INTRODUCTION 



domestic animals is the result of human 

 influence. In the range of my own studies 

 of animals in a state of nature, the squirrels 

 have given me the greatest evidence of the 

 capacity for humanisation, and, at the same 

 time, of such intellectual powers as are 

 within the limited range of the creatures we 

 call brute. In the different species of Sciu- 

 rus which I know, there is a wide difference 

 in the amenability to human influence, the 

 vulgaris being that which wins closest to 

 the heart of the lover of animals, nor do I 

 know another creature of the low^er orders 

 capable of exciting so much affection in 

 gentle souls. 



The numerous expressions of pleasure at 

 the reading of my history of two pet squir- 

 rels, printed in the Century Magazine several 

 years ago, persuaded me that in a more per- 

 manent and convenient form it may serve 

 still further the purpose for which it was 

 written, and, in a more distinctly pointed 

 appeal, And its way to a place amongst the 

 teachings of a flner and broader humanity 

 than that which commonly limits our sym- 



