I9OI-1902.| The Squirrel. 291 
done by squirrels grown in Aberdeenshire, that in a letter I 
have just received from a well-known proprietor and member 
of Parliament, he says: “Squirrels are a perfect curse to tree- 
growing districts, and we in Aberdeenshire have suffered most 
seriously from their operations. They only came into the 
county about forty years ago, but since then they have been 
so active that hardly a wood has been spared, and we pro- 
prietors have lost many thousands of pounds. Their modus 
operandi is well known. They cut away a ring of bark, not 
far from the tree top, which then withers and becomes so 
brittle as to be easily broken off by the wind or snow, and 
after that the growth of the tree is checked, it becomes stunted, 
and when cut will practically be found to be ‘ piped’ and much 
deteriorated in quality. ven if the top is not snapped off, 
_ the circulation of the sap is checked by the ringing of the 
bark, and healthy growth ceases.” 
Even in old-timbered parks such as The Inch, Kingston 
‘ Grange, and Edmonstone, squirrels do much mischief. I have 
_ observed in the early spring (when there is a sprinkling of 
_ snow it is more apparent) the ground littered with buds be- 
_ neath the fine old planes, the centre of the buds being eaten 
_ out by squirrels. Later in the spring, when the horse-chestnut 
has made young shoots of from three to six inches in length, 
they seem to take a pride in the quantity of shoots they can 
nip off. They hollow out the pith, leaving the shoot hanging 
_ by a strip of bark, which in a day or two dries up, giving the 
_ tree the appearance of having been blasted by a severe spring 
_ frost or withering east wind. 
_ That squirrels have become a nuisance must appear -mani- 
fest, much as I regret the fact. With the exception of the 
domestic cat, they have practically no enemies but man. The 
gardener’s cat at The Inch killed a squirrel the other day. In 
_ deciduous forests they can be shot down, as when stripped of 
_ leaves “squirlie” cannot well conceal himself, and once seen 
_ there is no chance of escape from a gun. It is otherwise in a 
dense pine forest, the difficulty there being to see them. The 
best time to destroy them is in the spring when the tree 
sap begins to rise. 
It is a law of nature that where animals which have a 
tendency to increase rapidly abound, checks are generally 
