• THE COMMON SQUIRREL 



One on a spruce fir in my garden was seen to take a flying leap 

 at a small bird — a robin, I think — which, however, it failed to secure. 



Gilbert White observed that the Squirrel when eating a nut, after 

 rasping off the small end, splits the shell in two with his long fore- 

 teeth, as a man does with his knife. 



Stores of beech-mast and nuts are laid by in some hiding place 

 for the winter, and during this time the Squirrel sleeps a good deal 

 in his iwarm winter * drey ' or nest, but it seems doubtful whether the 

 animal hibernates much at this season, in Britain at all events. One 

 sees them abroad even in the coldest weather, and the scattered remains 

 of fir cones on the snow under the trees show where they have been 

 feeding. 



Early in spring a nesting drey is prepared, in which fi-om two to 

 four young are born at a time. 



