716 SCIURIDAE—SCIURUS 
ever, available, as when young nearly as large as rats were 
found in the second week of February ;’ these must have 
been born in January. Mr Forrest also mentions the finding 
of three dead young at the foot of a tree in the latter month. 
Later litters are found throughout May, June, and into July, 
but the latest of which Barrett-Hamilton had personal know- 
ledge was on 14th August 1891, when he saw “two quite 
small young ones, the eyes unopened, which had fallen from 
their nest in County Wexford.” 
In early spring an energetic courtship takes place; as 
usually observed, this consists chiefly of the strenuous pursuit 
of a coy female by several ardent males. According to Blasius, 
the males of the nearly allied continental species sometimes 
fight fiercely with each other for the possession of the females ; 
but we are not aware that this habit has ever been observed 
in British Squirrels, although males are often far more 
numerous than females. We have no definite information as 
to the length of the period of gestation, the Squirrel usually 
being sterile in captivity; Collett states that Norwegian 
Squirrels go pregnant for four or five weeks. Lataste was 
not able to determine whether the ovarian cycle lasted ten 
days, as in many other rodents, or not; he thought those of 
Southern Europe to be polycestrous. On the other hand 
Heape regards the British Squirrel as probably moneestrous. 
The young at birth are blind and naked, with long, straight 
tails and well-developed claws on their hands and feet. One, 
not more than three or four days old, has been figured, from a 
photograph, by Mr W. Evans (as mentioned above, p. 701). 
They grow rapidly, and leave the nest after they are a few 
weeks old. The parents are said to be monogamous, and their 
offspring, according to some writers, remain with them until 
the following pairing season, the young of two litters even 
uniting to follow their mother. We doubt the truth of this 
story, however, and prefer to believe that the experience of Mr 
Hodgson, who saw the father and mother combining to drive 
away their young, is more usual. 
Although, perhaps, not too careful a mother, the female 
will guard her young jealously while they are still in the nest, 
1 Field, 6th March 1886. 
