104 COMMON BRITISn ANIMALS 



are five toes on eacli foot^ but on the forefoot the 

 thumb is a mere stump. 



Those who have kept tame squirrels will know 

 that the brilliant red fur of summer becomes duller 

 and browner in the winter and the hair longer and 

 softer, and there are tufts of hair on the ears. The 

 moults usually occur in May and October. 



The body and head of the squirrel are together 

 about 8 inches long, and the tail 7 or 8 inches. 

 Anyone within reach of a wood needs not a great 

 share of patience to catch sight of this wild creature 

 in his native haunts. I have seen him in the less 

 frequented parts of Hampstead Heath and Golder^s 

 Hill, skipping about from branch to branch. But 

 those who would see him must be silent and motion- 

 less, for he is a timid creature, and with the slightest 

 sound, which reaches his sharp ears, he has vanished. 



Beautiful as the squirrel is, no one who has any 

 knowledge of forests, especially forests of larch and 

 Scot^s pine, can deny that he is most wantonly 

 destructive. If only there were some human in 

 such close touch with the wild things, some really 

 effective St. Francis, who could arrange terms of 

 peace between us humans and the creatures of the 

 woods, he or she would doubtless say to the squirrels : 

 '^We could agree on the basis of enough being as 

 good as a feast ; we agree that you should take your 

 toll of food j live and let live, but believe me, waste 

 spells want.^^ Squirrels, however, delight in making 

 elaborate preparations for imaginar}^ feasts which 

 never come off. They bite and throw down many 

 more young shoots, cones and nuts than they can 



