248 MAMMALIA-SQUIRREL. 



THE SQUIRREL. 1 



The common squirrel of Europe is a beautiful little animal, which is only 

 half wild, and which, by its gentleness, its docility, and even the innocence 

 of its manners, might deserve to be exempted from the present class. It is 

 neither properly a carnivorous nor an injurious animal, though it some- 

 times seizes on birds ; its general food consisting of fruit, almonds, hazle- 

 nuts, beech-mast, and acorns ; it is neat, cleanly, alert, lively, and industri- 

 ous ; its eyes are large, black, and full of fire, its countenance is sharp, its 

 body is nervous, and its limbs are supple. It is of a bright brown color, 

 inclining to red ; the breast and belly are white ; the ears are ornamented 

 "with long tufts of hair. The fore feet are strong and sharp, and the fore legs 

 are curiously furnished with long stiff hairs, projecting on each side like 

 whiskers. 



Tiie beauty of its form is yet heightened by a spreading tail, in shape like 

 a plume of feathers, which it raises above its head, and forms into a kind 

 of shade for itself. 



The squirrel may be said to be less a quadruped than almost any other 

 four-footed animal. It generally holds itself almost upright, using its fore 

 feet as hands for a conveyance to its mouth. Instead of hiding itself in the 

 earth, it is continually in the air ; it somewhat resembles the birds by its 

 lightness and activity ; like them, it rests upon the branches of trees ; leap- 

 ing from one to the other, and in the highest of them builds its nest. It 

 avoids the water still more than the earth ; and it is even asserted of this 

 animal, that, when it is obliged to cross a river or stream, it uses the bark 

 of a tree, or some such light woody substance, as a boat, while its tail sup- 

 plies the place of sails, and of a rudder. It gathers together a quantity of 



1 Sciurus vulgaris, Lin. The genus Sciurus has two upper and two lower incisors; 

 no canines ; ten upper and ten lower molars. Inferior incisors compressed laterally ; 

 molars tubercular ; body elongated ; head small ; ears erect, rounded ; eyes large ; fore 

 feet with four long toes, with compressed crooked nails and a tubercular thumb ; hind 

 feet very large, with five toes ; tail long, often with hair disposed in two rows ; two 

 pectoral and six ventral mammtE. 



