NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES 
7 
460. Giant Trees. Three miles to the south of Windermere Lake, and 
close to Carimel Priory, there is still to be seen the shattered frame of a once 
mighty yew. This tree, until a few months ago, was one of the local treasures, for 
it was probably the oldest living thing in the Vale of Cartmel. There is much 
difference of opinion as to its age. It was in a decaying condition, and had 
undoubtedly been so for very many years. These trees are also stated to remain 
at full maturity without growing or decaying for some hundreds of years. The 
original stem rotted away, but fresh roots grew down from above, through the 
crumbling base, and the trunk eventually came to consist of a number of hard 
woody strands. The tree probably continued to grow for five hundred years, and 
the total age is reputed to he at least i,ooo years. This yew is mentioned 
in the Doomsday Book. It leans considerably to the north, is 40 feet high, and 
the trunk measures 14 feet in circumference. This grand old tree was utterly 
unprotected and suffered greatly from visitors, who cut away portions as 
mementoes. One night, about eighteen months ago, the tree was purposely 
destroyed by fire. Straw and brushwood had been placed around the stem, and 
the fire did its work only too well. Much local indignation was felt at this use- 
less destruction. The author of this vandalism has never been discovered. 
Other famous yews still e.sist in the Lake District, the most notable, of course, 
being those in Borrowdale, that secluded valley which lies below Glaramara, 
Scafell, and other peaks of over 2,500 feet, a spot said to be blessed with 200 
inches of rain in the year. 
A short time ago I discovered another tree of interest. This one stands in a 
hollow on the hill above Windermere Ferry, and is unknown to most people. It 
is a chestnut of tremendous proportions, by far the largest that I have ever seen. 
The trunk is its most noticeable feature. 
Grange-over- Sands, Lancashire. R. C. Lowther. 
NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES. 
108 . “Birds’ Restaurant.” — Will the writer of the article under above 
heading, kindly say where the “clever little wire baskets” for holding hemp 
seed can be got, and so oblige a numerous colony of “ tom tits ” ? 
107 . Wasps. — On the 6th of this month — a warm sunny day — I found a 
wasp on my window. Thinking it would be better outside, I took up a thick 
pair of kid gloves, and tried to sweep it gently out with them. This evidently 
enraged it greatly, and it stung the glove. The sting was so deeply embedded 
that it could not withdraw it again, and stuck fast in the glove. I had some 
difficulty in getting it off, and after several attempts managed it with the aid of 
the other glove, but to my dismay I found that the tip of the body had come oft 
with the sting, and the wasp was crawling about with some difficulty. I should 
like to have put it out of its misery, but it fell out of reach. I then looked at 
the glove, and there was the sting still firmly fixed in and still working vigorously, 
though quite two minutes had elapsed since it left the wasp. It was a large 
sting, and so strong and horny in substance that it required some pulling to 
extract it. 
Query. — Do wasps often lose their stings like this, and was the wasp likely 
to live without it, and minus the top of its body? 
Cafel Cottage, Haslemere. E. A. Bedford. 
Answers. 
108. Eagles at St. Davids. — I was much interested to read the note in 
the November number with reference to the above (Query No. 98). When at 
St. Davids as a child many years ago, I remember climbing one of the rocky 
Tors, and seeing a large bird fly up near us, which my father believed to be an 
eagle. On my next visit, my children came in one day, saying that they had seen 
“ a great brown bird ” fly up from the carcase of a sheep, which was lying on 
the hill side. C. S. 
109 . “ The Action ” of a Woodpecker. — In reply to Query No. 103, 
allow me to say that the food of green woodpeckers consists largely, if not 
entirely, of ants, and that when in search of these creatures on my lawn and in 
