THE SQUIRREL 41 



Town " ; and there are other places. Beavers disappeared before Chaucer 

 could write of a " Flaundrish bever hat " (see Chambers 's Encyclopedia), 



This beautiful and fascinating creature is common throughout England 

 and Scotland, but is scarce in Ireland. I am sorry to say, however, that 

 in parts of England it has been exterminated, owing, I fear, to its wanton 

 pursuit and capture or death at the hands of boys. 



I know no more delightful creature to keep as a pet, and no more delightful 

 denizen of our woods and forests. Its impudence and inquisitiveness ought to 

 be proverbial ; for no one can have sat still in a wood where squirrels are 

 plentiful without finding them about him in the trees, swearing and scolding, 

 pretending at one moment to be terrified, at another staring boldly round a 

 branch, or chasing one another with bravado from tree to tree. 



They are much like monkeys, not only in their climbing antics and in intelli- 

 gence, but in the untidy and wasteful way they eat, to say nothing of their 

 chattering. I have known tame squirrels to live indoors by night, but to 

 scamper out along a rope stretched from the bedroom window to a tree on 

 the lawn by day ; one got accustomed to being wakened early in the morning 

 by the clacking and squeaking of the most saucy of the family, sitting on 

 one's pillow and demanding " nuts " ! 



The Common Squirrel's colour is a chestnut -red, with grey sides and white 

 chest and under parts ; in the winter the colour dulls and the grey predominates, 

 but in spring the grey tends to disappear, and the rich red and white combine 

 to make a pretty contrast. The tail itself is more bushy in winter than in 

 summer ; it is carried over the back when the owner sits up, but streams 

 out behind when the squirrel runs. The hair on the ears also varies enor- 

 mously, entirely altering their apparent shape. In summer the ear appears 

 round and wide ; but the winter hair growing into a thick tuft makes the 

 ear look long and pointed. It is scarcely necessary to point out that in this 

 way the squirrel's ears are protected from frost-bite during its hibernation. 



The squirrel's nest or " drey " is a well-made structure of moss, leaves, and 

 stalks, covered over and set either in a fork of a tree, or it may be in an old 

 bird's nest. The young, generally four in number, are born in June, and are 

 able to look after themselves in a month or so, though they keep together 

 as a family until the next spring. The parents (unlike most mammals) remain 

 attached to one another for several seasons. 



For food, the staple diet is fruit, nuts, pine cones, acorns, and seeds ; but 

 the squirrel steals eggs, and even nestlings. In addition, it sometimes does 

 a limited amount of harm by eating the tender bark and tender shoots of 

 young trees. 



In autumn the squirrel lays up stores in different hiding-places for use 

 in winter. This is especially true of those which inhabit the colder, bleaker 

 districts, where food is scarce. Here the squirrel lies in a torpid condition in 

 some hole or nook, only waking up on a bright, warm day to find its hoard and 

 get a meal. But in the south it may be said that the squirrel does not hiber- 



