tg22. Notes. 83 



Squirrels in Co. Cork. 



Until reading Dr Scharff's interesting paper in the May number of 

 the Irish Naturalist I had no idea that the Squirrel had been unrecorded 

 in Co. Cork. I have met with it fairly often about Fermoy for some 

 years past. At one time it certainly was absent or extremely scarce 

 here, but about twelve years ago I began to see it occasionally, and it 

 was, I think, in greatest numbers about five years ago. Since then 

 the continual cutting down of our woods has reduced its numbers again. 

 About eight or nine years ago, very early one summer morning, I awoke 

 to find one sitting on the sill of my open window. It ran along a ledge, 

 down some creepers, and I watched it scampering across the grass in our 

 garden into the shrubbery. Later one was killed by a dog in our 

 conservatory, and since then I have occasionally seen an odd one, and 

 others have been reported to me, about the shrubs in our garden, close 

 to which is a thick row of beech trees. In Castlehyde demesne and 

 Glenabo wood I have frequently seen it, but never in numbers, and 

 occasionally in other smaller woods around also. Being under the 

 mistaken idea that the presence of the Squirrel in this county was well 

 known, I regret I did not keep the actual dates, but certainly five or 

 six years ago I could have shown them to anyone almost any day around 

 here. At the present time they have become scarce again, possibly 

 owing to the destruction or thinning of our woods, and I have seen 

 none lately. 



In the extreme south-west of this county, on the peninsula between 

 Dunmanus and Roaring Water Baj^s, there was a saying that in olden 

 times " a Squirrel could go from Skibbereen to the Mizen Head on trees 

 without coming to ground." Whilst I am not going to vouch for the 

 accuracy of this statement, I think it is significant that the name " Squirrel" 

 should be known at all in a country which has been practically devoid 

 of trees for centuries. A more unfavourable country for Squirrels can 

 hardly be imagined. Of woods there are none. A few small groves of 

 stunted growth, five to eight miles of rocks and bogs separating them 

 from one another, is not the sort of place one would expect to find Squirrels. 

 The fact then that such an animal is well known by repute in that country 

 is, I believe, at least, suggestive of its former existence there. 



W. M, Abbott. 

 Fermoy. 



The Squirrel in Ireland* 



In his interesting paper on the question " Is the Squirrel a native 

 Irish species ? " which appeared in the May number. Dr. Scharff rightly 

 says that there can no longer be any reasonable doubt about the Squirrel 

 having been a native of Ireland long before the modern introductions 

 took place. 



The historical notes given by Barrett-Hamilton and Hinton in the 

 monograph to which he refers furnish ample evidence on this point, but 



