286 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



sharp, somewhat vulpine face, black as ebony, a 

 suitable setting for his chief glory the luminous 

 eyes, of every shining yellow colour seen in gold, 

 topaz, and cat's-eye. " Night wood-ghost," the 

 natives name it on account of its brilliant eyes 

 which shine by night, and its motions in the trees, 

 swift and noiseless as the flight of an owl. He is 

 of ancient lineage, one of Nature's aristocrats ; a 

 child of the savage forest, as you can see in the 

 flashing hostile orbs, and in the combined ease and 

 power of its motions ; yet withal of a sweet and 

 placable temper. 



Even among the small - brained rodents we 

 should not look in vain for favourites ; and fore- 

 most in attractiveness are perhaps the squirrels, 

 inhabiting all climates. Blithe-hearted as birds 

 and as volatile in disposition, almost aerial in 

 their habits, and in some tropical, richly coloured 

 forms resembling cuckoos and other long-tailed, 

 graceful avians, as they run leaping from branch 

 to branch among the trees ; what animation and 

 marvellous swiftness of motion they display, what 

 an endless variety of pretty whimsical attitudes 

 and gestures ! " All the motions of a squirrel imply 

 spectators as much as those of a dancing- girl," says 

 Thoreau. They are easily tamed, coming at call 

 to be fed from the hand ; how strange it seems that 

 they are not domestic, and found at every house in 

 town and country where there are trees ! Their 

 unfailing spirits and fantastic performances would 

 have a wholesome effect on our too sombre minds, 



