NOTES AND QUERIES. 105 



Squirrels robbing Birds' Nests.— In reply to the enquiry of Mr. G. T. 

 Phillips (p. 65), I can state from personal experience that Squirrels are 

 among the worst enemies of small birds, devouring both their eggs and 

 young ones. The gamekeepers at Coollattin unanimously agree in con- 

 demning them on account of their egg-eating propensities. The work of a 

 Squirrel may be always distinguished from that of a Magpie. The latter 

 almost invariably makes a clean sweep of the contents of a nest, either 

 swallowing the eggs on the spot if they are small enough, or else carrying 

 them away to a distance, one by one, and sucking them. If there are 

 young ones in the nest they are taken in the same way, no remains in either 

 case being left about or near the nest, unless the parent birds offer a 

 valiant resistance, and the eggs get broken in the struggle. But a Squirrel 

 is not nearly so adroit in the management of a robbery, and generally 

 contrives to spill some of the contents of the eggs, besides leaving the 

 broken shells in the nest, or portions of the young birds, if they happen to 

 be the victims. Nevertheless, I am of opinion that Squirrels do not make 

 food of this kind a regular object of search, as the Magpie does when it has 

 a family to support. — Allan Ellison (Trinity College, Dublin). 



Bank Vole in Suffolk. — The following fact relating to the Bank Vole 

 may perhaps be worth recording:— Last spring, being in want of a pair of 

 these auimals, I accordingly set some traps in their haunts; and during 

 the month of May and part of April caught twelve males in succession, 

 before a single female could be induced to enter any one of the traps. Nor 

 is it at all likely that any of them were caught more than once, for though 

 nearly all were set at liberty, they were taken to a distant before being 

 released.— G. T. Rope (Blaxhall, Wickham Market). 



BIRDS. 



Linnet nesting in October.— An instance of the late nesting of the 

 Common Linnet, Linota cannabina, has lately come to my knowledge. 

 A keeper was ferreting on the downs near Brighton on October 28th, 

 when a small bird flew from a piece of furze near him, and upon looking 

 into the bush he was surprised to find a nest of the Linnet containing four 

 eggs. As the bird appeared to be sitting he did not disturb it, but visited 

 it again in a few days, when he found the bird still sitting. At this date 

 there was some very rough weather, and on going to the place a few days 

 later he found the nest had been forsaken, and one of the eggs broken. 

 He then brought the nest to me. It was a well-built nest, but the eggs 

 are small. — C. Brazenor (Brighton). 



Parrot Crossbill in Devonshire. — I have had an opportunity of 

 examining two specimens of the Parrot Crossbill, shot out of a large flock 

 at Marley, near Exmouth, during the first week of the current month 



