314 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 

MAMMALTA. 
Habits of the Common Squirre]l.—In ‘The Zoologist’ (ante, p. 267) 
Mr. J. 8. Huxley reported having noticed a Squirrel gnawing at a 
fallen antler of a Fallow-deer. He thought it interesting to know if 
others had noticed similar proclivities in the Squirrel; he believed 
the habit well known among certain other species, such as cows. 
May I be allowed to give the readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ the follow- 
ing observations relating to Mr. Huxley’s inquiries? In 1881 I saw 
in the Stuttgart Museum a piece of a deer’s antler which was gnawed 
by the common European Squirrel. Mr. Du Chaillu called an African 
Squirrel (Sczwrus eborivorus) the ‘ Ivory-eater,’ and said that the 
animal shows a curious partiality for ivory, and that many tusks of 
Elephants are found with the marks of its teeth. Other rodents seem 
to be very fond of hard animal or other matter; for instance, Mr. 
Du Chaillu relates that the Porcupine of West Africa is said by the 
natives to feed sometimes on the tusks of the Elephant, and so on. 
I think that Mr. Siebe (‘ Der Zoologische Garten,’ 1881, No. 3, p. 93) 
is right in supposing that Squirrels and other gnawing animals gnaw 
stones, shells, and other hard substances for the purpose of shorten- 
ing the incisors.—(Dr.) F. A. JentTInK (Leyden Museum). 
AVES. 
A Lonely Sparrow.—A male Hedge-Sparrow (Accentor modularis) 
completed a nice little nest in the tangled growth of a roadside bank 
on July 2nd last, and apparently had not a mate to share his domestic 
happiness with him, but sat upon his hermitage, a nicely lined struc- 
ture, for thirteen days. I passed this spot at Dulcote Village twice 
daily, and I believe the bird began to know me, for it would allow me 
to chatter to it and almost touch it before leaving the nest. On July 
16th the surveyor’s man trimmed the long growth which threatened 
to overhang the road, and on this date the Sparrow forsook its nest.— 
STANLEY Lewis (Wells, Somerset). 
Motacilla alba in Ireland.—The kindness of my old friend Captain 
Kirkwood, of Bartragh House, has again enabled me to record the 
