354 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Marten in Lincolnshire. — I saw about a fortnight ago, in the Angel 

 Inn at Peterborough, a stuffed specimen of the Marten, which, as I was 

 informed by the proprietor, was trapped four or five years ago near 

 Sleaford. You may, perhaps, think this worth a note in ' The Zoologist.' — 

 G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton (Kilmanock, New Ross). 



Food of the Squirrel.— Seeing Mr. Cordeaux's note (p. 301) respecting 

 Squirrels taking fruit, I may remark that I have several times known 

 them to take plums from my orchard. Close alongside I have a 

 plantation of larch and Scotch firs in which Squirrels are common, and 

 where they are unmolested, for T have given orders that none are to be 

 killed. Practically I do not find them do much harm, and the few plums 

 they occasionally take are hardly worth consideration. It is also quite 

 easy, if desired, to frighten them away by lying in wait, or stalking them 

 with a garden-syringe and some paraffin or tar-water. — J. J. Armistead 

 (Sol way Fishery, Dumfries). 



Mice and Apricots. — Apropos of Mr. Cordeaux's note on Squirrels 

 eating apricots, it may interest him and others to learn that in Nottingham- 

 shire apricots have been attacked by mice. When visiting Bramcote Hall 

 lately, a lady told me she had observed a mouse running down the branch 

 of an apricot-tree to the earth. Wondering what the little creature could 

 be doing, she examined the fruit, and found that many apricots had been 

 nibbled. I suggested that probably the mice wanted to get at the kernel, 

 but was informed that only the pulp of the fruit had been attacked. Some 

 species of mouse (I believe the Short-tailed Field Vole) every year clears 

 off the crop of filberts growing on an island in the Soar which is tenanted 

 for sporting purposes by a relation. To gain access to the trees the mice 

 must swim a deep arm of the river fully twenty yards across. So numerous 

 were they a year or two ago, that a pair of Weasels reared their young on 

 the island, probably preying entirely on the mice. The island and the 

 surrounding meadows are liable to extensive floods. — F. B. Whitlock 

 (Beeston, Notts). 



[It would be of interest to ascertain for certain, by trapping, this species 

 of mouse, or vole, referred to. So far as our experience goes, it is not the 

 habit of Arvicola agrestis to climb, or to eat the kernels of nuts. We 

 have never found anything but green food in the stomach of this species, 

 but have several times found in the stomach of the Bank Vole a white 

 mass resembling comminuted kernels of hazel-nut or acorn. If the Bank 

 Vole is not to be found in the locality indicated, perhaps the culprit is the 

 Long-tailed Field Mouse, Mus sylvaticus, which is not only an eater of 

 kernels, but a good swimmer. But may not a good number of filberts be 

 carried off by birds? — Ed.] 



Daubenton's Bat in Bedfordshire.— Whilst returning from a day's 

 shooting on the River Ouse on August 9th, we neared a quiet part of the 



