31 



all his feet simultaneously, or "stutts," as a Cumbrian would say. 

 I have only now to add my conviction that the squirrel does not 

 hibernate, as I had been taught almost from infancy to suppose ; 

 for even during the terrific snowstorm of March, 1881, and others 

 scarcely less severe in the seasons immediately preceding it, their 

 visits to my back door were never intermitted. Only when the 

 hazel nuts were ripe and fairly abundant would they disappear for 

 a few weeks at a time. In addition to nuts, and such other articles 

 of diet as I have already enumerated, squirrels seem to have a 

 liking for the kernels of most kinds of stone fruit. I have seen 

 them busily engaged in stripping a plum tree of its half-ripened 

 fruit, not for the sake of the outer pulp, which they stripped off 

 and tossed away with a disdainful gesture, but in order to reach 

 the seed imbedded within the central stone, through which they 

 can drill holes with amazing rapidity. I am persuaded, also, from 

 pretty close observation, extending over a series of years, that 

 these agile, interesting, and harmless animals spend much more of 

 their time on the ground than is commonly supposed. 



Of the other Rodentia in a wild state, the Long-tailed Field 

 Mouse is in some places greatly too abundant in meadows ; and I 

 regret to think that this mischief is being aggravated by the 

 mistaken folly of game-watchers and preservers in their reckless 

 persecution of owls, kestrels, and of other birds that formerly kept 

 the Muridce within reasonable limits. The Short-tailed Field 

 Mouse is also increasing at a similar rate. Of late years I have 

 noticed many meadows in which large patches of ground were 

 quite ruined for haymaking purposes by the burrowing operations 

 of mice and rats. Yet what a pretty creature is the Short-tailed 

 Field Mouse, with his chestnut-coloured fur, short stumpy tail, and 

 prominent bead-like eyes of glossy blackness. How such little 

 animals manage to gain subsistence during very severe winters, I 

 have never been able to determine with any amount of satisfaction. 

 On the 29th May, 1881, I had rambled as far as the summit of 

 Swarthfell, where, in an extensive hollow, the snow still lay deep 

 in the centre. The outer edges of the drift had gradually melted 

 away, and the surface thus recently exposed bore evident traces of 



