August, 1923. The Irish Nahirahst. 77 



FOOD OF THE IRISH SOUIRREL. 



BY C. B. MOFFAT. 



It has been suggested to me that a study of the feeding 

 habits of the Squirrels now resident in Ireland should 

 yield results that might be helpful towards a solution of 

 the question whether these animals are entirely derived 

 from an introduced stock, or may be in part descended from 

 Squirrels of that aboriginal stock that inhabited the 

 old Irish forests in by-gone days. 



As I kept pretty careful notes on the feeding of these 

 animals in County Wexford for about twelve years (from 

 the time of their arrival at Ballyhyland in the summer of 

 i8go, until the year 1902, after which my opportunities 

 for continuing such notes became much fewer), I think 

 it may in some degree meet this suggestion if I now lay 

 before readers of the Irish Naturalist a brief summary of 

 the results. 



It must, of course, be borne in mind that the Squirrel's 

 diet in different localities must vary to some extent accord- 

 ing to the nature of the choice of foods offered. I will have 

 to advert to one rather significant difference between the 

 feeding habits observed in Co. Wexford and those noted 

 during visits to Fassaroe, Co. Wicklow. But I believe 

 that the choice of foods offered in the woods about Ballyhy- 

 land and in the surrounding area at all seasons of the year 

 was sufficiently large to give a very fair indication of the 

 manner in which a Squirrel would seek to support himself 

 in any part of Ireland to which he might be transferred. 



The Squirrel's principal supply during all the years 

 when I had him under notice in Co. Wexford was derived 

 from trees belonging to five famihar species, which I name 

 in the order of their importance to the animal : — ^the Scotch 

 Fir or Pine (Pinus sylvestris), the Larch {Larix eiiropcBa), 

 the Beech {Fagus sylvatica), the Spruce Fir {Picea excelsa), 

 and the Oak [Quercus rohur). Next in importance to these 

 five trees came the innumerable kinds of fungi on which the 



