British Gnawing Mammals 



and in the foot there are five toes, resembling the 

 fingers, having long, sharp claws, and wonderfully 

 formed for climbing the outer bark of a beech or other 

 tree. 



Squirrels are never found outside the woodland area, 

 unless by mere chance. They have their nest, or 

 "dray," in some hole high up the tree-trunk, or in 

 some cosy fork formed by the larger branches of the 

 parent stem. The nest is composed of fibres and 

 roots of a miscellaneous character, with moss and 

 leaves intermixed. Here the young are reared about 

 midsummer, and within this domicile there may merely 

 be a couple of youngsters or as many as seven or even 

 eight. 



As a rule. Squirrels are rather epicurean in taste, 

 and love to have a full larder against the demands of 

 autumn and winter. They are given to hiding nuts 

 and other foods about the woods, and may be seen in 

 late autumn running about the forest, scratching here 

 and there for these stores. At such times they also 

 secure acorns, or other hard-shelled nuts, and it is 

 quite an interesting scene to watch the animal dining 

 on one of these encased morsels. The creature gets 

 the nut in its hands, and at once sets its teeth into 

 the outer skin and deftly scrapes this off. Then 

 it splits the shell in two, and catches the kernel in its 

 teeth. If disturbed at its meal, the Squirrel will mount 

 the adjacent tree, and finish the nut while lying in the 

 tree-fork above. 



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