INTRODUCTION 



food, because it only breaks eggs or kills 

 the young; it does not eat them.' There is 

 no doubt it is for a purpose, and Nature has 

 given it that great instinct. I regret to say 

 there are so many pretty animals and birds 

 destroyed (from mere fanciful whims), that 

 do no one damage. The poor heron used 

 to be shot here too, but now we have a nice 

 colony of them, and they are so pretty and 

 amusing when they have their nests. . . ." 



Another letter from a clergyman, Rev. 

 Mr. Stevenson, also resident in the country 

 where the complaints of the damage done 

 by Sciurtis are loudest, says : 



" I will duly investigate as to the squirlies. 

 My own observation of their tree -cutting 

 propensities would limit these almost exclu- 

 sively to the common spruce and some other 

 species of fir. Of these, at certain seasons, 

 they nibble off lots of the tips of the small 



1 I am sorry to question the entire accuracy of this. 

 I have never been able to see anything opposed to 

 Mr. Mutch's statement, nor have I ever been able to 

 make my squirrels eat eggs, raw or cooked, but it is 

 probable that real starvation will drive them to it. 



zvU 



