ORDER RODENTIA. 175 



to, so as to have the shelter of the branch between itself 

 and its adversary ; thus rendering it difficult for the hunter 

 to get at it with any missile. This effect, indeed, how- 

 ever useful on the occasion, may not be contemplated at all 

 by the animal, whose only object may be to keep out of 

 sight of its enemy. Other actions of a very elevated cha- 

 racter, in an intellectual point of view, have been attributed 

 to the Squirrel, particularly by the German naturalists, 

 which need the most unequivocal confirmation before they 

 can be admitted ; in the absence of which, the rehearsal of 

 them may be dispensed with, though Linnaeus himself may 

 have sanctioned by recording them. 



Toward the end of winter the Squirrels moult, when much 

 of their beauty is suspended till the middle of summer, at 

 which time the new fur and soft feathery tail are in full 

 splendour — the new fur first appears at the end of the tail, 

 and tips of the ears. 



They emit a sharp, but soft whistle, like that of the 

 Guinea Pig, which frequently betrays them when in a tree. 

 When uneasy, they also make use of a sort of grunt. 



The regularity of action of the Squirrel is remarkable in 

 a state of captivity, dancing, as it were, in regular time, in 

 which it seems to delight, and if kept in a circular moving 

 cage, and allowed occasionally to go out, it will frequently 

 return of its own free will to run round its wiry tread-milh 

 It is said also, that Squirrels are fond of the contact of 

 anything cold, and will lie with their belly on polished 

 marble for the pleasure of the sensation. 



The common Squirrel, in high latitudes, seems subject to 

 vary to a gray tint, and in that dress has been erroneously 

 confounded with the Gray Squirrel of America. There 

 remains, however, still considerable doubt, whether the Gray 

 Squirrel of the Old World be in fact only a variety of the 

 common one ; or whether, though the common species be 

 subjected occasionally to become grayish, there be not still a 



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