HARMLESSNESS OF THE SQUIRREL. 263 



keeper is a ready witness against the accused ; 

 and under such circumstances the master being 

 at once prosecutor and judge, and the servant 

 both witness and executioner the poor squirrel 

 obtains but slender justice. That some of the 

 Rodentia will occasionally indulge in animal food, 

 there can be no doubt ; the rat is a familiar ex- 

 ample he indeed is an insatiable devourer of 

 eggs, and a pitiless enemy to young partridges 

 during a sickly season but I firmly believe that 

 the squirrel rarely or never exhibits carnivorous 

 propensities. As to the conduct of animals when 

 kept in confinement, their nature becomes so 

 completely altered by durance vile, and the igno- 

 rance or neglect of their captors, that it can never 

 be considered a fair index to their habits in a 

 state of nature. If half a dozen field mice were 

 put into a cage and left without food for a couple 

 of days, the weakest would be devoured by the 

 others ; and if the cruel experiment were pro- 

 longed, the same result would follow, until none 

 survived but the strongest individual of the party. 

 Under nearly similar circumstances, even civilized 

 man himself has become a cannibal ! That the 

 squirrel may during long, dry summers, when 

 the verdure of the woods, and on the surface of 

 the earth has been parched by the burning sun 

 when the dead leaves of the previous year have 



