THROUGH FIRS AND HEATHER. 301 



fancy that we are in luck, that we are going to watch 

 a flock of crossbills feeding ; so we creep and crawl all 

 round, examining all the fir-branches, but to no pur- 

 pose. Knowing the habits of the crossbill, that he 

 uses both bill and feet in climbing, and that he is not 

 at all particular in what position he hangs, we are 

 patient, watching with our glasses, but not even a 

 tit can we see. Presently we hear a slight rasping 

 sound and a scale from a fir-cone falls, and peering 

 round, we see a squirrel, not a crossbill, nibbling at 

 a cone. He is not alone, there is quite a small 

 family of the little creatures in that clump of firs. 

 I am disappointed a little, but the incident proves 

 what large landed proprietors in Scotland have re- 

 peatedly stated, that the squirrel is very injurious to 

 young fir-plantations. As concealment is no longer 

 necessary, we at once minutely examine the heaps 

 beneath the trees. The stems of the fir-cones are 

 all sticky with turpentine resin, so are the outer 

 scales of the stripped cones. They stick to our 

 fingers when we pick them up. As to the tassels, 

 the resin is oozing from the bitten part, where the 

 animal's little ivory chisels had cut them from the 

 branches. The resinous perfume from their wreck- 



