122 



PROTECTION AGAINST ANIMALS. 



old suffer most, but also sixty-years-old woods. This is done 

 from May to July chiefly in dry years. The damage is done 

 to the stem in the crown where the squirrel sits, and is 

 sometimes in rings or spirals, at other times quite irregular ; 

 as it goes down to the sapwood, the injured stems may die 

 above the peeled place, as they sometimes do by hundreds. 



d. Destruction of Young Birds. 



During the breeding season of birds, the squirrel frequently 

 attacks their young, killing them and eating their heads. 



2. Protective Rules. 



Protection of the pine-marten (Mustela martes), a great 

 enemy of the squirrel. 



Shooting, with the help of dogs, in spruce seed-years, and 

 near nurseries. 



SECTION V. DORMICE. 

 1. Damage Done. 



Dormice are squirrel-like animals, with bushy tails, and as 



they move about at night, 

 chiefly in broadleaved forest, 

 it is difficult to state precisely 

 the amount of damage they do. 

 The loir (Myoxns glis, in 

 German, Siebenschliifer) , the 

 largest European species of 

 dormouse, is found in southern 

 Europe, but not in the British 

 Isles. It feeds on mast of all 

 kinds and also on spruce and 

 other seeds, and orchard-fruit, 

 bites-off the leading shoots of 

 beech and silver-fir, and in 

 spring, barks young stems, and 

 robs birds' nests, doing injury 

 of a similar nature to that done by squirrels. 



It collects a provision for the winter in holes, but passes 



Fig. 41. Girdling 

 of alder by dor- 

 mice. 



Fig. 42. Gird- 

 ling of birch by 

 dormice. 



