THE SQUIRREL 229 



animal, and that it lays by a large store of nuts, 

 from which it draws its supplies in winter, when 

 food is scarce, is hardly so accurate. The story 

 of the pile of hazel nuts and acorns, hidden in a 

 hole in a tree, somewhere near its nest, rests, I 

 am convinced, on anything but direct observation, 

 and is totally at variance with the squirrel's habits 

 and character. It is one of those pleasing myths 

 that one feels loath to give up, but I have never 

 found a particle of evidence in support of it. 

 Certainly the squirrel does hide away some of 

 its food, but not with the foresight that old 

 Nature books credit it with. Its method is a 

 most erratic one. It buries a nut here, an acorn 

 there, in the grass, among fallen leaves, under 

 moss, or anywhere that it can scratch a hole 

 and drop its treasure in. Each nut is hidden 

 separately, according to where it chances to be 

 found, there is no method in the way it is buried, 

 and any one squirrel's store may be scattered 

 throughout a considerable area of woodland. 

 Unfortunately the owner's memory is far from 

 good, and generally fails it, so it is pure luck 

 whether it ever finds any part of its stores when 

 the time comes to want them. When the winter 

 shortage sends it down to the ground, to hunt 

 and rummage among the woodland carpet of 

 fallen leaves, it is just as likely to unearth some 

 other squirrel's hidden treasure as that which 

 it put away itself. 



It is very amusing to watch a squirrel either 

 hiding nuts or hunting for them. When nuts 



