ANIMALS. .309 



animal. It loves to lie warm, and will often creep into a man's 

 pocket, or his bosom. It is usually kept in a box and fed with 

 hazel nuts. Some find amusement in observing with what ease 

 it bites the nut open, and eats the kernel. In short, it is a pleas- 

 ing pretty little domestic ; and its tricks and habitudes may 

 serve to entertain a mind unequal to stronger operations. 



THi: FLYING SQUIRllEL.* 



Mr Ray was justly of opinion, that the flying squirrel 

 might more properly be said to be of the rat kind, because its 

 fur is shorter than in other squirrels, and its colours also more 

 nearly approach the former. However, as mankind have been 

 content to class it among the squirrels, it is scarcely worth mak- 

 ing a new distinction in its favour. This little animal, which is 

 frequently brought over to England, is less than a common 

 squirrel, and bigger than a field mouse. Its skin is very soft, 

 and elegantly adorned with a dark fur in some places, and light 

 gray in others. It has large prominent black and very sparkling 

 eyes, small ears, and very sharp teeth, with which it gnaws any 

 thing quickly. When it does not leap, its tail, which is pretty 

 enough, lies close to its back ; but when it takes its spring, the 

 tail is moved backwards and forwards from side to side. It is 

 said to partake somewhat of the nature of the squirrel, of the 

 rat, and of the dormouse ; but that in which it is distinguished 

 from all other animals, is its peculiar conformation for taking 

 those leaps that almost look like flying. It is indeed amazing 



* There are eight species of flying squirrels, but there is only a trifling- dif- 

 ference between them. The European squirrel differs from the American 

 species principally iu having its tail full of hair, and rounded at the end, and 

 in the colour of its body, the upper part of which is a fine grey, and the 

 lower white. Its whole length is about nine inches, of which the tail occu- 

 pies five. The European flying squirrel is found in the woods of Lapland 

 and Norway, Avhere it feeds principally on the tender branches of the beech 

 and pine trees. In its habits of life it differs very little from the precedinff 

 species. It always sleeps during the day-time, and seldom appears abroad 

 in bad weather. It is active tlirougli tlie whole winter, beiiig frequently 

 caught during that season, in the traps that are laid for the grey squirrels. 

 The females, when they have young ones, never leave their nest in pursuit 

 of food, without previously wrapping these carefully up iu the moss. They 

 pay to them the utmost attention, hrooding anxiously over them, and tendci - 

 ly sheltering their bodies, by thcii- Hying membrane, from the cold. 



