NOTES AND QUERIES.
MAMMALIA.
Trapping Shrews and Voles.—I can fully endorse Mr. Pocock's remarks on the abundance of Microtus glareolus as regards my own county. I have trapped numbers of them, had many brought to me during haytime and harvest, and the cats often bring them into the house; but still, in districts that I have worked, M. agrestis is the preponderating species. Sorex minutus I have only succeeded in trapping once, though I am anxious to obtain specimens. S. araneus swarms, and Crossopus fodiens is common in suitable localities. Mus messorius I have never yet seen in the county. M. sylvaticus is ubiquitous, but though my friend Mr. James Backhouse and myself have examined a great number, we have not yet come upon the variety, as we consider it, M. flavicollis, though we are anxious to obtain a few specimens. Muscardinus avellanarius is very local.—Oxley Grabham, M.A. (Chestnut House, Heworth, York).
carnivora.
Common Seal in the River Arun, Sussex.—In September last a Seal made its appearance off the mouth of the Arun at Littlehampton, and finally ascended the river above Arundel, at a distance of about seven miles from the sea. It was eventually shot, and whilst in the flesh I was afforded an opportunity of noting the following particulars. It was a male specimen of the Common Seal, Phoca vitulina, about three parts grown, measuring 3 feet 7 inches in length, girth 27 inches, front flapper 7 inches long, weight 40 lb., with the molar teeth placed obliquely, one of the characteristics of this species. With an acquaintance of the neighbourhood for over fifty years, this is, I believe, the first instance of such an occurrence; the animal, in this case, being no doubt attracted by the shoals of Bass which in the early autumn are taken here in considerable numbers. Within the last two seasons I have seen two brought on shore, both of them exceeding 12 lb. in weight—one caught on light roach tackle, after nearly an hour's tussle of a most exciting kind.—Percy E. Coombe (Surrey House, Arundel).
AVES.
Local Name of the Sheldrake.—Mr. C.B. Horsbrugh does not remember (ante, p. 508) seeing the name St. George's Duck in any book;
