148 ANIMALS OF THE 



is by bounds : these it takes from one tree to ano- 

 ther, at forty feet distance ; and if at any time it 

 is obliged to descend, it runs up the side of the 

 next tree with amazing facility* It has an ex- 

 tremely sharp piercing note, which most usually 

 expresses pain ; it has another, more like the pur- 

 ring of a cat, which it employs when pleased ; at 

 least it appeared so in that from whence I have 

 taken a part of this description. 



In Lapland, and the extensive forests to the 

 north, the squirrels are observed to change their 

 habitation, and to remove in vast numbers from 

 one country to another. In these migrations they 

 are generally seen by thousands, travelling direct- 

 ly forward ; while neither rocks, forests, nor even 

 the broadest waters, can stop their progress. What 

 I am going to relate appears so extraordinary, 

 that were it not attested by numbers of the most 

 credible historians, among whom are Klein and 

 Linnaeus, it might be rejected with that scorn 

 with which we treat imposture or credulity ; how- 

 ever, nothing can be more true than that when 

 these animals, in their progress, meet with broad 

 rivers, or extensive lakes, which abound in Lap- 

 land, they take a very extraordinary method of 

 crossing them. Upon approaching the banks, 

 and perceiving the breadth of the water, they re- 

 turn, as if by common consent, into the neigh- 

 bouring forest, each in quest of a piece of bark, 

 which answers all the purposes of boats for waft- 

 ing them over. When the whole company are 

 fitted in this manner, they boldly commit their 

 little fleet to the waves j every squirrel sitting on 



