THE COMMON SQUIRREL. 



covered with snow. These provisions are not often 

 deposited in the nests of the animals, but in' some 

 hollow part of the tree ; and recourse is never .had 

 to them except in case of necessity, and when >no 

 other food is conveniently to be found abroad. If 

 the winter proves longer and more severe than 

 usual, it is said that the store is sometimes con- 

 sumed before the snow is entirely off the ground. 

 In this case, (which indeed very seldom occurs,) 

 the animals descend from the trees and scratch under 

 the snow, where they can always find sufficient food 

 to preserve them alive till the trees again put forth 

 their buds. 



At the commencement of spring, the Squirrels 

 come into season ; and the females produce their 

 three or four young ones, generally about the end 

 of May or the beginning of June. The nest in which 

 these are deposited, and which the old animals after- 

 wards make their chief place for repose, is exceed- 

 ingly curious in its construction. It is generally 

 formed amongst the large branches of a great tree, 

 where they begin to fork off into small ones. After 

 having chosen the place, where the timber is some- 

 what decayed, and where a hollow may the more 

 easily be formed, the Squirrels begin their work by 

 making a kind of level between these forks. Then 

 bringing moss, twigs, and dry leaves, they weave 

 these together with so much art and ingenuity, that 

 they are capable of resisting the most violent 

 storms. The nest is covered up on all sides, and 



U 4 has 



