The Mammals of the Edinburgh or Forth Area. 399 



them was taken for me, and is figured here. Its length was 

 75 mm., excluding the tail, which measured 40 mm. ; colour, 

 dark bluish-grey. Two days later, when I went to see the 

 nest, the others had been removed as usual. 



A female Squirrel shot at Polmaise, Stirlingshire, on 

 18th February 1905, was examined by Dr Bradley, to whom 

 I handed it, and found to contain very small embryos. 



In August 1894 Mr Hugh Miller, as he informed me in 

 October following, saw a Squirrel carrying its young from 

 the nest in the woods at Loch Vennachar. 



An excellent article on the seasonal changes of fur in the 

 common Squirrel, by Mr Oldfield Thomas, was published in 



the Zoologist for ISTovember 1896. There are, according to 

 this account, two annual changes of fur so far as the body 

 and limbs are concerned, but the long hairs of the brush of 

 the tail are only changed once, namely, in the autumn. In 

 March 1904 I examined several Squirrels from this district, 

 and found them to agree very well with Thomas's description 

 of Dorset specimens obtained in January and February. I 

 have several notes of having seen examples with cream- 

 coloured, i.e., very bleached, tails in August, and of others 

 with nearly black, i.e., freshly-clad, tails in October. 



I have always been very reluctant to believe in the stories 

 of Squirrels killing and devouring birds, but I fear I must 

 admit that the charge, in so far as it relates to young birds 



