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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Deer and other Animals eating Yew. — It seems to be a well-established 

 fact that Goats will eat the foliage of the yew with impunity, whilst other 

 creatures, some closely allied, are poisoned with it immediately. Knowing 

 that a doubt exists in the minds of some people as to the deadly effect, or 

 otherwise, of the yew when eaten by Deer, it may be of interest to quote 

 an incident of comparatively recent occurrence. During the severe weather 

 of December and January last most wild creatures suffered more or less 

 from the inclemency of the season, and at the end of December, when a 

 fallow doe was found dead in the forest, its decease was at once attributed to 

 the cold, and the scanty fare. Early in the new year, however, a fine buck was 

 found dead, but apparently in plump condition, and this led to the suppo- 

 sition that it had eaten something to cause its death. On opening it, the 

 stomach was found to contain a quantity of yew leaves with which no doubt 

 it had been poisoned. In speaking of the subject to a gentleman whose 

 knowledge of Forestry is considerable, he expressed an opinion that, as a 

 rule, truly wild creatures were not affected by eating yew so readily as 

 domesticated ones ; though where the difference lay he did not hazard a 

 guess. From experience he knew that if clippings of yew — if only a day 

 severed — were eaten, they were more deadly and rapid in their effect than 

 the growing foliage, and that, whilst the latter was certain death to some 

 creatures, Rabbits and Hares would eat it with impunity. He had known 

 yew-shrubs completely destroyed, and even the bark eaten off, by these 

 Rodents, without any apparent injury or inconvenience to themselves. Can 

 this be confirmed or denied by readers of ' The Zoologist '? If correct, it 

 but proves the truth of the saying of one creature's meat being another's 

 poison.— G. B. Corbin (Ringwood, Hants). 



[Some correspondence on this subject was published in 'The Zoologist ' 

 some years ago. See the volume for 1878, pp. 177, 206, 253. Several 

 instances of Pheasants ^having been poisoned by yew have been reported. 

 See 'The Field,' Nov. 25 and Dec. 2, 1876; and Dec. 20, 1890.— Ed.] 



Hybernation of Squirrels. — If any further evidence is wanted to prove 

 that Squirrels remain active during the coldest weather, I am able to state 

 that during the whole of the recent severe and prolonged frost several 

 Squirrels, which had been accustomed to climb to the nursery window of 

 Drakelowe Hall, Burton-on-Trent, where they were fed, continued their 

 visits during the whole of the time, and seemed to be as lively as usual. — 

 Philip B. Mason (Burton-on-Trent). 



