286 THE SQUIRREL. 



creeps away to some sacred cranny among the 

 kindly shadows. 



CRIMINAL SQUIRRELS. 



It is to be feared that squirrels do not all 

 live exclusively on nuts and fruits, for there are 

 individual squirrels that acquire a criminal liking 

 for flesh, and when one squirrel in a certain district 

 takes to destroying the eggs and the young of wood- 

 pigeons and song-birds, the rest of the squirrel 

 community of that locality very soon follow the 

 lead. I do not think that all squirrels are given 

 to the ruthless massacre of defenceless fledglings, 

 but the squirrel that has done it once very soon 

 does it again, and teaches his mate to do it. 

 So the bad habit becomes an epidemic, and soon 

 it is a matter either of exterminating the squirrels 

 or of the squirrels exterminating the song-birds. 



When last I was in Toronto there was a great 

 outcry against the squirrels in the city parks, it 

 being said on all sides that unless the little 

 murderers were killed off, Toronto would lose 

 its song-birds. In Britain one hears few com- 

 plaints of this kind against the little tree-dweller, 

 and only once in this country have I come across 

 an example of depredations of this kind. In a 

 gentleman's garden in Kirkcudbrightshire it was 

 found one spring that the song-birds' nests in 

 the shrubbery were being robbed, and naturally 

 suspicion fell upon the cat. The feline was, 

 therefore, kept caged ; but still the robbing of 

 nests continued. Then one day a squirrel was 

 caught red-handed, calmly chewing away at an 

 unfortunate fledgling that it had not even troubled 

 to kill. The squirrel was shot on the spot, and 

 from that day the destruction ceased, though many 



