RETURN TO LIBRARY OF MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY WOODS HOLE, MASS. LOANED BY AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY The Annals OF Scottish Natural History A QUARTERLY MAGAZINE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED 4*. naturalist EDITED BY J. A. HARVIE-BROWN, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S. MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION JAMES W. H. TRAIL, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN WILLIAM EAGLE CLARKE, F.L.S., F.R.S.E. NATURAL HISTORY DEPARTMENT, ROYAL SCOTTISH MUSEUM, EDINBURGH I 906 EDINBURGH DAVID DOUGLAS, CASTLE STREET LONDON: R. H. PORTER, 7 PRINCES ST., CAVENDISH SQUARE The Annals of Scottish Natural History NO. 57] 1906 [JANUARY ON A COLLECTION OF MICE (MUS HIRTENSIS AND J/. MURALIS) FROM ST. KILDA. By G. E. H. BARRETT-HAMILTON, B.A., F.Z.S. MY friend Mr. Eagle Clarke has placed in my hands a set of 24 mice obtained at St. Kilda by Mr. James Waterston in June 1905, with a request that I should examine and " I do so with report upon them to the Scottish Annals." great pleasure because in the first place it is always satis- factory to see any critical or rare forms in series, and it is the in the second place doubly satisfactory to find that examination of such a series reveals nothing that is not confirmatory of previous work. The history of the St. Kilda mice is now well known. Visitors to that island had long been aware of the existence " of some sort of mice there (see for instance Seton's St. Steele Kilda, Past and Present," 1878, p. 132), but Mr. J. Elliott appears to have been the first naturalist to collect and " preserve specimens of them (see Journ. Birm. N. H. Soc." " Apr. 1895, and Zool." 1895, pp. 281 and 426) and to note that they appeared different from ordinary mice. Finding Mr. Steele Elliott's specimens in the British Museum, I was led to study them, my friend the late Henry Evans was the means of procuring a few additional specimens, and the 57 B 2 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY " result was a paper in the P. Z. S." (Feb. 7, 1899, pp. 77-88, PI. ix.) in which I described and figured as new species Mus hirtcnsis allied to Mus sylvaticus, and Mus muralis allied to Mus musculus. The paper was reprinted in this Journal (July 1899, pp. 129-140) and will be found to contain a full discussion of the two species as they were there designated. The present specimens are useful for the purpose of verify- ing their already described characters. Taking first Mus muralis, of which there are 1 3 specimens in all, the colour is remarkably constant and does not show striking variations such as might be expected to occur in a subspecies in process of formation, an important point when it is remembered that, as regards its colour, this Mouse is a very distinct form. The dimensions indicate a Mouse which, although of somewhat robust proportions when compared with Mus musculns, is far behind, especially in length of foot, Mus musculus faroensis of the Faroes. The feet and ears are, however, larger than in Mus musculus of houses, as the table below will show. - The following are the dimensions of the series : H. and E. Male, No. 3 4 IS 2 I (JllV. ) Female, No. - 2 . 5 12 20 22 (Juv.) 19 13 2 4 Average of 9 adults, 3 males and 6 females . 84-6 81-4 17-4 13-16 Average of 6 females from spirit on which original description was based . 85-1 81-5 16-5 12-9 Average of and 9 f ^- '" faroensis (W. Eagle Clarke) 99 95-7 20-6 13-75 Jhts Average of 3 s, 2 9 s of musculus proper measured by . 12-2 N. B. Kinnear . 83-4 83-6 16-6 ON A COLLECTION OF MICE FROM ST. KILDA 3 The dimensions of the specimens measured from spirit differ slightly from those of the present series, a discrepancy which may be due to methods of preparation. It is remark- able that all the sets of wild mice should differ from the true House Mice in showing a slightly shorter tail. Jllns inumlis and J/. ;;/. faroensis are clearly robust developments from the Mus musculus stock, the robust form being accompanied by a very distinct colour pattern tending in the same direction in both cases, but very much more marked in J/. muralis. Mus Jiirtensis. As regards coloration this form is " " evidently not so fixed to type as Mus muralis, since the underside varies in colour from specimens with the whole surface buff to those which exhibit only a strong staining of this colour, most deeply on the central line, the latter arrangement being that which obtains in J/. hebridensis. But all are quite distinct from ordinary British sylvaticus. The following table exhibits the dimensional distinctions of the various British forms of Field Mice : H. and B. Tail. Hd. ft. Ear. Average of 10 Jiirtensis, 5^s and 5 9s. 104 100 24-7 16-25 Average of 4 hebridensis . 108 97-5 24-25 15-75 of Average 62 , intermedius . 92-6 88-2 22-6 15-4 Average of 4 wintoni IIO -75 m-75 2 3-75 18 i from Shetland . 102 100 22 15-5 Average of 6 celticus . 85-3 80-8 22-3 14-6 Apart from its colour J\I. Jiirtensis is thus shown to be a robust form, excelled in general size only by wintoni, and agreeing with hebridensis except in regard to its larger ear. These two mice are thus closely allied : their large feet exceed even those of the giant wintoni, while their ears, on the other hand, especially in hebridensis, approach the lesser dimensions of intermedius. Beside them celticus appears as quite diminutive. In view of the approaching publication of my book on British Mammals, I propose to leave unattempted here any discussion of the relationship of these forms or of their title to be accorded full specific rank. It seems hardly doubtful, however, that were they animals of such a size as 4 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY to the naked to make their peculiarities of dimension patent were eye and not mere matters of measurement say, they the size of Leopards their distinctive coloration and remark- able difference in size and proportion of the limbs and ears mind. might have a very different influence on the ordinary KILMANOCK, ARTHURSTOWN, IRKLAND. THE BIRDS OF FAIR ISLE, NATIVE AND MIGRATORY. By WM. EAGLE CLARKE, F.R.S.E., F.L.S. PLATES I. AND II. THOUGH lying midway between the Orkney and Shetland the least visited archipelagoes, Fair Isle has remained among of all the inhabited isles of the British seas. That this for should be so is, no doubt, in a measure, to be accounted by there being no regular communication by steamer with is due to the entire absence the island : a fact which probably of a reasonably good natural harbour, and to the dangerous nature of the fierce tidal streams which rush along its coasts. like Isle and Fair Isle, Faroe, probably signifies Sheep ; to the reader it is perhaps best, if at all, known general from the fact that it was the scene, in the autumn of the of "El one of the year 1588, of the wreck Gran Grifon," the of ships of the Spanish Armada, flying flag Juan Gomez de Medina. The island is situated some twenty-four miles S.S.W. from Sumburgh Head, Shetland, and twenty-six E.N.E. of the Orcadian island of North Ronaldshay. It is, roughly speaking, oblong in form, having its longest axis from N. to S. of about two and three-quarter miles, and a averages about one mile in width. Though circuit of the island may be made in about nine miles, yet so indented is its coast-line by geos that its in-and-out circumference is not much short of twenty miles. Except a small portion of its southern coast, the island is everywhere surrounded by high inaccessible cliffs, ranging from 100 to close upon 600 feet. The cliff scenery is bold and rugged in the extreme, especially on the north and west and its interest added to numerous off coasts ; by -lying ANN. SCOT. NAT. HIST. 1906. PLATE I. ' ' W . I I*] ',. j ft ^jfi ' '' ! ' ! i ' ^' , I / '' : , I ; , 1 ^ i I '. ' > .- THE BIRDS OF FAIR ISLE, NATIVE AND MIGRATORY 5 pinnacles, stacks, and skerries, which, like the neighbouring cliffs, are the home in the summer of innumerable rock-loving sea-fowl. Caves and natural arches are also numerous, for the geological structure of the island readily lends itself to their formation. The cliffs on the east side are not so high, " " but there we have the picturesque Sheep Craig a noble mass of practically isolated rock rising almost perpendicularly from the sea to a height of about 500 feet (the natives say 590 feet), and the greatest resort of sea-fowl in the island, and formerly a nesting station of the Sea Eagle. There are two natural harbours. Of these, the one on the south is to all intents and purposes the only one used. across its It is, however, beset by a labyrinth of rocks, and mouth rushes a furious tidal roost, so that the aid of native experience must be sought by those who would enter it even in a boat. There is a smaller and better harbour on the north section of the east coast, but it is some distance from the inhabited portion of the island, and is not used by the Islanders.