A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE while making their way across a field, but were replaced in Calwich pond which com- municates with the Dove. On the upper Dove otters are relentlessly shot and trapped. No less than four were killed between Christ- mas 1899 and March 1900 on the Alstone- field waters, and a dog otter weighing 22 Ib. was also killed at Okeover in the following April. Mr. Storer informs me that otters have been met with in the Trent at Burton quite recently, even within the borough boun- daries. One was seen near the weir in November 1899, and though chased managed to escape. In the Derwent and its tribu- taries otters are comparatively scarce. Now and then one is killed, but instances are few and far between. The favourite prey of the otter in our rivers appears to be the eel, though other fish are taken as well. A 3 Ib. eel which had been killed in this way was found by Mr. G. M. Bond near the Dove in 1900. In the Rolleston Hall Museum is a white otter which formed part of the old Burton Museum collection and is believed to have been captured in the Trent. RODENTIA 20. Squirrel. Sciurus leucourus (Kern). Bell Sciurus vu/garis. Generally distributed over all the well- timbered parts of the county, and where protected exceedingly common. I have known a pair of squirrels to take possession of a newly finished magpies' nest and eject the original occupants. 21. Dormouse. Muscardinus avellanartus (Linn.). Bell Myoxus avellanaritu. Although this species appears to have been tolerably numerous in former times, at the present day it is exceedingly local and scarce except in one or two places. In the shooting diary of the Rev. F. Gisborne the following entry occurs under the date of October 29, 1774 : ' Caught a dormouse alive in Stubbing Wood [near Chesterfield].' Both Pilkington and Glover include the dormouse in their lists ; the latter adds, ' found in oat ricks.' J. J. Briggs, writing in 1862, says : ' The dor- mouse is becoming annually more rare . . . was formerly abundant, and more especially in the larger woods of southern Derbyshire. It is now however, as far as I am aware, seldom met with' (Reliquary, 1862, p. 159). Mr. E. Brown omits this species altogether from his account of the fauna of Burton, but Sir O. Mosley speaks of it as resident in woods but considered rare (Nat. Hist, of Tut- bury, p. 27). In 1876 I found dormice in Lea Wood near Derwent in the High Peak. Unfor- tunately this wood is being partly destroyed in connection with the Derwent valley reser- voir works. Mr. W. Boulsover informs me that they are found in the Lea valley near Cromford, and in the Alderwasley and High Tor woods they are tolerably common. Probably further research would result in the discovery of other colonies, as Mr. J. Whitaker has reported this species from Worksop, just over the Nottingham boundary (Zool. 1885, p. 207), and it is known to exist in various parts of Staffordshire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Leicestershire. 22. Brown or Common Rat. Mus decumanus, Pallas. Introduced into England about the be- ginning of the eighteenth century, but well established in the county in Pilkington's time (1789). At the present time common almost everywhere and terribly destructive. 23. Black Rat. Mus rattus, Linn. This species is also said to have been intro- duced into our country, but has been com- pletely exterminated in Derbyshire for many years. Even in 1789 Pilkington wrote : ' Of rats there are very few of the black species ' (A View of the present state of Derbyshire, p. 318). Most of the later evidence is either of a negative character or else is based upon misconception. For instance, Mr. J. J. Briggs writes thus : ' These mounds [i.e. the British barrows in north Derbyshire] too contain the bones of the black rat in great abundance, showing that although it is now nearly extinct in this country, it was formerly met with in great abundance ' (Reliquary, i. 1 80). The bones in question are of course those of the water vole (Microtus amphibius). 24. House Mouse. Mus musculus, Linn. Common in almost all inhabited places. 25. Long-tailed Field Mouse. Mus sylvaticus, Linn. Locally, Wood Mouse. Commonly distributed over the more fertile parts of the county. 156
