56 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 
take a great variety of foods, though the experiment 
of feeding with meat was not tried. He drank milk 
greedily. 
There is one very peculiar habit, interesting from a 
physiological point of view, to be observed in squirrels 
in confinement. A writer in Nature (vol. x.) says:— 
“JT have noticed that whenever it [the squirrel] cleans 
itself, after licking, it sneezes violently three or four 
times into its fore-paws, then rubs them, thus damped, 
over its fur.” And this writer raises the question as to 
whether this habit, which he believes voluntary, was 
confined to squirrels. He does not mention what sort 
of a squirrel his own was, but I have noticed this 
behaviour as of the most frequent occurrence in my 
caged Chipmunk. It seems to me, on the whole, most 
natural to consider it a voluntary act of the same 
character, and possibly for a similar purpose, as 
clearing the throat in the human subject, or perhaps 
even blowing the nose; and I am the more inclined 
to believe that it is voluntary from the account given 
of the Flying Squirrel, as observed by Prof. G. H. 
Perkins, and recorded in the American Naturalist 
(vol. vii.). This writer states that on one occasion his 
squirrel lapped some ink, but shortly afterwards 
manifested disgust, and indulged in violent sneezings. 
Under these circumstances it is difficult to understand, 
by anything in our own experience, how the act could 
have been reflex. 
Speaking of the relative intelligence of squirrels, this 
writer says :—“I am inclined to believe that the Flying 
Squirrel does not possess as much intelligence as the 
Grey or Red, or some other species.” From the entire 
account of the Flying Squirrel given by Prof. Perkins, 
I should suppose that the intelligence of this species 
and that of the Ground Squirrel are about on 
