Page:VCH Norfolk 1.djvu/279

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MAMMALS in each case (this has certainly been the experience of the writer), and might also reveal some unlooked-for facts as to their frequency or other- wise and the periods of their occurrence, for experience indicates that some species are as constant in their migratory movements as the re- cognized birds of passage, and pass along our coast with the same unerring regularity. It is not unlikely that the bottle-nose dolphin (£). tursio) visits the Norfolk waters at certain seasons, but I know of no instance of its capture, nor have I hitherto been able to record the occurrence of the common dolphin (Z). delphis), which latter seemed to be well known to Sir Thomas Browne. Another family in which there is scope for further investigation is that of the Cheiroptera. It is probable that a closer study of these animals would be rewarded by the addition of two or three species at present not recognized as occurring in Norfolk ; the serotine, hairy-armed bat, Daubenton's and the whiskered bat should be looked for. I make no apology for these brief remarks, for it is often as in- teresting and instructive to a faunist to know what species, which might reasonably be expected to occur, are missing from a certain district as it is to know those which are actually met with. The chief authorities on the Mammals of Norfolk are Messrs. C. J. and James Paget, who published a list in their Sketch of the Natural History of Great Yarmouth, in 1834 ; the Rev. Richard Lubbock in his Observations on the Fauna of Norfolk, 1845 (2nd edit., 1879) and many scattered records in the pages of the Zoologist. The present writer has also contributed a list to the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, which, with Supplements, will be found in their 'Transactions, vol. i. (1870-71) p. 71 ; vol. iii. p. 657 ; vol. v. p. 632 ; and vol. vi. p. 493. Other references will be found in the notes which follow. Of the forty-five species recorded we have the monopoly of at least four. CHEIROPTERA 1. Long-eared Bat. Plecotus auritus, Linn. Norf. and Nor. Nat. Soc, vol. i. [1873—74] Common. A cream-coloured variety has P' •'■ been met with. 4. Great or White's Bat (Noctule). Pipis- trellus noctula, Schreber. 2. Barbastelle. Barbastella harbastellus, Schre- m—ScotopMlus mctula. ber. Bell — Barbastellus daubenton'ti. Common. 5. Pipistrelle. Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Schre- Not a rare bat in Norfolk, and generally ^^^ distributed throughout the county. " ^^ii_ScotophUu, pipistrellus. 3. Parti-coloured Bat. Vespertilio tnurinus, Common. Linn. 6. Natterer's Bat. Myoiis nattereri, Kuhl. NMerer—resperugo discolor. Bell— Vespertilio nattereri. A doubtful British species. The late Mr. By no means rare in Norfolk, mostly fre- John Hancock had a parti-coloured bat vv^hich quents out-buildings. Mr. Norgate found was taken in the rigging of a vessel in Yar- one at Sparham in a nesting-box placed in a mouth Roads in the year 1834 (Vide Trans, hole in a wall for titmice. 247