the trunks of the oaks, and possibly long after he was exterminated. CHEIROPTERA 1 . Lesser Horseshoe Bat. Rhinolophus hippij- sideruS) Bechstein. This species is included by the late Mr. Edwin Brown in his Fauna of Burton-on- Trent, although his specimens came from Derbyshire, where it is not uncommon. The lesser horseshoe bat does not seem to have occurred in Staffordshire of late years, but I am still in hopes that further research in the limestone district of north Stafford will result in its discovery as a resident in the county. 2. Long-eared Bat. Plecotus auritus, Linn. Generally distributed throughout the county. It may be seen on the wing from March till November, and is extremely active in turning and wheeling in the air, as well as in rising from the ground. 3. Great Bat. Piphtrella noctu/a, Schreber. Bell Scotophilus noctula. White Vespertirio altivolans. This grand bat justly named by Mr. Trevor-Battye in honour of the great natura- list who first described it as a British species, White's bat is generally distributed in Staffordshire, and may be observed in flight from May till August or early September. It is often seen abroad in the day and then flies very high in the air, but I have frequently seen it skimming the meadows near Burton- on-Trent late in the evening at an elevation of 6 feet or less. At Trentham Park Mr. Collins obtained thirty specimens from a hollow ash in which they were hibernating. 1 These were exhibited alive at the Annual Meeting of the North Staffordshire Field Club held at Stoke on Thursday, 19 March, 1891, Mr. Collins subsequently took ten specimens out of a hollow Scotch fir in the same locality. 3 In captivity, for a bat, this species evinces considerable intelligence. One that I kept for several weeks became remarkably tame, readily recognized my voice and distinguished it from that of any other person. When called it hurried towards me with a peculiar movement of its long fore-arms as if it were mounted on stilts, and having reached me climbed about my person with every evidence of satisfaction. 4. Pipistrelle. Pipistre/lus plpistret/us, Schreber. Bell Scotophilus pipistrellus. Common and generally distributed. Owing to its partiality for house-roofs and churches this is our most familiar bat. Its winter sleep 1 North Staffordshire Naturalists' Field Club Report, 1891, p. 65. 2 Ibid. 1894, p. 38. I6 3