236 RODENTIA. 



by them with consummate skill, and the backs are cut 

 away from the bellies, and tied up in bundles of twenty. 



The Eussian dressing is much inferior. 



Squirrel tails are extensively used in the manufacture 

 of boas, fringes of mantles, and paint-brushes (so-called 

 camels' hair). They are very suitable for the latter 

 purpose, being soft to the touch, especially those from 

 Kazan in Eussia. 



The raw tails are usually sold by weight ; 6 lbs. being 

 the recognized weight of 1,000 tails; when dressed, they 

 are sold b}- the hundred. 



The bellies of the skins are manufactured into those 

 beautiful blue-white fur-linings, so much esteemed for 

 opera-cloaks, etc. The backs are also made into similar 

 articles, the more subdued grey colour rendering them 

 more suitable for elderly persons. In Eussia, the head, 

 neck, and ears are also made into beautiful linings by 

 themselves, labour in that country being so cheap. 



The backs are also used for capes, glove-linings, 

 trimming, and sets. 



This skin is rarely dyed, except the large skins of 

 Telautka, to imitate Marten. 



The fur is occasionally used for felting, that is, 

 making felt hats. 



The Squirrel, which is red in England, becomes grey 

 as we approach the East, growing darker and darker, till 

 it reaches black in Japan. 



The province of Kazan in Eussia yields red, and red- 

 dish-grey skins, Yiatka and Kargopol still greyer, and 

 the eastern side of the Ural Mountains, as at Obskoi, 

 grey. Then light blue skins are found in Yeniseisk, and 

 near the river Lena blue, and still farther east, in the 

 provinces of Yakutsk, Okhotsk, and Sakaminoi, dark 

 blue and black, the ears and tails of these being almost 



