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: 

 " I 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 Eed, 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 



