1902. Notes. 189 



he stated that the result of his experience led him to differ from Bell, 

 our standard authority on the British mammalia. Bell, in his ' History 

 of British Quadrupeds,' at page 278 of the 2nd edition, published in 1874, 

 writes of the squirrel that 'the female brings forth three or four young 

 in the month of June, which receive the most assiduous care from both 

 parents, and remain with them until the following spring, when they 

 separate and choose their mates.' Mr. Blagg, however, refers his 

 readers to The Field {or March 6th, 1886, where a correspondent records 

 finding young squirrels, ' nearly as large as a rat,' in the second week 

 of February, 'in a peculiarly inclement and backward season.' 'We 

 may assume,' continues Mr. Blagg, 'those squirrels were born some 

 time in January. In this neighbourhood I have three times come across 

 nests of young squirrels ; on each occasion at the beginning of April. 

 They appeared to be several weeks old, and must have been born at 

 least as early in the year as the month of March.' Mr. J. E. Harting's 

 experience is also opposed to the testimony of Bell as regards the time 

 of producing the young of the squirrel He has found newly-boru 

 squirrels on the 21st March (three young), 19th April (three young), 

 26th April (four young), and 29th April (two young). ' Those found at 

 the end of March and beginning of April were naked and blind ; those 

 taken at the end of April wera about three parts grown. The old 

 squirrels, in case of danger, remove the young from the nest or "drey'' 

 to some hole in a tree, whither they carry them one by one in the 

 mouth, just like a cat carries her kitten. One of the prettiest sights in 

 the world is to see an old squirrel teaching a young one to jump.' In 

 England we ourselves found three young squirrels, with their eyes 

 open, in a ' drey' near Oxhey, in Middlesex, on May 28th, 1887, and on 

 the same day we came across another lot of much smaller youngsters in 

 a hole in a tree. All the above records of the finding of young squirrels 

 disagree with Bell's testimony, but en one occasion we came across a 

 family of them which must have been born not earlier than in July. This 

 was on August T4th, 1891, when we were shown two young squirrels 

 which had recently fallen out of their ' drey.' They were still living 

 when we saw them, but were so young that their eyes had not yet 

 opened. Possibly this was the second litter produced by the same 

 parents in the year." 



Since that time I have received two additional notices of the finding 

 of young squirrels in the months of March and April, viz. : — 



April 15th, 1895. — Six young (furless and with unopened eyes), found 

 in a hole in a tree at Ashburnham Park, Sussex, by N. F. Ticehurst. 



March, 1896 (middle of). — Four young, with unopened eyes, found in 

 Northamptonshire by the keeper of the late Lord Lilford. 



G. E. H. Barrett- Hamii^ton. 

 Redefort-road, Orange Colony. 



