NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
235 
184. Squirrels and Fungi. — Squirrels are great fungus-eaters and may 
frequently be seen making a meal off Botelui tdulis, and others of its class. A 
day or two ago I .saw a squirrel ascend a tree with a small boletus in its mouth ; 
and have often caught them in the act of eating them. Mo.st of these fungi that 
I have examined here have been attacked by squirrels, and some have been eaten 
by slugs. 
SoHthacre, Siuaffham, Edmund Thos. Daubkny. 
October, 1904. 
185. The Green Woodpecker. — On .August 18 of this year I woke up early 
in the morning and looking out of the window before six o’clock I saw on our lawn, 
about a dozen yards away, a large bird that I soon recognised as a green wood- 
pecker. 1 watched him for about ten minutes, during which time he was busily 
engaged in digging his beak into the turf in search of food, every now and then 
glancing round in a shy, alert manner. I had never seen a specimen of this 
beautiful bird before, and probably shall never do so again, and as I believe the 
woodpecker is not often seen on the ground I thought the occurrence might 
interest some of your readers. 
East Kent. A. L. Stevenson. 
186. Pigeons. — A few days ago I saw a domestic pigeon fly down to the 
Xar and throw itself for a moment or two on the water in the middle of the 
stream. This it repeated several times. The bird was indulging in a bath, and 
did not give itself time to drink. 
September, 1904. Ed.mund Tiios. Daubeny. 
187. Young Cuckoo. — One day towards the end of July as we were sitting 
in the garden, our terrier puppy dragged a young bird out of the bushes. On 
rescuing it we found that its right wing and claw were injured. We kept it in a 
basket for some days and fed it every two hours during the day, till 1 1 o’clock at 
night, on hard-boiled egg to begin with, and afterwards on some special meal for 
wild birds. After a day or two it began to get stronger and to fly about the 
rooms, although one claw was still very weak. At the end of a week we 
patched up an old aviary that was in the garden and put the bird in. All this 
time we had been trying to find out what kind of bird our pet was. Many people 
declared it was a hawk, while one went so far as to say it was a young owl ! At 
last we asked a keeper, who pronounced it to be a cuckoo. 
For a day or two the bird was quite happy in his new hou.se and perched on 
some boughs we had put in for him at night. But he soon began to mope and 
refused to eat, although we varied his food with a little fruit and lettuce, and a 
worm now and then. He became considerably lighter and looked v'ery unhappy. 
At last we decided to let him go. So one morning we took him on to the lawn 
and opened the lid of the basket. At first he did not appear in a hurry to 
fly away but began to feed out of my hand. After a minute or two he 
realised he was free and flew off to the top of a high fir tree. Nothing was 
seen of him that day, though several times I went out with food and called 
him. About one o’clock the next day he flew down in front of the house 
and called in his shrill chirp. After a little coaxing he came and fed out of my 
hand and appeared nearly starving. Not being able to feed himself well 1 
think he had had nothing since the morning before. From that time he came 
about four times a day to be fed, and if I was not there he would call loudly 
till I went out with the food. He became so tame that he would come to an)- 
window in the house directly he was called, and would perch on my hand and 
feed out of a spoon. This went on for a fortnight, when one day there was a very 
heavy rainstorm. On calling him as usual to be fed he came in at the window, 
drenched and looking very miserable. We wrapped him up in hot flannel and 
he lay down in it as quietly as a puppy might till he was quite dry and warm, 
then hopped out and fed, after which he flew out of the window. The sun had 
come out again, so he dried his feathers and stretched his wings. Presently, it 
began to rain heaHly again and once more the poor drenched bird came in for 
shelter and the drying operations were repeated. Then he flew away and was 
not seen till next morning. 
On the evening of August 24 he called loudly for food at six o’clock. He then 
