354 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Stoat Swimming after its Prey. — On a pond in an orchard in 

 front of my house a pair of Moorhens have hatched their young. 

 Frequently I have heard their loud alarm notes warning their young 

 of danger, and have watched a Stoat make many visits to the pool 

 fruitlessly, although possibly not always so, as their young are now 

 two less in number than formerly. When the brood have been 

 warned, if away from the water, they quickly return and remain in 

 the middle of the pond until they are satisfied the Stoat has left the 

 vicinity. But in one instance I watched one of the adult birds, 

 whilst defending its young, swim towards the Stoat to within a few 

 feet of the water's edge, when the latter immediately took to the 

 water and boldly swam out after the Moorhen until it satisfied itself 

 that further pursuit was hopeless. — J. Steele Elliott (Dowles 

 Manor, Salop). 



Grey Squirrel in Buckinghamshire. — "When I was walking along 

 a path leading through a small wood, part of Whaddon Chase, 

 between Buckingham and Fenny Stratford, on May 11th, 1915, I 

 saw a Grey Squirrel. I do not know if this species has been intro- 

 duced there, or if this individual had wandered from the site of some 

 other undesirable introduction of this rodent. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, 

 Oxon). 



Remains of Roe-Deer, &c. — When visiting that wonderfully 

 beautiful old house called Stokesay Castle, near Craven Arms, last 

 year, I was shown some Eoe-Deer horns which had been found 

 in a well in the north tower. In one of the ruined towers of 

 Ludlow Castle I saw the top part of the skulls and horn-cores of 

 some cattle which were very massive and broad, but I had not time 

 to examine them carefully. — 0. V. Aplin. 



AVES. 

 Cuckoo Problems. — In the 'Zoologist' (ante, p. 316), Mr. Steele 

 Elliott, referring to the many interesting but more or less doubtful 

 points in the economy of the Cuckoo, states that he has never known 

 an instance of the Cuckoo's egg having been placed in the nest of its 

 dupe before one at least of the rightful owner's had been previously 



