1923- Moffat — Food of the Irish Squirrel. 79 



(3) The Beech. — At two seasons of the year the Beech 

 is of great importance to the Squirrel. In a year in which 

 beech-mast is plentiful, it is preferred to every other food, so 

 that from the middle of August until sometime in October, 

 even the Pine and Larch are neglected. Unfortunately the 

 crop of beech-mast is quite as uncertain as that of larch- 

 cones, and totally failed in Co. Wexford both in 1891 and 

 in 1893. In spring, however, the Beech again becomes 

 a source of supply, and in two different ways. In April, 

 when the beech-leaves are at their greenest, the ground may 

 sometimes be seen literally carpeted with thousands of 

 these leaves, which the Squirrels have bitten off and dropped, 

 eating merely the fresh leaf-stalks, for which they evidently 

 have an extraordinary relish. And during the greater part 

 of May, the animals spend much of their time grubbing up 

 the seedhng Beeches to eat the succulent underground 

 parts of the plant. It was quite common to see four or 

 five Squirrels on the ground at this work at once in years 

 of a good beech-harvest. 



(4) The Spruce Fir. — The green cones of the Spruce 

 are pretty freely eaten from July onwards until October, 

 and occasional meals of the same food are made during the 

 winter and early spring months. May and June are the 

 only months in which I have seen no trace of the Spruce 

 being fed on. Besides its cones, the young flowers of this 

 tree are a tempting morsel, for w^hich, early in the year, the 

 Squirrel bites off the 3^oung shoots, so as to get at the buds 

 which would otherwise be protected by the spines of the 

 foliage above and below them. 



(5) The Oak.—Om native Quercus robur comes only 

 fifth in the list of useful trees, for though its acorns are 

 certainly eaten, they seem to be held in very little esteem 

 and in any case they only furnish food during three months 

 (September, October, and November). If a winter store 

 were wanted, they might, perhaps, be hoarded, but I have 

 never seen our Wexford Squirrels hoarding food, and they 

 certainly have no need to. The Oak, it is true, yields other 

 foods besides its acorns. At least three kinds of galls found 

 on this tree are much eaten. The very abundant " marble 



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