376 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



domestic hen. He then showed me a still more curious thin» : 

 taking me to a box, he lifted the lid, and here I saw a cat suckling 

 some tiny blind Ferrets. 



In 1890, whilst walking near the river Lugg, I heard a Carrion 

 Crow making a great outcry in an adjoining field. On approaching 

 the spot I found that the bird was making frantic darts at some 

 object near her nest, which was placed in an elm at least sixty feet 

 from the ground, and which, as I knew, contained young. 

 Presently I saw something, which 1 eventually identified as a 

 large Stoat, run down the trunk, pursued by the old bird. The 

 Crow came out victorious in the encounter ; but I was astonished 

 to find that a Stoat could climb to such a great height. 



In the spring of this year (1896) my son went to a large 

 rookery, containing at least five hundred nests, to get a few 

 clutches of eggs. Curiously enough, the first nest he examined 

 contained four eggs of the Tawny Owl. 



Some years ago I found a Jay's nest in a very curious situa- 

 tion : in a small standard oak there was an old Squirrel's dray, 

 and a foot above this was the nest of a Ring Dove. The Jay's 

 nest was placed between the two, being built upon the Squirrel's 

 dray, so that the Ring Dove's nest formed its roof. 



NOTES AND QUERIES 



MAMMALIA. 



Pine Marten in Lancashire. — On June 15th I was out bird-nesting 

 in the larch woods on the hillside above Tilberthwaite Ghylls, Coniston, 

 North Lancashire, when I came across a Pine Marten (Ma?*tes sylvestris). 

 I gave chase to it, when it took to the trees, aud leapt from branch to 

 branch as nimbly as a Squirrel. The hill being steep I was unable to keep 

 pace with it, and so lost sight of it altogether. On Sept. 10th I saw another 

 on Lingmoor, above Elterwater, Westmoreland, aud was shown on the same 

 date the skin of a young one that had been trapped in August last by a 

 shepherd in Langdale. — John R. Denwood (Cockermouth). 



Squirrel with Dark Tail in Autumn. — I have read with interest 

 Mr. Ruskin Butterfield's communication on a Squirrel with dark tail in 

 August. I was taking shelter from a shower on the 21st of this month 

 (on this date I was also attracted by the congregation of Peewits) when 

 quite close to me I saw a Squirrel run across the pathway, and, crouching 



