250 THE RING OF NATURE 



of beasts and not an animal prison. But the 

 squirrels swarm still more thickly in the Broad 

 Walk and all over Regent's Park, to the delight of 

 people far more likely to feed them than they 

 are in the gardens where monkeys and many others 

 compete for attention. 



The point of approach to the Zoo matters a 

 good deal, and since the squirrels came there we 

 like to get there by the Bakerloo railway, and 

 walk from Regent's Park Station by the Broad 

 Walk. When one has a bag of nuts or a paper 

 bag that looks as though it might contain nuts, 

 the tameness of the squirrels becomes positively 

 startling. They think nothing of running up the 

 leg, on to the forearm, and poking their heads 

 right into the bag to see what it really does hold. 

 They are usually disappointed if they find there 

 apples instead of nuts. They do not quite like 

 to sit there and nibble. They will stay long 

 enough to push the first nut well into the back of 

 the mouth, so that they can then take another 

 and run off with two at once; but unless you 

 provide it in slices they do not attempt to 

 negotiate an apple. 



The people who attend the free Zoo in Regent's 

 Park are enormously generous to the squirrels. 

 There are some who bring up daily basketfuls of 

 food. You can hardly ever give the frisky little 

 animals so much that they will cease to take more. 

 They usually take it a little way off, dig a little 

 hole, and hide it. 



