THE SQUIRREL. 283 



The poor creature had evidently been killed 

 instantly by its impact with the road, as it must 

 have been blown from branches at least thirty 

 feet above. 



Whether many squirrels meet their fate in 

 this way during high winds I am unable to 

 say, but it is possible that the dead specimens 

 one so often finds in the woods very early in 

 the spring are victims to the heavy winds which 

 generally prevail at that season. 



CLIMBING. 



A gentleman with whom I was acquainted in 

 Yorkshire did all that he could to induce the 

 squirrels to take up their abode in the grounds 

 of his home. Cosy nesting-boxes were put up 

 for them ; there were abundant nut-groves and 

 fruit -bearing trees; yet the squirrels, though 

 plentiful in the surrounding country, for some 

 reason would not attach themselves to this par- 

 ticular estate. One comes across a similar state 

 of affairs in the bush localities of Canada, where 

 one valley is teeming with squirrel life, while 

 in the next valley across the watershed, where 

 the conditions appear to be exactly the same, 

 one will not see a single squirrel in a long day's 

 trek. 



Though seeming so much at home in the 

 branches, the squirrel is not an expert climber as 

 the tree-dwellers go. Compared with the death- 

 darting pine-marten it is a sluggard. It does 

 not habitually descend the trunk head downwards 

 at full speed, and this is the test of the pukka 

 climbing animals. Yet the squirrel is truly a 

 creature of the trees in so far that, if caught away 

 from their friendly shelter, it becomes utterly 



