286 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 
sharp, somewhat vulpine face, black as ebony, a 
suitable setting for his chief glory—the luminous 
eyes, of every shining yellow colour seen in gold, 
topaz, and cat’s-eye. “Night wood-ghost,” the 
natives name it on account of its brilliant eyes 
which shine by night, and its motions in the trees, 
swift and noiseless as the flight of an owl. He is 
of ancient lineage, one of Nature’s aristocrats; a 
child of the savage forest, as you can see in the 
flashing hostile orbs, and in the combined ease and 
power of its motions; yet withal of a sweet and 
placable temper. 
Even among the small-brained rodents we 
should not look in vain for favourites; and fore- 
most in attractiveness are perhaps the squirrels, 
inhabiting all climates. Blithe-hearted as_ birds 
and as volatile in disposition, almost aerial in 
their habits, and in some tropical, richly coloured 
forms resembling cuckoos and other long-tailed, 
graceful avians, as they run leaping from branch 
to branch among the trees; what animation and 
marvellous swiftness of motion they display, what 
an endless variety of pretty whimsical attitudes 
and gestures! ‘‘ All the motions of a squirrel imply 
spectators as much as those of a dancing-girl,” says 
Thoreau. They are easily tamed, coming at call 
to be fed from the hand; how strange it seems that 
they are not domestic, and found at every house in 
town and country where there are trees! Their 
unfailing spirits and fantastic performances would 
have a wholesome effect on our too sombre minds, 
