NOTES AND QUERIES. 25 
resting one, however, apart from this one disputed case, and I am pleased 
to be able to produce some further evidence in support of my views, 
which may perhaps have a more convincing effect on the tender-hearted 
champion of the Squirrel. As regards the nest of Picws major, I have only 
to add that there are unfortunately very few pairs of this Woodpecker in 
the locality,—far too few for jealous squabbling over their eggas,—while 
there are no Sparrows and hardly any Starlings nesting in the immediate 
vicinity of the particular tree. It can scarcely be considered a difficult feat 
for the Squirrel to carry out the “ practical joke” of removing eggs from 
such a nest, only nine inches below a comparatively large entrance hole. 
No one who has kept, or even carefully observed, a tame Squirrel, and has 
seen the extraordinary way in which he can force himself through a small 
aperture, would be the least astonished thereat. From the information in 
my possession I will make the following extracts :—Col. George Sulivan, of 
Warmwell, near Dorchester, writes—“I look upon a Squirrel as a very 
destructive animal amongst eggs, and anyone who contradicts this state- 
ment shows his ignorance. I knew of a Pheasatit’s nest in a rose-bed close 
to our drawing-room window; it had fifteen eggs, and my father, who was 
laid up with gout, and always laid on the sofa by the window during the day, 
seeing a Squirrel constantly going from a fir tree covered with ivy to the 
rose-bed, asked me to see if the nest was all right. I did so, and found 
all the eggs gone. He then ordered the gardeners to get a long ladder 
and examine the tree up which the Squirrel always went, which was done, 
and the shells of the eggs were found in an old nest, after which all 
Squirrels were ordered to be killed. Again, I had when at Broke Hall 
a pair of tame Doves, and they had a nest in a tree close to the hall. One 
day I saw the Doves in a great state, and went to see what was wrong, 
when I saw my friend the Squirrel. Needless to say, I got my gun and 
shot him; he had destroyed the nest. Squirrels will also destroy young 
Wood Pigeons by biting them and throwing them out of the nest; I have 
picked up numbers thus killed, and have baited traps with them and 
caught the brutes.” Lord Lilford informs me:—*A tame Squirrel that 
I kept years ago was exceedingly fond of birds’ eggs; of course it is an 
acquired taste, but I feel no doubt whatever that Wood Pigeons are the 
principal sufferers from it.” One of Lord Lilford’s keepers, H. Cook, told 
me that he watched a Squirrel in the act of sucking a nest of four 
Thrush’s eggs in the Lynch Wood at Lilford, two years ago. He waited 
a moment or two before going up to the nest and disturbing the animal, 
which had made a hole in the eggs and sucked the contents. Mr. Charles 
Radelyffe, of Hyde, near Wareham, informs me that he has frequently 
seen Squirrels coming down trees from Wood Pigeons’ nests with the eggs 
in their mouths and going up other trees with them. He is not sure if 
they carried them unbroken, or put their teeth into them to hold them 
