596 THE SQUIRREL. 
The only plan is to watch the animal until it has ascended an isolated tree, or by a 
well-directed shower of missiles, to drive it into such a place of refuge, and then to form 
a ring round the tree, so as to intercept the Squirrel if it should try to escape by leaping 
to the ground and running to another tree. The best climber is then sent in chase of the 
Squirrel, and endeavours, by violently shaking the branches, to force the little animal to 
loosen its hold and come to the earth. But it is by no means an easy matter to shake 
a Squirrel from a branch, especially as the little creature takes refuge on the topmost 
and most slender boughs which even bend under the weight of its own small body, and 
can in no way be trusted with 
the weight of a human being. By 
dint, however, of perseverance, the 
Squirrel is at last dislodged, and 
comes to the ground as lightly as 
a snowflake. Hats, caps, sticks, 
and all available missiles are im- 
mediately flung at the luckless 
animal as soon as it touches the 
eround, and it is very probably 
struck and overwhelmed by a cap. 
The successful hurler flings him- 
self upon the cap, and tries to 
seize the Squirrel as it les under 
his property. All his companions 
gather round him, and great is 
the disappointment to find the cap 
empty, and to see the Squirrel 
triumphantly scampering up the 
trunk of some tree, where 1t would 
be useless to follow it. 
During the hotter hours of the 
day the Squirrel is never seen, 
being quietly asleep in its lofty nest; but in the early morning, or in the cooler hours of 
the afternoon, it comes from its retreat, and may be seen leaping about the branches in 
search of the various fruits on which it feeds. 
The nest of the Squirrel is an admirable specimen of natural architecture, and is 
almost invariably placed in the fork of some lofty branch, where it is concealed from 
the view of any one passing under the tree, and is out of the reach of any ordinary foe, 
even if its situation were discovered. Sometimes it is built in the hollow of a decayed 
bough, but is always admirably concealed from sight. In form it is nearly spherical, and 
is made of leaves, moss, grass, and other substances, woven together in so artistic a 
manner that it is impermeable to rain, and cannot be dislodged from its resting-place by 
the most violent wind. A single pair of Squirrels inhabit the same nest, and seem to 
consider some particular tree as their home, remaining in it year after year. 
The female Squirrel produces about three or four young at a litter, the little ones 
being born in the middle of summer, and remaining under the care of their parents until 
the spring of the succeeding year, when they separate, and shift for themselves. 
The food of the Squirrel is usually of a vegetable nature, and consists of nuts, acorns, 
wheat, and other fruits and seeds, Being a hibernating animal, the Squirrel is in the 
habit of laying up a winter store of provisions, and towards the end of autumn, while 
acorns and nuts are in their prime, becomes very busy in gathering certain little treasures, 
which it hides in all kinds of nooks, crevices, and holes, near the tree in which it lodges. 
The creature must be endowed with a very accurate memory, for it always remembers the 
spots where it has deposited its store of food, and even when the snow lies thickly upon 
the earth, and has covered the ground with a uniform white mantle, the Squirrel betrays 
no perplexity, but whenever it requires nourishment, goes straight to the hidden storehouse, 
scratches away the snow, and disinters its hidden treasures. 
SQUIRREL.—Sceitirus Europous, 
