NOTES AND QUERIES 149 



On sending a boy to pick them up, he returned with two good-sized baskets 

 filled with sufficient yew shoots to have killed most of the cattle now feeding 

 on the lawn ; these, I need hardly say, were promptly buried. Squirrels 

 have become very numerous in our plantations, and one has been seen 

 under the spoiled spruce fir, but not in the act of nipping off the young 

 shoots. Our puzzle is, if these little creatures are guilty of the mischief, 

 how do they reach to the ends of the branches, which in some instances 

 would hardly support the weight of a small bird ? If they are not guilty, 

 what could have caused the young shoots to fall off in such a strange 

 manner? One tree seems completely bared. Is it possible that the one 

 night's frost which killed so many indoor plants, and even broke their 

 china flower-pots, could have injured trees in such a manner ? — Frances I. 

 Battersby (Cromlyn, Rathowen, West Meath). 



Habits of the Bank Vole. — Mr. Newman Neave suggests (p. 109) 

 that the Bank Vole is less hardy than some other small mammals, and 

 succumbs to hard frost. I do not think that this explains why the species 

 becomes less plentiful in winter. What we find in Lakeland is, that in 

 cold weather the Bank Vole lies up in its favourite winter home, i. e., in 

 heaps of turnips. It is generally found in parties of five in winter. We 

 have had some mounted for the Carlisle Museum, and at my suggestion 

 Mr. Thorpe made a glass case for them, so that our taxidermist could keep 

 them in the bird-stuffing room and mount them from life. Those we have 

 kept this winter have entertained us not a little by their life and energy ; 

 they have fought a good deal, and I confess we enjoyed their tussles, as 

 they bite and spar with one another in the angriest way. Unfortunately 

 one of their battles ended fatally, and the vanquished Vole was eaten by 

 his rival. It is pretty to see the little fellows sitting up on their haunches, 

 nibbling the pips of apples which they hold in their paws. They are very 

 fond of preening their fur, which they manage to keep in splendid order. 

 Their appetites are truly astonishing ; we feed them chiefly on apples, but 

 they are very partial to turnip-roots, and where numerous must do a good 

 deal of damage to the root crops. — H. A. Macpherson (11, Victoria Place, 

 Carlisle). 



Marten in Co. Dublin. — In reply to your request for information 

 respecting the occurrence of the Marten in Ireland, I have much pleasure 

 in informing you that in the month of November last I saw what was 

 undoubtedly a Marten in the neighbourhood of the village of Golden Ball, 

 Co. Dublin. I was at the time driving, and the animal ran for about a 

 hundred yards along the road in front of the pony. At first I thought it 

 was a Stoat (known in this locality as a Weasel), but it suddenly stopped 

 and sat just in the attitude depicted in • The Zoologist' for February, and 

 I have no doubt whatever that it was a Marten, When I got within about 



