24 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
twenty yards from the back door of Mr. Wm. Lander’s farm- 
house at Knighton. The young usurper, at my approach, ruffled 
its feathers and drew back its head, and then darted out its neck 
with the most threatening gestures, uttering at the same time a 
sharp hiss; indeed its actions, though ludicrous to a degree, were 
a remarkably good imitation of those of a snake. I found an 
unbroken egg of the Hedgesparrow just outside the nest, and 
saw that the foster-mother fed her ugly charge with larve, chiefly 
of sawflies. The identical group is now in the Museum. Mr. 
Wilson, of Aylestone Mill, found in July, 1885, a young Cuckoo 
in a Reed Warbler’s nest built by the side of the river, not 
twenty-five yards from the Aylestone Road tramway. 
(To be continued.) 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Marine Biological Association.— We are sure zoologists generally 
will hear with satisfaction of the recent decision of the Treasury with regard 
to this excellent institutiou. Their Lordships have determined to submit 
to the House of Commons an estimate by which the Association will receive 
£5000 in two annual instalments, and thereafter £500 a year for five years. 
The conditions attached to this grant appear to be altogether such as the 
guardians of the public purse may well enforce, and we understand 
that they have all been acceded to by the Council. At the same time it is 
to be understood that the Association still stands in need of funds, and 
that, although its work will shortly be commenced, it remains for future 
benefactors to strengthen and widen it. With the New Year Mr. Walter 
Heape, M.A., who has been for some time Demonstrator in Animal Mor- 
phology at Cambridge, will enter on his duties as Resident Superintendent 
at the Marine Laboratory at Plymouth. 
MAMMALIA. 
Habits of the Squirrel.—In his description of the Starlings and 
Sparrows squabbling over the eggs on his lawn (Zool. 1885, pp. 431, 432), 
the Rev. J. C. Atkinson appears to attribute the removal and destruction 
of the eggs of Picus major, described by me in the same volume (p. 229), 
to the proprietors of the nest themselves, or to other birds of the same 
species. Or does he accuse the Sparrows and Starlings of the robbery? 
I cannot quite understand his meaning; the only point on which I feel 
sure is that he repudiates the idea of a Squirrel committing such an 
atrocity, and treats my theory with disdain. The question is an inte- 
