274 THE SQUIRREL. 



come it is as secure there as it could be any- 

 where. But the wisdom of Nature's whole scheme 

 is this that should the squirrel not find or not 

 require the nuts he has buried thus, they duly grow 

 into trees, enriching and extending the forests with 

 the food-bearing growths on which the squirrel is 

 dependent. The squirrel is, then, a natural planter 

 of forests, selecting for his planting a patch of soft, 

 open ground where forgotten nuts would be most 

 likely to spring into trees, obtaining ample sun- 

 shine, and unhampered by the growth of other 

 timber. Thus it may be said that just as the 

 squirrel is largely dependent upon oak, beech, and 

 hazel, so these trees, in the virgin state of nature, 

 are largely dependent upon the squirrel. 



During the autumn harvest one squirrel very 

 much objects to a rival red-coated harvester tres- 

 passing upon his home-range, chasing any visitor 

 from tree to tree should the interloper venture 

 within the prescribed boundary of his territory 

 (see MATING). The nut season, however, is all too 

 brief, and having laid in his store, the squirrel, 

 providing the weather remains mild, divides his 

 time between the berry-bearing bushes and the 

 moist leaves which carpet the earth, scratching 

 about among the latter for covered nuts, ' mush- 

 rooms,' and the bulbs of woodland plants. There 

 is nothing like wet leaves for protecting the earth 

 from frost, the first keen night freezing the top- 

 most layer, and forming, as it were, a roof which 

 the frosts that follow do not easily penetrate ; 

 so that, protected by the natural warmth of the 

 earth under a coating of frozen leaves, the food 

 of so many wild-folk is preserved throughout the 

 keenest weather. 



In dealing with the red squirrel of Canada, Seton 



