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1901-1902.| The Squirrel. 285 
suffered from misguided affection, in the course of a most 
unsatisfactory, and I now confess inconsiderate, experiment. 
_Alas! how many pets share a similar fate. I buried it in the 
wood, and to this day could point out the spot. 
The nest of the squirrel is generally found on a branch 
where smaller ones shoot out. It is made of twigs, dried 
grass, and leaves bound together with the inner bark of the 
lime-tree. Great care is displayed, and this is necessary, 
in order that it may resist a violent gale. The nest is made 
on the principle of Jenny Wren’s, with which we are all so 
familiar. So carefully is it knit together that it is never 
soaked by heavy rains, and here the squirrel brings forth its 
_ young and spends much of its time during the inclemency of 
_ winter. Sometimes the nest is formed in a cavity of a large 
branch, where they gnaw out any rotten parts prior to form- 
ing the nest. In the end of May last a dead tree was cut 
down in the policies of Moredun, and on falling to the ground 
it was discovered by the woodman that a squirrel’s nest was 
in the cavity of a decayed branch. Five young squirrels 
nearly half-grown were in the nest, but one of them was dead. 
The woodman gave the four to the boys of a farmer close by, 
but here again they became the victims of misguided affection, 
warm milk from the cow (which is much too strong) being 
given them without stint. 
Squirrels love warmth, and I am of opinion that they only 
b leave their nests in stormy weather when compelled by hunger. 
They bring forth their young early in May, and, as far as I 
am able to judge from dissection in the spring months, their 
period of gestation, like the rat and the weasel, is six weeks. 
As far as I know, they generally breed only once a year, but 
_ I do not wish to dogmatise on this point, as I understand that 
in the south of England they bring forth their young much 
_ earlier than May. 
Among my early recollections was a story in my school- 
_ book entitled “The Use of Squirrels to the British Navy.” A 
_ gentleman in Monmouthshire observed a squirrel burying 
acorns in the ground, and arrived at the conclusion that the 
- animals would fail to find them all again, with the result that 
the acorns would spring up and eventually grow into giant 
oaks suitable for shipbuilding purposes. The writer’s con- 
