2i2 GNAWING ANIMALS 



short, silky, russet-brown fur above ; below it is princi- 

 pally white. The species extends from Norway to Japan 

 and from Lapland to Italy. On the Continent and in 

 Northern Asia the animal is a little larger in size, and 

 in the colder regions the fur changes to grey or nearly 

 white. On the whole russet brown or red is the prevailing 

 colour of the Squirrels ; a Chinese variety has a red and 

 black coat and, strangely enough, red teeth. 



The ears of the English Squirrel are erect and usually 

 tufted ; its eyes are large and black and sparkling. Its 

 long, spreading, bushy tail is carried erect when the 

 animal is running on the ground or along a branch ; but 

 in the course of its leaps it is extended behind, and serves 

 at once as a Vudder and a parachute. It can run up or 

 down a tree trunk with astounding facility ; and it can leap 

 from a great height without fear of injury. It is extremely 

 vigilant, and the merest tap upon a tree trunk will cause 

 the Squirrel to take instant flight out of its branches. 



During the heat of the day the animal generally sleeps. 

 Its almost spherical nest of interlaced twigs, grasses, leaves, 

 and moss is an artistic and perfect specimen of animal 

 architecture that perhaps no other mammal, unless it be the 

 harvest mouse, can equal ; it is rain-proof, and, secure in 

 the fork of a lofty branch, will defy a gale. 



A single pair of Squirrels often mate for life, and occupy 

 the same nest year after year. The family of three or four 

 is born in the middle of summer, and the young ones 

 remain with the parents until the following spring, when 

 they take on the cares of housekeeping for themselves. 



In addition to its ordinary food, nuts, acorns, fruit, 

 seed, and beech-mast in particular, the Squirrel will eat 

 insects, and plunder nests of their eggs and young. In 

 Canada the little animal, when driven by hunger, will 

 attack the meat with which traps are baited to catch some 

 of the fur-bearing carnivores. In feeding, all Squirrels sit 

 up on their haunches and hold their food in the forepaws. 



The Squirrel does not hibernate in the true sense of 

 the word. In autumn it commences to lay up stores of 

 provisions on which to subsist when the country is in 

 the icy clutch of winter. It forms little magazines of food 



