MAMMALS the mole. In the village and country house gardens the moles have ancient main galleries in the hedges and banks, even running under drives and roads. These galleries must have been used by the moles for generations. In the Thames valley they are less common, being frequently drowned in floods, which also drown the earthworms. 10. Common Shrew. Sorex araneus, Linn. Judging by the evidence of their dead bodies, which here as elsewhere are seen lying about on the roads, the shrews are not very plentiful in Berkshire. It is only occasionally that a dead shrew is seen. Very possibly the abundance of moles is connected with the absence of shrews, a fact noted in Bell's British Quadrupeds. II. Water Shrew. Neomys fodiens, Pallas. The water shrew is strictly an inhabitant of running ditches, which are by no means com- mon in the county, being totally absent both on the downs and in the vale, while only a few are found in the Thames meadows. There the water shrew may be seen, and also in the upper channels of the little streams rising in the chalk. It is also common in the Rennet valley, where the water cuts and channels in the meadows are much to its taste. CARNIVORA 12. Fox. Vul-pes vulpes, Linn. Bell Vulpes vulgaris. The ' old Berkshire ' country, which in- cludes the Vale of White Horse, and the north side of the Downs up to the ridgeway, is full of foxes. There are earths in the large fences between the vale meadows, and another range of earths in the greensand where the villages are and the springs break out, as in Kingston Lisle Park and the ' Wilderness ' at Sparsholt House. Another set of earths is at Childrey Warren, in Bearwood, near the Great White Horse, and at Moss Hill, on the way to Lam- bourn. The foxes on the downs sit out a good deal on the rough grass in spring. They may often be seen doing this in the open park above Kingston Lisle House. In the vale they regularly hunt along the Great Western Railway in the early morning for birds killed by the telegraph wires. The ' Craven Coun- try ' includes all the downs up to the ridge- way, with the Kennet and Lambourn valleys. The ' Down ' foxes are drawn for at a trot, as no one can say where they are lying. In the woods of Woolley and Catmore foxes also abound. A terrible epidemic of mange, which began by the introduction of some foxes which developed mange, and were turned down in Mr. Garth's Country about 1885, attacked the Berkshire foxes for many years. Some might be seen with tails like a stick, quite naked of fur, instead of a brush. One poor animal was seen entirely devoid of all fur, and numbers died from the affliction. Nearer London foxes are becoming increasingly rare. [Pine Marten. Mustela martes, Linn. Bell Martes abietum. This animal is extinct in the county.] 13. Polecat. Putorius putorius, Linn. BeKMusttla putorius. With the great woods of Oxfordshire as a reserve there is always a chance of polecats being found in Berkshire. One was seen in Wittenham wood on the Thames in 1896, and specimens are said to have been killed within recent years in the ' wild ' woods at Ilsley, and in Fence wood, on the Didcot and Newbury line. It is, however, very difficult for a game- keeper, who is usually the person who traps the animal, to distinguish between a genuine polecat, and an escaped polecat ferret, some of which are lost every year, and tend to be- come wild. 14. Stoat. Putorius ermineus, Linn. Bell Mustela erminea. The amount of trapping diminishes the numbers of the stoats. They are common alike in the vale and on the downs, and in the wooded districts near Windsor, Virginia Water and Sunningdale. The banks of the Thames are a favourite hunting ground, where they capture water rats, young waterhens, and other small mammals and birds. In harvest- time they leave the corn-fields and enter the woods, or raid the rearing fields where young pheasants are growing up. In the vale they move into the hedgerows as soon as the hay- fields are cut, and there live almost entirely on rabbits till the grass grows the next May and June. Very large specimens are some- times killed. It is very rare to see a white stoat in Berkshire, even in hard winters. 15. Weasel. Putorius nivalis, Linn. Bell Mustela vulgaris. Weasels, fortunately for game preservers, are not very common in Berkshire. Their 169 22
