INTRODUCTION 



come to be fed, and search for their food in 

 the pockets of the friend they recognise. 

 Nothing prevents this charming sight from 

 being common in the English parks (where 

 indeed many proprietors already forbid the 

 destruction of the squirrel), but the want of 

 protection of the little creature, for he is 

 already far more advanced on the road to 

 friendly relations than the American varie- 

 ties, which are generally shot when seen in 

 their native resorts, the grey squirrel espe- 

 cially, it being large enough to become an 

 article of food. 



For the Sciurus vulgaris there is also the 

 classical association to entitle him to our 

 sympathy, for there is no doubt that the 

 pointed ear of the Faun is derived from 

 the pretty tufted ear of this spirit of the 

 woods, whose quaint and weird ways in 

 the forest could not have escaped the acute 

 observation of the Greek, though he was 

 no great lover of the forest. Before the use 

 of the easy methods of destruction, and when 

 the passion of killing harmless creatures for 

 the killing's sake did not exist, the squirrel 



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