282 THE SQUIRREL. 



range they are often able to circumvent their 

 foes. 



ENEMIES. 



Most of the squirrel's foremost enemies, the 

 pine-marten and the larger birds of prey, are gone. 

 One nest which I knew to contain young was 

 laid waste by a stoat or a weasel ; it was in a 

 low holly-bush, and the mother haunted the scene 

 of the tragedy for some days. Rats rank among 

 the enemies of all rodents in this country, though 

 to a less extent in the case of the squirrel than 

 in most others. Owls hold no important place 

 among the squirrel's foes, one being strictly 

 nocturnal, and the other strictly diurnal. In the 

 Kells Hills I one day saw a merlin dragging 

 something almost too heavy for it to carry. The 

 little falcon was only just able to raise its load 

 from the ground, flying low for a matter of fifty 



Saces, then again alighting, as merlins commonly 

 o. I pursued with such haste that after several 

 short flights the hawk was compelled to abandon 

 its quarry, which proved to be a full-grown 

 squirrel. 



Among the animal's enemies may also be in- 

 cluded the pike. 



Motoring between Peebles and Edinburgh on 

 2nd February 1920, I was approaching a fir- 

 plantation, when I noticed something carried by 

 the gale at an oblique angle across the roadway. 

 It struck the edge of the road with considerable 

 force and rebounded, for a half hurricane was 

 blowing at the time. The article was about two 

 hundred yards ahead of me, and I took it to be 

 a portion of a pine-limb. On coming up, how- 

 ever, I found it to be a squirrel ! 



