THE MALABAR SQUIRREL. 
SCIURUS MAXIMUS. GMEL. 
THERE are few animals of the Rodent Order that can 
be compared with the Squirrels for the elegance of 
their form, the beauty of their fur, and the ease, elasti- 
city, and rapidity of their motions. Nestling among 
the topmost branches of the trees, on which their lives 
are entirely passed, climbing with extreme agility, and 
bounding from bough to bough or from tree to tree, 
with such velocity as almost to elude the sight, they 
offer in their native state an interesting subject of 
contemplation; while the mildness of their temper in 
captivity, the ease with which they suffer themselves 
to be tamed, and the lively and contented indifference 
with which they submit to that confinement which is 
so foreign to their usual habits, have made them uni- 
versal favourites as domestic pets. 
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