Page:VCH Sussex 1.djvu/348

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A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 1895. In east Sussex this bat has been ob- tained in the following places : St. Leonards, Hastings, Hollington, Battle, Rye, Guestling, Catsfield, Bexhill, Udimore and Brede. Like most of this genus the whiskered bat shows a partiality for the neighbourhood of water, but it may also be found flying in and out of trees and searching for insects close to the foliage. In flight it closely resembles the pipistrelle. INSECTIVORA t. Hedgehog. Er Common. europa;us. 12. Mole. Talpa europaa, Linn. Abundant. 13. Common Shrew. 8orex aiancus, Linn. Common and generally distributed. 14. Pigmy Shrew. Sorex mtnutus, Pallas. Bell — Sorex pygmaus. The pigmy shrew seems to be generally dis- tributed in east Sussex. It was first noticed near St. Leonards June 1 6, 1898, and after- wards taken at St. Helens, Bexhill, Holling- ton, Catsfield, Brede, Udimore and Lewes. In west Sussex it appears to be rare, Mr. Pratt of Brighton having only received one specimen in twenty years, yet it is probably common locally. The lesser shrew is fond o( making its runs under ivied walls and is easily trapped. 15. Water Shrew. Neomys fidiens, Pallas. Bell — Sorex fodietts. This species is fairly numerous in suitable localities throughout the county. An albino was caught near Pevensey April 11, 1900 (Mr. Daniel Francis in lit.) CARNIVORA 16. Fox. Fu/pes vulpes, Linn. Bell — Vulpes vulgaris. Generally distributed. As an instance of the great distances these animals will travel and their homing instincts, a dog fox, half of whose brush had been removed by a gin trap, was recently hunted from Graylands, Horsham, to the South Downs, after a run which in the windings cannot have been less than forty miles. Early next morning it was found dead outside its earth at Graylands. 17. Pine Marten. Mustela martei, Linn. Bell — Martes abietum. 'About the year 1841 a marten was caught in a rabbit-wire by one of the Duke of Nor- folk's keepers at Clapham Wood near Findon ; and about the same time another and a finer one was killed at Wadhurst by Mr. Gill of Applesham. On that gentleman's death and sale of his collection this specimen was pur- chased by Mr. R. D. Drewitt of 53, Holland Park, Kensington, who furnished this informa- tion. A third, killed about the same time, was taken in a rabbit-wire in Michelgrove Woods, Arundel, and was for a long time in the possession of one of the Duke of Nor- folk's gamekeepers. It turned up at a sale at Pettering near Arundel on August 26, 1 89 1, but who became the purchaser I have not ascertained. The last marten believed to have been seen in the county was killed by the Crawley and Horsham foxhounds at Holmbush near Crawley five - and - twenty years ago. It was stuffed by Leadbeater of Brewer Street, London, for Mr. Borrer of Cowfold, in whose collection I have seen it. ... It was subsequently however destroyed by moth, and only the skull is now preserved ' (Harting, Zoologist., 1891, pp. 457, 458). In Mr. Borrer's collection there is another mar- ten which has all the appearance of having been mounted early in the last century. This may possibly be the other specimen which is referred to in the collector's notes as follows : 'Nov. 30, 1850. This day Thos. Broad- wood, Esq., most kindly presented me with a stuffed specimen of the marten shot at the back of his house, Holmbush, Horsham, in the year 1825. This is the last I have heard of killed in Sussex. I think it is immature.' This stuffed specimen has no birdstuffer's name on the back of the case. It is certainly immature ; and it cannot be the same as the specimen previously noticed, because Mr. Borrer himself acknowledges receiving the mounted specimen in its case. 18. Polecat. Putorius putorius, Liinn. Bell — Mustela putorius. A polecat was killed at Udimore, Rye, in October, 1848, by the gamekeeper to Mr. F. Langford (J. B. EUman, Zoologist, p. 2406). The late Sir Anchitel Ashburnham told Mr. Ruskin Butterfield in 1897 that he recollected a very fine polecat being trapped at Broomham, Hastings, 'about thirty years since.' Major Sir Archibald Lamb writes that one was caught at Beauport, Battle,