SQUIRRELS, RATS, PORCUPINES, ETC. 301 



are very apt to come to grief in the excitement that 

 arises among the resident dogs and cats on the occasion 

 of their visits. Any material of a soft, fibrous texture, 

 or capable of being reduced to fibres, is an irresistible 

 attraction, and they were consequently a constant 

 source of trouble and cost in the Zoological Garden 

 at Alipur, owing to their persistent attacks on the 

 curtains of coarse jute-fabric affixed to the front of 

 many cages to protect their inmates from blazing 

 sunshine, furiously driving rain, and the cold of 

 winter nights. In addition to such evidently 

 purposive mischief, they are often guilty of seem- 

 ingly wanton injury by gnawing through the 

 branches of shrubs and creepers so as to cause 

 unsightly blanks in the foliage. As the tissues in 

 such cases are usually quite cleanly divided, the 

 injury cannot be excused as occasioned by any 

 dietetic need, and, if the habit be of any practical 

 use at all, it can only be so as a means of cleaning 

 the teeth of the culprits and preventing overgrowth 

 by the friction that it provides. 



The number of palm-squirrels inhabiting any 

 given locality undergoes striking fluctuations during 

 the course of years. In 1880-81, they were mis- 

 chievously abundant in the Botanic Garden at 

 Shibpur; in 1886-87, hardly any were to be met 

 with ; but from that time onwards they went on 

 steadily multiplying, until in 1896 they had become 

 as common as they ever had been. As has already 



