Mr Harvie-Broivn on the Squirrel in Great Britain. 173 



minute and superficial fungi, which grow closely upon the said 

 shoots and bark, and which, as has been pointed out to me by 

 the late Sir Thomas Moncrieffe, Bart., is a favourite part of the 

 food of the squirrel (see also further on, p. 177). 



Mr C. Y. Michie, forester, Curr Bridge, Morayshire, wrote 

 a prize essay in 1865 upon " Diseases of Forest Trees," and 

 as he treats fully of the damage done by squirrels, I quote at 

 length his remarks : " The greatest of all enemies to the Scotch 

 pine, and by which more real injury is inflicted upon the tree 

 than by any other agency with which I am acquainted, is the 

 squirrel. The injuries are at once incurable, and the extent 

 to which they are committed in Scotland is indeed alarming. 

 About the month of April, the squirrel, in order to reach its 

 desired food, peels off the bark from the trunk of the tree 

 generally within a few feet of the top. The bark is peeled 

 off with the teeth of the squirrels in shreds about half an inch 

 broad, and generally from 3 to 4 inches long.* The part upon 

 the tree where the bark is peeled off frequently goes right 

 round ; in other cases a square piece is neatly peeled off, as if 

 performed with a sharp knife. The squirrel does not devour 

 the bark, but peels it off that it may regale itself with the 

 saccharine matter contained between the last-formed wood 

 and the bark. It is most active in hot dry weather, and 

 usually in the morning a little after sunrise, or after a warm 

 shower of rain. The age of the tree which the squirrel pre- 

 fers for peeling is usually from fifteen to twenty-five years ; 

 it prefers the smooth clean part of the trunk after it has shed 

 its leaves, and selects the most healthy and vigorous growing 

 trees, and will seldom attack trees of sluggish or stunted 



* Another correspondent writes : "I liave seen hundreds of larch trees in 

 Athole, of forty to sixty years of age, with their tops entirely barked, as com- 

 pletely as could be done by rabbits to deciduous trees within a foot of the 

 ground." He adds: "This occurs, I think, when cones are scarce. They 

 also nip off small branches of spruce trees, though I have not noticed any 

 spruce trees peeled by them. They feed on the cones of all the pine tribe. " 

 — John M'Gregor, Lady well, Dunkeld. Spruce is attacked by them to quite 

 a small extent. Though fond of the cones, or rather the seeds of the spruce 

 fir, they have in some localities, at all events, scarcely been known to touch 

 its bark. But larch in some places suffers exceedingly. I have seen scores of 

 larch trees with the tops broken down, and lying at right angles with the stems, 

 having been broken over by the wind after having been peeled by the squirrels. 



