THE SQUIRREL 233 



to merge into the shadowy spaces between the 

 green ones. If you doubt this, try the follow- 

 ing experiment: note the exact position of a 

 squirrel, turn away your eyes for a moment, 

 and then try and re-locate the squirrel. Even 

 if the animal has not moved and you know 

 where to look, it will not be so easy to " spot " 

 it as you expected. Summer and autumn are 

 the periods of plenty with the squirrel, when the 

 nuts and berries are ripening and the woodland 

 world is full of good fare, but it does not wax 

 so fat as the dormouse, probably because it does 

 not indulge in a prolonged sleep. It does not 

 hibernate in the proper sense of the term, though 

 bad weather will keep it temporarily at home 

 in its warm nest; however, you may meet with 

 it abroad at all times of the year, and I have 

 often seen squirrels about in the snow, besides 

 tracking them where they have come down to 

 explore the strange white substance. 



It is generally accepted as a fact that each 

 squirrel has its own nest, and I think this is as a 

 rule correct, but I have found three full-grown 

 ones sharing the same quarters. My brother and 

 I were walking through a wood one warm summer 

 afternoon, when we spied a squirrel's drey in a 

 wych-elm. The nest was somewhat larger than 

 usual, and was placed where the trunk forked 

 into two big branches. " Let us see if there 

 is a squirrel at home/' said my brother, and 

 hit the tree with his stick. Instantly a brown 

 head with feathery ears and beady eyes peeped 



