286 The Squirrel, [Sess. 
clusion was a little astray, as the oak requires the growth of 
centuries to mature it, and, as is well known, it has long since 
been superseded by iron in building our modern men-of-war. 
But he was accurate enough in his remarks regarding squirrels 
forgetting where to find their hidden treasures, I have again 
and again observed the stupidity of squirrels in this’ respect. 
I have seen them carrying walnuts a considerable distance from 
the trees, and burying them in a garden by scraping holes and 
covering them with soil. I have also seen them hunting most 
actively and scraping here and there for their hidden food, 
and, what is surprising, very frequently without success. I 
was for long under the impression that squirrels, like field 
mice, invariably laid up stores in quantity, but this has seldom 
come under my observation, though I have often seen single 
hazel nuts, walnuts, and chestnuts unearthed when digging 
was being prosecuted in flower-beds. That the long-tailed 
field mouse has a granary of stores laid up for winter is 
familiar to every one. I have often followed squirrels’ tracks 
when there was a sprinkling of snow on the ground, but in 
few cases found a store. I was, however, fortunate in finding 
one this morning. ‘Taking up the track at a large lime-tree on 
the avenue at The Inch, on which there is a nest, I followed 
the trail round behind the stables and found a number of 
places where he had been scraping. Searching diligently, I 
came upon a store of haws and acorns (Spanish oak), which I 
carefully picked up to exhibit here to-night. They were 
covered only by dead leaves. 
I was recently interested in watching a squirrel pulling 
chestnuts from a tree in Kingston Grange Park. I had of 
course to keep a respectful distance, but observed that it — 
pulled them off with its feet, when the nuts dropped to the — 
ground. It would then run down, pick one up and run off 
with it, crossing the park, a distance of over a hundred yards, 
to a place where the density of the foliage prevented grass 
from growing underneath. Here it made a little scrape, 
pushed the nut as far underneath the leaves and soil as it 
could with its nose, gave three or four scrapes with each fore 
paw to cover it, and was off again. During one of the 
journeys with a nut I got nearer the chestnut tree with a view 
to observing accurately how it removed them. On its return 
: 
