THE SQUIRREL 221 



country at the present day, it shows no tendency 

 to increase, and in many parts of the country 

 is decidedly decreasing, especially in the Midlands. 

 There is a certain wood where four years ago 

 it was the usual thing to see half a dozen in the 

 course of a walk. They peeped at one from 

 behind trees ; vanished, to appear higher up 

 the trunks ; or sat on the boughs overhead, 

 and chattered vigorously as if abusing the invader 

 of their domain. They were to be seen, like 

 living beams of golden light, springing from branch 

 to branch, and taking flying leaps from tree to tree ; 

 in short, squirrels were everywhere and their 

 "dreys" one of the commonest sights in the trees. 

 Now, in that same covert, it is quite an event 

 to see a red head peeping at one, and there are 

 very few nests in the trees. If there is more than 

 one pair in the wood, they have not been very 

 active in the matter of nest making. The cause 

 or causes of their diminished numbers has often 

 puzzled me, but I suspect that the squirrel is 

 subject to some sort of epidemic disease. It 

 will disappear from a given locality for a time, 

 and then gradually return, only in a few years' 

 time to become scarce again ; in fact, their 

 numbers appear to wax and wane, and it is 

 possible that the general decrease of squirrels 

 that I spoke of just now is attributable to some 

 such cause. If so, we may hope to see them 

 more plentiful than ever in a little while. 1 



1 Since this was written squirrels have become plentiful again 

 in this particular wood. 



