Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/376

348 the little squirrel forces itself on our observation, as it bounds from branch to branch, or is seen quietly sitting on the top of a larch tree, diligently extracting the seeds from a cone. Should you surprise a squirrel on the lower branches of a tree, or upon the ground, to which it sometimes makes an excursion, it is astonishing to see the agility with which it escapes out of our immediate reach, and the celerity of its ascent till it considers itself safe. When come upon suddenly, I have sometimes heard one utter a sort of chatter in making its precipitate retreat. In climbing a tree when thus surprized, it exhibits a good deal of cunning, and generally contrives to keep on the opposite side of the trunk from its suspected enemy, sometimes however peering round the side to examine the cause of its alarm. I have also at times seen a squirrel ascend a little way, and then remain perfectly motionless, as if by this manoeuvre to escape observation. I once caught a squirrel which I surprized on the ground, and which had not time to reach a tree, but was obliged to hide itself among a heap of stones, where I secured it. The food of the squirrel, as far as I have observed, seems to consist principally of the seeds of the larch and spruce fir, beech-mast, and the kernels of haws, which it obtains by cracking the exceedingly hard stone in which they are enclosed, rejecting the fleshy part of the fruit altogether. I have no doubt that nuts and acorns, when they can be procured, form part of its diet also. In walking through the woods, one can easily tell where the squirrel has been at work, the scales of the larch or fir cones strewing the ground under the tree which has been the object of its choice. The squirrel is sometimes guilty, especially in severe weather, of barking trees and of devouring the young shoots; and thus at times does much mischief, particularly in young plantations of pines and larches, as if the leading shoot of these trees is destroyed, they almost invariably become stunted and good for nothing. The squirrel builds a large bushy nest, near the top of a larch or spruce, but I have occasionally seen one in a hard-wood tree. The nest resembles that of the wren, having a hole in the side. The young ones do not acquire the bushy tail for a considerable time after birth.—Archibald Jerdon; Bonjedward, September 13, 1843.

''Note on the occurrence of the Bones of a Beaver &c. near Ely. A few weeks since the skull of a beaver (Castor fiber'') was found by some labourers, who were claying in a fen, about seven miles north-east of Ely, called Whelpmoor, in the parish of Littleport, in the isle of Ely; and about two miles south of the confluence of the Brandon river and the Ouse. The skull is in a most beautiful state of preservation, the § incisors and the | molar teeth being all in their places, and the bones quite perfect. It was found on the clay, beneath about six feet of moor; and on a further search, the greater part of the bones of this animal were obtained from the same spot, and are now in the possession of a gentleman at Ely. I also beg to inform you that the skull of a wild boar (Sus Scrofa) was found about four years since in a fen, called Bumtfen, in the parish of Mildenhall, about six miles east of Ely. The lower jaw and the incisors, the tusks and two of the small teeth, are wanting. The skull is seventeen inches in length, six inches and a half in width at the cheeks, and three inches and three quarters at the insertion of the tusks; this skull is in my possession.—Marshall Fisher; St. Mary's, Ely, August 30, 1843.

Note on Black Mice. A few years ago I was riding past Hampstead-down wood, and heard a great rattling amongst the dead leaves, which I suspected was made by the snakes, but on looking up into the wood (which is situated on a very steep shelving hill) I was surprized to see a number of black mice, travelling gradually over the