( 267 ) 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 

MAMMALIA. 
Two Habits of the Common Squirrel.— This last year I have 
noticed two actions of Squirrels which seem sufficiently curious to 
publish. The first was in Scotland. One day towards the end of 
last August, as I was sitting in Barcaldine Woods. (Argyllshire), I 
saw a Squirrel come down from a tree, and then not only saw but 
also heard it begin gnawing at something on the ground fifteen 
or twenty yards away. I could not see what the object was, so 
I contented myself with marking the Squirrel’s position and awaiting 
developments. The substance seemed very hard, and the animal 
changed its position several times, as if to get into a better position 
for its gnawing. At length, after more than ten minutes’ almost un- 
broken jaw-work, the Squirrel suddenly took fright and bounded off. 
I then walked up to the spot, and there saw that what it had been so 
assiduously rasping at was a fallen antler of a Fallow-Deer. It is 
before me as I write. Its anterior surface (which was lying upper- 
most) has fully two-thirds of the outer layer nibbled away, looking 
like a stick gnawed by rabbits. There are a few small notches on 
the burr itself, then some untouched surface, then nearly 8 in. where, 
for a breadth varying from % in. to 14 in., no brown outer layer is 
left. The first and second tines are untouched, but the third is so 
gnawed away as to look like a bit of whittled stick. In addition two 
deep hollows, about 2? in. long, and reaching nearly half-way through 
the antler, are to be seen, and the expanded terminal part at one 
place looks as if it were bread-and-butter, and had had a respectable 
bite taken out of it. The side that was lying on the ground has not 
been touched. The ten minutes’ gnawing that I saw could not have 
produced a tithe of this effect, and we are forced to believe that this 
Squirrel (or perhaps several, for there were plenty about) was in the 
habit of coming regularly to partake of this extremely dry morsel. 
It would be interesting to know if others have noticed similar pro- 
clivities in the Squirrel; I believe the habit is well known among 
certain other species, such as cows. 
Another action of Squirrels, which to me at least was new, I saw 
a fortnight later on the banks of the Tees above Barnard Castle, 
