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A general description of the life history of Mountain hares is given. based on a three year field study of about 200 wild hares on a moor near Morven. Aberdeenshire. and laboratory examination of over 360 dead specimens from surrounding areas . Growth and body size.behaviour. range and movements. food and reingestion are described . More detailed information on reproduction. mortality and population counts are presented to give an outline of the population dynamics in this species .

P. S. 1998. Distribution of small mammals along a deforestation gradient in southern Gansu, central China. Acta Theriologica 43: 349-362.Small mammals were surveyed along a deforestation gradient in southern Gansu, China (2300-2600 m altitude), a high endemicity area for human alveolar echinococcosis. Rodent distribution was assessed using removal trapping in six habitat types from timbered forest to farmland and villages, by index transects, and by the collection of specimens by local people.

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A two-year field study of colour change in a population of Mountain hares showed that the rate of colour change was significantly faster in a warm spring than in a cold one. The same result was found in individually marked wild hares, indicating that the response is not due to differences in age or sex ratios. It is postulated that the white coat is for camouflage, and the duration for which it is worn is correlated with temperature because of the coat's thickness. Moulting is probably timed by daylength, and the rate of moult affected by temperature.

Both domestic and wild‐type European Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.) have been liberated on islands all over the world for a variety of reasons: for sport, to farm for meat or fur, as food for other animals or bait for lobster pots, to control vegetation, amuse tourists, and even to conserve representative populations from myxomatosis. Results of these introductions have likewise varied, from complete failure to densities so high as to denude completely the island of vegetation and soil. Some interesting populations have survived remarkably adverse conditions for up to 100 years before becoming extinct. Others provide natural experiments on the effects of introduced predators, competitors, or diseases like myxomatosis. We list 800 islands or island groups on which Rabbits have been liberated, giving name, location, latitude and longitude, and area, followed by date of introduction, type of rabbit, population changes, present status, and effects of the Rabbits on their environment. For many islands information is still meagre or completely lacking; we hope that this provisional list will stimulate readers to send us additions and corrections, or to publish the data themselves.

Large-scale international monitoring studies are important to assess emission patterns and environmental distributions of organohalogenated contaminants (OHCs) on a worldwide scale. In this study, the presence of OHCs was investigated on three continents (Europe, North America and Australasia), using eggs of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris and Sturnus unicolor) to assess their suitability for large-scale monitoring studies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study using bird eggs of the same species as a biomonitor for OHCs on an intercontinental scale. We found significant differences in OHC concentrations of the eggs among sampling locations, except for hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs). Mean concentrations of sum polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in eggs ranged from 78±26 ng/glipid weight (lw) in Australia to 2900±1300 ng/g lw in the United States. The PCB profile was dominated by CB 153 and CB 138 in all locations, except for New Zealand, where the contribution of CB 95, CB 101 and CB 149 was also high. The highest mean sum polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) concentrations were found in Canada (4400±830 ng/g lw), while the lowest mean PBDE concentrations were measured in Spain (3.7±0.1 ng/g lw). The PBDE profile in starling eggs was dominated by BDE 47 and BDE 99 in all countries, but in Belgium, the higher brominated PBDEs had a higher contribution compared to other countries. For the organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) ranged from 110±16 ng/g lw in France to 17,000±3400 ng/g lw in New Zealand, while HCHs and hexachlorobenzene were generally in low concentrations in all sampling locations. Chlordanes were remarkably high in eggs from the United States (2500±1300 ng/g lw). The OCP profile in all countries was largely dominated by p,p'-DDE. In general, the worldwide trends we observed in starling eggs were in accordance with the literature on human and environmental OHC data, which suggests that there is potential for using starling eggs as a biomonitoring tool on a large geographical scale.

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