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 A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE is very slight and when the weather becomes mild this bat awakes and ventures out to prey upon the few insects which are then abroad. In different years I have seen it in flight during each month from January to Decem- ber. Mr. John R. B. Masefield has recorded the receipt, in June 1893, of sixty-one pipis- trelles from one of the lodges in Trentham Park 1 a very large colony for this species. 5. Natterer's Bat. Myotis nattereri, Leisler. Bell Vespertilio nattereri. Rare. One example only recorded. Of this specimen the late Mr. Edwin Brown wrote : ' Captured in the roof of Stapenhill House some years ago, and is now in the Burton Museum." This was in 1863, and Burton does not now possess a museum. It would be interesting to learn if this specimen is still in existence, but up to the present I have been unable to trace it. 6. Daubenton's Bat. Myotis daubentoni, Leisler. Bell f^etptrtilit daubentonii. Not common. Has occurred near Uttoxeter (C. Oldham) and at Stafford (L. E. Adams). In June, 1899, I saw two bats playing over the water of the Trent at Drakelow Deeps, which from their manner of touchine the O water, doubtless when taking gnats from the surface, and their silence whilst on the wing, I imagine to have been of this species. On the following evening I saw the same or similar bats on the Derbyshire side of the river which here forms the boundary between the two counties, at the point where the Leicester line bridge crosses the Trent. It is probable that when more attention has been directed to the habits of our local bats, Dau- benton's bat will prove to be much less un- common than is at present supposed to be the case. 7. Whiskered Bat. Myotis mystacinus, Leisler. Bell Vespertilio mystacinus. First recorded for the county by Garner in his Natural History of the County of Stafford (1844), and again by Sir Oswald Mosley in the Natural History of Tut bury (1863), appar- ently from the same specimen captured near Burton. This bat was for many years con- sidered to be one of our rarest species. Of late however many examples have been cap- tured especially in the north of the county, and in the Cheadle district Mr. Masefield considers it the commonest bat. This is however by no means the case near Burton and south of the Trent, where, according to my experience, a small almost black variety of the pipistrelle is by far the most abundant species. INSECTIVORA 8. Hedgehog. Erinaceus europeeus, Linn. Generally distributed and fairly common, though much persecuted by gamekeepers because of its depredations on the eggs and young of game birds. Rewards were formerly given in Staffordshire for killing hedgehogs. 9. Mole. Talpa europaea, Linn. Common. 10. Common Shrew. Sorex araneus, Linn. Locally, Nurserow. Common everywhere in fields and hedge- rows. 11. Pigmy Shrew. Sorex minutus, Linn. Bell Sorex pygmteus. Far less common than the preceding. The first local specimen was found dead near Con- sail on 17 September, 1885, by Mr. E. W. H. Blagg, and since then the remains of others have been found by Mr. L. E. Adams in the pellets disgorged by owls at Penkridge and near Stafford (reported by Mr. Masefield in N.S.F.C. Reports, 1886, 1897). 12. Water Shrew. Neomys fodiens, Pallas. Bell Crossopus fodiens. Widely distributed in the county and not uncommon. I have myself observed it at various places in the Trent and in the Dove, and on one occasion an individual was cap- tured in the canal at Branston by a terrier belonging to me and killed before there was time for interference. This animal some- times wanders far from any water. Thus on 1 8 August, 1899, 1 found an adult male speci- men lying dead on the roadside between Rolleston and Horninglow, and on the same road the dead bodies of four common shrews. The oared shrew, which was formerly con- sidered to be a distinct species, but is now known to be merely an aged form of the water shrew, is stated by Garner to have been taken several times at Great Fenton and other places in the county. 1 North Staffordshire Naturalists' Field Club Report, 1894, p. 38. 164