XXV 



SQUIRRELS, RATS, PORCUPINES, ETC. 



"....; the striped palm-squirrel raced 

 From stem to stem to see ; " 



Hie Light of Asia. 



" Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats, 

 Brown rats, black rats, grey rats, tawny rats." 



The Pied Piper of Hamelin. 



" And bristling with intolerable hair." 



Atalanta in Calydon. 



PALM-SQUIRRELS, Sciurus palmarum (Plate XIX.), 

 are to be found in every suburban garden, and are 

 occasionally met with well within the limits of the 

 town of Calcutta. They are so pretty and attractive 

 that one is usually disposed to pardon any mischief 

 that they may do, so long, at any rate, as they do not 

 insist on invading the interior of houses. In Calcutta 

 they seldom do this, but in Madras they are often 

 very troublesome, constantly making excursions into 

 rooms, gnawing up curtains and other fabrics in 

 quest of materials for their nests, and being the 

 indirect cause of the ruin of small ornaments which 



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