9648 Sucklers. 



the nervous system," as Mr. Woodcock plirases it, than by any directly 

 mortal wound. It would appear, however, from Professor Bell's ob- 

 servations, that the weasel kills small animals, such as mice, by a single 

 bite through the brain (' British Quadrupeds,' p. 143). When a rabbit 

 has been killed the first part eaten is usually the neck, not the brain, 

 as often staled, and 1 have seen a weasel lap up the blood as it flowed 

 from a dead rabbit, although I am not aware that there is any evidence 

 of their sucking the wound. After the neck is eaten the body is 

 generally dragged away to the den of the destroyer. Ferrets often tear 

 out the eyes first, and I believe that this is also a practice of our 

 native weasels. In pursuit of their victims these animals often hunt 

 by scent, and I have known a stoat to swim across a small river and 

 then " cast" up and down the opposite bank to recover the trail. 

 The bewilderment which seems to seize animals pursued by weasels 

 is probably the efiect of terror and despair, the poor beast knowing by 

 instinct that neither by swiftness of foot nor in the depths of its burrow 

 can it hope to elude the untiring pertinacit}' of its enemy. In suitable 

 places stoats and weasels seem to be gregarious to a certain extent, 

 and the stories one so often hears of men being attacked by troops of 

 those savage little creatures have probably some foundation in fact, 

 although doubtless generally exaggerated. 



Squirrel. — Our favourites, mentioned in a former notice (Zool. 9481), 

 have deserted theit feeding-ground since February. I hoped to have 

 been able to have settled the question of their removing their young 

 from nest to nest by actual experiment this spring, but have not been 

 successful in searching for a brood. In April, however, I found three 

 nests within about fifty yards of one another, and tivo in another wood 

 also close together ; and in each instance an old squirrel bolted from 

 one of the group, while the others were empty. I was much pleased 

 to see Tschudi's statement as to the squirrel digging up truffles cor- 

 roborated by so eminent a naturalist as Mr. Newton (Zool. 9.560). The 

 woods here are now thickly strewn with the remains of their feasts on 

 fir-cones, particularly round the stumps of felled trees, which would 

 seem to serve them as dining-tables. 



Edward R. Alston. 



Stockbriggs, Lesmahagow, June 16, 1865. 



Breeding of the Squirrel.— On the 26lh of April I saw four young squirrels which 

 had been receiuly taken from llie nest: they were about ibree-fourths the size of the 

 old one. I fancy that this is rather early breeding. — W. Jefftry,jun. 



