THE SqnlSBIL. 



keeping and the aminals specified no more pets than are 

 Mary Jane the all-work maid, or John the gardener ; and that 

 while the keepers of these producing and working animals flatter 

 themselves that they are good-natured patrons of this hobby 

 or of that, they are in reality but hucksters and petty chapmen 

 in disguise. As the reader knows, I am altogether opposed to 

 this coarse and untrue doctrine. What I am inclined to 

 beUeve is this, that a creature, to be absolutely and purely a 

 pet, is it that has nothing but aflfection and gratitude to oflfer 

 >Q return for any kindness vouchsafed. Nothing is so pitiful 

 as complete helplessness, and nothing so closely aUied to pity 

 as love. Take the case of our baby-=-of your baby — of every- 

 body's baby ; — I doubt if it would be half so precious if it 

 could demand its titty, and threaten to walk off and be some- 

 body else's baby if it was not instantly supplied. At the same 

 time, however, be it understood that neither for the squirrel's 

 sake, nor the sour philosopher's sake, do I mean to retract 

 the title of pet, as applied to every creature treated of in this 

 book, and perhaps this entire rigmarole might better have been 

 compressed into these few words : — that pet-love, like every 

 other, has its degrees, and that that assigned to the squirrel is, 

 for reasons already mentioned, of rather a high order. 



The following are the squirrel's chief characteristics. Its 

 English name is a corruption of the scientific appellation 

 gcmrus, from slcia a, shade, and <mra a tail, and no doubt 

 alludes to the animal's habit of shading its entire body with 

 its tail when it is in a state of rest. Its common length from the 

 nose to the tip of the tail is about fifteen inches ; the ears are 

 terminated by long tufts of hair ; the colour of the head, body, 

 tail, and legs is a bright reddish-brown ; the belly and breast 

 are white ; the eyes large, black, and sparkling ; the fore-feet 

 strong, sharp, and well adapted to hold its food ; the legs short 

 and muscular ; the toes long, and the nails sharp and strong ; 

 the upper Kp is clefc ; the fur short and silky ; there are four 

 molar teeth on each side of the lower jaw, and five in the 

 upper. In each jaw there are two incisors. 



They seem — at least the English squirrel — to prefer the 

 fir-tree to all others as a site for their nest. In forming the 

 nest they begin by gathering mouthfals cf dry, heathy grass 

 in the way we see rabbits do, and of this grass they make a 

 considerable deposit. The outside is afterwards protected with 

 a number of sticks, giving the nest the appearance of a bird's 

 nest. Wlion the young are ready to be deposited, the female 



