1901-1902. ] The Squirrel as a Pet. 207 
leather. One would never, however, argue from such data that 
_ sailors lived usually on human flesh or enjoyed a meal of leather. 
I believe the explanation of the above incident to be as 
follows. Every animal, including vegetarian animals, requires 
a certain amount of mineral matter to keep himself in health. 
It is very probable that the squirrel in question found himself 
deficient in some such respect, and thought rightly that the 
egg-shell would supply his needs. To take an extreme illus- 
tration, I would hardly suppose that any one would go the 
length of saying that a tame squirrel of mine lives on lime 
plaster, though this might be found in his stomach at intervals, 
and the cornice of my dining-room bears very evident traces of 
his efforts to obtain mineral matter. Nor would any one con- 
clude that the squirrel ate bones, though at rare intervals he 
might find traces of dried bones in his intestinal contents and 
due to his search for lime salts. The fact is that nuts, acorns, 
&c., do not contain a sufficient amount of lime to replace that 
constantly destroyed in his skeleton, and perforce he has to get 
an additional supply in a more direct way, as from fragments 
of chalk, plaster, or very rarely egg-shells. The ridiculous 
statement which we find in certain books that the squirrel 
kills and eats young birds and mice in their nests is so alien 
to their natural habits, that I only mention it to show how 
imperfectly the habits of this little animal have been studied. 
To return to our pets. We have never taught our present 
squirrel any special tricks—there was no need, he is so full of 
trickiness himself, Several of his actions show remarkable 
_ reasoning power. If, while he is eating a nut, you offer him 
_ another, instead of refusing it he runs off to hide the one he 
was eating and returns to take the second. He found out 
that the proper way to remove the lid from a biscuit-box 
was to prise it up with his teeth on each side alternately. 
He soon discovered that if he merely drove it up on one 
side it jammed. Dish-covers he also disposes of by pushing 
_ them upwards, and then throws them over. He is a most 
inquisitive little fellow, and tears off the paper from every 
_ parcel to see what it contains. This habit he has taught our 
_ kitten, and now we have only to lay a parcel down for it to 
_ be unpacked by either of them. At meal-time he invariably 
makes his appearance, and having appropriated some article of 
