280 THE COMMON SQUIRREL, 



has but a single opening at top, just large enough 

 to admit the animal to pass and repass; and this 

 opening is itself defended from the weather, by a 

 kind of canopy, formed like a cone, so as to throw 

 off the rain, however heavily it may fall. In the in- 

 side, the nest is so formed as to be exceedingly 

 roomy and commodious. It is soft, well knit toge- 

 ther, and in every respect warm, comfortable, and 

 convenient. 



Squirrels, when caught young, are often kept in 

 cages, or sometimes fastened by long chains, and 

 rendered docile. But they are generally very irri- 

 table animals, and on the slightest offence will bite 

 even the person from whom they receive the 

 greatest attention. They likewise gnaw almost 

 every thing they can reach, such as clothes, linen, 

 or furniture; and if once they can escape from 

 their confinement, they are gone for ever. The 

 Hon. Daines Harrington amused himself many years 

 by keeping Squirrels; and he observed in these ani- 

 mals the same variety of character and disposition 

 that Mr. Cowper remarked in his tame Hares*. 

 He has had them inanimate and sprightly, wild 

 and familiar, mischievous and harmless, obedient 

 and headstrong. But what is singular, he re- 

 remarked in almost all the Squirrels he possessed, 



See the account of these Hares in p. 298. 



(and 



