120 



PROTECTION AGAINST ANIMALS. 



nourishing than the foliage-buds. Spruce and Scots pine 

 are preferred, but silver-fir is also attacked in this way. The 

 destruction of these buds, in snowy winters, may entirely 

 prevent seed from being produced. The methods pursued by 

 the squirrel in eating the buds differ according to the age, 

 height, and strength of the plants attacked. In plantations 

 and thickets, from 1 to 6 feet high, which are not yet provided 



Figs. 36 and 37. Twigs bitten off by squirrel (nat. size). 

 a. Points where twigs are bitten off. b. Bases of bitten-off buds. 



with flowering-buds, the squirrels bite-off the top of the 

 previous year's shoot, and the side-shoots of the last verticil, 

 the buds of which are also eaten. Scots pines injured in this 

 way, develop new leaders from buds just below the point of 

 attack, whilst in the case of spruce, an uninjured side-shoot 

 from the last verticil becomes a leader. In the case of poles 

 and trees of these species, the squirrel bites-off the most 

 external little shoots on which are the male inflorescence- 

 buds, and then, holding the twig with its fore feet, goes back 

 to the branch to eat the buds. Jt tjhen Jets the twig fall to 



