A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE terrier and a dachshund I need hardly say unsuccessfully. According to Sir Oswald Mosley, otters were formerly hunted in his district but never with much success, and the sport has been discontinued for many years. In Plot's time the otter must have been common in Staffordshire, for at Ingestre the worthy doctor was regaled with a dish of ' potted ' otter, ' so well ordered by the cook,' he remarked, ' that it required a very nice palate to distinguish it from venison.' RODENTIA 20. Squirrel. Sciurus leucourus, Kerr. Bell Sciurus vulgaris. Generally distributed in plantations and woods. Muscardinus avellanarius, 21. Dormouse. Linn. Bell Myoxus avellanarius. Not rare in the wooded portions of the county, but owing to its retiring habits seems to be much less common than is really the case. Mr. James Yates writes me that he has seen the dormouse amongst hazels at Oakamoor, and at Keele he knew of a farmer who had taken several from a nest. These dormice were examined by Mr. Yates as well as the nest originally built by a wren which they had adopted as their home. 22. Harvest Mouse. Mus minutus, Pallas. Occurs in cornfields and in rough marshy places. Mr. Yates, in the letter referred to above, writes as follows concerning this species : ' I have found the nest of the harvest mouse in many places at Keele, Horsley, Alton, etc., but I have never seen the nest fixed on corn-stalks. It has always been in very coarse grass or sedges ; in particular in tussocks of Carex paniculata. The nest is woven into a dense mass and it is very diffi- cult indeed to find the entrance.' To this I may add that the entrance always I believe in the side is frequently carefully closed by the mice, and although I have seen the nest built amongst corn, it is also sometimes affixed to brambles and even thistles as well as to the plants mentioned above by Mr. Yates. The notion that this species is confined to corn- fields is quite erroneous. 23. Wood Mouse or Long-tailed Field Mouse. Mui syfvaticus, Linn. Common in fields and gardens. 24. House Mouse. Mus musculus, Linn. 25. Black Rat. Mus rattus, Linn. The black rat was probably very early driven out of Staffordshire by the brown rat and totally exterminated, for Dickenson says that it had become extinct in his time (1798), and as the earliest possible date of the arrival of the brown rat in this county is 1728, the latter must soon have entered upon a warfare of extermination against the creature it found in possession. 26. Brown Rat. Mus decumanus, Pallas. Far too abundant, and in the valley of the Trent almost as amphibious as the water vole taking up its residence in the river banks, and feeding indiscriminately on dead fish, frogs and farmer's produce. Brown says that previous to 1852 the 'numbers that were found in the drains in our meadows were perfectly frightful,' but that the great floods which prevailed at Burton in that year con- siderably thinned their ranks, and they have never occurred in such numbers since. 27. Field Vole. Microtus agrestis, Linn. Bell Arvmla agreit'u. Abundant. 28. Bank Vole. Evotomys glareolus, Schreber. Bell Arvicola glareolus. Apparently much less common than the last-named species, but has probably been confused with it in many parts of the county. It has been reported from the northern district, and I have myself also found it at Tutbury and Horninglow in the east of the county. 29. Water Vole. Microtus amphibius, Linn. Bell Arvicok amphibius. Common, and generally distributed. 30. Common Hare. Lepus eurap&us, Pallas. Bell Lepus timldus. Common, and frequently attaining to a large size and heavy weight. 31. Mountain Hare. Lepus timidus, Linn. Bell Lepus variobiRs. Introduced in the county. Mr. Masefield in the North Staffordshire Naturalist's Field Club Report, 1895, xxix. 46, says: 'Sports- men have reported to me last season that several mountain hares (Lepus variabilis) have 166
