NOTES AND QUERIES.
MAMMALIA.
carnivora.
Stoats turning White in Winter.—I should be very much obliged if any readers of 'The Zoologist' could kindly give me any information as to whether the Stoats (Mustela erminea) in their respective districts have or have not turned white, either wholly or partially, during the present mild winter. Specimens of Stoats in the process of turning white wouid be gratefully received by me at the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London, S.W.—G.E.H. Barrett-Hamilton.
Polecats in Suffolk.—Since I received the Polecat (Mustela putorius), lately recorded (ante, p. 22), I have had the opportunity of examining two more Suffolk specimens in the flesh, by the courtesy of Mr. Travis, the taxidermist, at Bury St. Edmunds; the first obtained at Cavenham on Feb. 2nd, the second at Mildenhall on Feb. 16th. Both were splendid specimens.—Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds).
rodentia.
Black Water Vole in Suffolk.—On Feb. 16th I received in the flesh a good specimen of the black variety of the Water Vole (Microtus amphibius), killed a few days previously in the stables of Hopton Rectory, which is about a mile from the Little Ouse, the Norfolk and Suffolk boundary. The correspondent who sent it to me for identification writes, "No one about here seems to know anything about it."—Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds).
AVES.
Tree Pipit in January.—On the 23rd of last January, a very mild and sunny day, my attention was attracted by a Pipit perched on a low tree on Headington Hill, near Oxford. I had a good look at it with a binocular at the distance of a few yards, and another still better one when it flew across the road and perched on another taller tree. I have no hesitation in saying that it was a Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis). Both this species and the Meadow Pipit are of course very familiar to me. The latter is common in winter on our low-lying alluvial meadows, but rarely occurs on the higher ground, and is certainly not at home in trees, as was the bird I saw
