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hedge which formed the boundary of the wood, separating it from 

 an adjacent sheep walk. From this hedge he collected little 

 patches of wool from the thorns where they had lodged when torn 

 from the backs of "truant sheep" as they forced a way through the 

 hedge in quest of "pastures new." Here was an unexpected and 

 completely exculpatory solution of the egg difficulty. My active 

 little four-footed neighbour was merely collecting materials for 

 lining his nest, which I presently discovered almost at the top of 

 the tree just mentioned. The nest was rapidly approaching 

 completion, and in it a family of three squirrel cubs was reared 

 without molestation. This seems to be the usual complement of 

 a litter of squirrels ; at any rate, every nest met with in my 

 personal experience has held exactly that number. They who 

 have seen kittens at play on a hearthrug, or lambkins gambolling 

 in a meadow, have but a faint idea of the sprightly antics of young 

 squirrels when first allowed to venture outside the curtilages of 

 their domicile. They run races at almost incredible speed, and 

 chase each other in a spiral direction round and round, or 

 sometimes up and down, the stem and along the branches of 

 neighbouring trees. They play at bo-peep after a most ludicrous 

 fashion, and their changes of attitude are effected with amazing 

 agility. They are quick-tempered, even irritable, when engaged in 

 such sportive exercises ; and this characteristic does not disappear 

 when tlie animals arrive at maturity.* Many a time has their 

 passionate clucking, accompanied by a peculiar thud or patting 

 sound made by the feet, betrayed their unsuspected presence. It 

 would be difficult to explain exactly how this thud is produced. 

 It is not like the stamp — stamp — made by the Herdwick ewe as 

 she faces round in a threatening attitude to confront the collie 

 when she is alarmed for the safety of her offspring. The sheep 

 uses one fore foot only at a time. The rabbit stamps with his 

 hind paws, as a note half of alarm, half of detiance, as he disappears 

 head foremost into his burrow. But the squirrel apparently uses 



* When Connie's offspring were fully grown, they were driven from the wood 

 in whicli they had been reared, by the combined efforts of tlieir parents, and we 

 saw them no more. 



