THE SQUIRREL. 279 



The materials chosen for nest construction are 

 decided by the materials at hand. One pair of 

 squirrels I had under observation in Bolton Abbey 

 woods spent much of their time rooting about at 

 the foot of the undermined river-bank, which was 

 draped with a trailing tapestry of roots. These two 

 built their nest of closely woven fibrous roots, and 

 a very neat nest they made. Another pair in the 

 same woods built near the boundary wall, just over 

 which were two hay -ricks, and hay was the material 

 chosen. It made a very conspicuous and straggling 

 structure, which soon went to bits, so I conclude 

 they were an inexperienced and newly married 

 couple. 



As a rule the nest is composed of leaves, moss, 

 and twigs, and I have known green pine-needles 

 and other unsuitable rubbish to be interwoven 

 with it. 



MATING. 



It seems to be generally agreed that the squirrel 

 has one wife only, and sticks to her for life. 

 My own observations incline me to the view that, 

 though the squirrel may have one wife only, 

 he is not dead to the attractions of his next-door 

 neighbour's wife, especially if his next-door neigh- 

 bour chances to be a smaller squirrel than he is. 

 Nor am I by any means convinced that the mating 

 alliance always holds good through the winter. 

 For every pair of squirrels one sees together in 

 winter, one sees a dozen living solitary lives, each 

 having its own little group of trees, in which 

 it permits no other squirrel to trespass. One 

 squirrel, thus observed, did to my knowledge 

 rear a family the previous summer, but was 

 never seen either with his mate or with his 



