NATURAL HISTORY NOTIiS 
73 
pages ; (ii.) scrappiness should be avoided — the items, including the illustrations, 
do not aveiage a page each; and (iii.) names and titles will never prove a 
substitute for good literary workmanship. 
Received: — 7 'he Vidor ian Naturalist for February, The Naturalist, The 
Naturalists' Journal, The Irish Naturalist, Science Gossip, The Animals' 
Friend, Our Animal Friends, and The Animal World for March. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Pig Playing Patience. — My pig has invented a game of her own. 
There are four stones the size of an egg in her iron trough, with which she plays 
by the hour together. .She picks them up in her mouth one after the other and 
lets them drop ag.ain into the trough. The stones are worn smooth by the per- 
formance, which has gone on for months. 
March, 1902. Edmun’o Thos. Daubeny. 
Polecats. — In answer to a question of mine, a neighbouring naturalist 
writes: — “As to polecats, ‘foumarts,’ as they call them in the North -foul- 
marts — there are many more moving about than we know, as is the case with all 
nocturnal feeders. I have heard of none about here. They are not uncommon 
in the North. My eldest son in Lincolnshire some little time ago, had a live 
polecat, stoat and weasel, brought in one bag, one day ! The man knew he was 
interested in such things ! ! " 
Market Weston, Thetford. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
March, 1902. 
Squirrels Playing Havoc (p. 57). — Having already exposed the squirrel’s 
“evil ways,” in an article in Nature Notes, for April, 1901, I will not again 
bring up the question, beyond saying that if C. B. will look it up thoroughly he 
will find that the injury done by squirrels to trees and plant life is notorious. No 
accurate observer would confound the damage done by squirrels with that 
“ caused by larvw.” 
One of the most practical ways of increasing the numbers of our songsters, 
such as the nightingale, blackcap, white-throat, and others, is to thin the ranks 
of squirrels. They are veritable tyrants among our little birds, and should be 
kept in order like their first cousins, rats and mice. 
Market Weston, Thetford. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
March, 1902. 
Do Squirrels Hibernate? — Until five years ago I had never seen a 
squirrel in the wild or natural state, and had the impression that they were 
hibernating animals, an impression obtained fiom books on Natural History, and 
also from hearsay, and which appears to be a popular impression. Since then I 
have seen many squirrels and am inclined to believe that my former opinion was 
preconceived and erroneous. I have seen them in Epping Forest in every month 
of the year, generally as solitary individuals, but sometimes in pairs, and on one 
occasion as many as three together up a tree ; in fact, I have seen more in the 
winter than in the summer months ; not that I believe they are then more nume- 
rous, but the trees being leafless the conditions are more favourable for observa- 
tion. I have also come across them under all the different atmospheric conditions 
our climate is subject to, even with snow upon the ground and a hard frost 
prevailing. If they hibernate, why should they leave their cosy nests in such 
inclement weather? No, I am loth to believe in the hibernation theory in respect 
to these interesting and pretty little rodents, as it is quite antagonistic to my 
personal observations. 
Buckhurst Hill. John Horne. 
February 20, 1 902. 
