153 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
264. The Woodchuck (Arctomys monax). — Writing from Byron, Michigan, 
U.S.A., a correspondent says, “We have had woodchucks which were quite 
tame and very amusing. The last one we had wanted to sleep in the clothes- 
press, next to my bedroom, and would carry or drag along whatever he could to 
that room. We usually see plenty of woodchucks in the summer. Many of them 
have holes in the ground, and about sundown the old ones will come out to feed 
on the clover. If they hear a slight noise they will sit up like the rabbit, look 
around, then dodge quickly out of sight. When taken young the woodchuck is 
very easily tamed ; and, like the squirrel, when consuming its food, will use its 
paws for holding the same. 
37, Ahvyne Villas, CiiAS. E. J. Hannet. 
Canonbiiry, N. 
265. Squirrels. — Squirrels are a trouble to me. I do not mind their 
taking my nuts regularly every autumn, but do not know how to keep them off 
my strawberry bed, for netting does not stop them, and I do not like to use a 
gun. They have even begun to attack small unripe plums. An old coffee tin 
cut down the side with the bottom and top removed, and fastened round the 
trunk three or four feet up, will prevent them climbing up the plum trees. 
Edmund Thos. Daukeny. 
SoHthacre, Swaffham, 
July, 1905 . 
266. Plover Chasing a Stoat. — On June i we were walking on a road 
above the Irthing Valley, in North-east Cumberland, when our attention was 
attracted by a common plover (locally Peeweep) circling about and screaming. 
We thought at first that we were the object of her attack, but my daughter, 
looking over the wall, saw that she was trying to drive away a stoat. Frightened 
p.artly by her efforts and partly by the sight of us it made off at full speed. 
E. U. 
267. Ringed Plover. — The ringed plover here, whose first lot of eggs 
were boiled and eaten, had, at my request, their second nest spared, and it was 
shown to me. There are now three young birds flying about with their parents ; 
so the chances are we shall have them back again in the same spot next year. 
Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
268. Are Starlings Friends or Foes?— The writer of Note 259 thinks 
I give starlings too good a character. He gives them too bad an one. Inter alia, 
he says ; “ Of course it is well known that starlings eat fruit.” Let me own at 
once that they are fond of cherries. What other fruit do they eat? In the course 
of my life I have had three homes of my own, with good kitchen gardens, and 
an ample expanse of lawn. In each case several pairs of starlings lived on the 
premises with the same results. They spend hours every day in thrusting their 
bills into the turf on the lawn in search of food, and ignore my kitchen garden. 
Thrushes, blackbirds and sparrows are caught in the netting that protects my 
gooseberries, currants and strawberries, peas and the like, but no protection 
whatever would be needed if starlings were the only birds that lived on my 
premises, for I have no cherries. Starlings find the following food in the turf : 
cockchafers and their grubs, the June bug (rhhotrogus, or root-eater), which just 
now flies about in swarms, lepidoptera and their larvte that feed on the roots of 
grass and plants, wire-worms, click beetles, and other coleoptera, daddy-long- 
legs, leather jackets, and many other terrible enemies to the cultivators of land. 
It requires more than ordinary knowledge of entomology to fully appreciate the * 
starling’s worth. The amount of grain eaten by it is very small and it can hardly 
be considered granivorous. If I were to draw up a list of useful birds in order 
of merit the starling would take a high place, for its good deeds far outweigh its 
bad ones. 
Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
269. (ji-reen Sandpiper. — The nest of this bird has not, I believe, been 
hitherto found in England, and yet there is a strong presumption that they do 
