THE SQUIItBEL. 



Bqnirrel scratcies off her fur in the maimer of the rabbit, bo 

 that its stomach is sometimes quite bare. This providential 

 arrangement, however, answers a two-fold purpose. While 

 the nest is thus rendered warm and snug for the little squirrels, 

 a space round the mother's teats is cleared of the thick fur, 

 enabling the little ones to suck without difficulty. The num- 

 ber of young produced at a litter varies from three to five. 

 They are usually born in the middle of summer, and cut a very 

 odd appearance, on account of the extreme shortness of their 

 tails. Indeed, they scarcely attain fall growth of this caudal 

 appendage till the following spring, when they leave the 

 paternal roof and commence business on their own account. 



When free among its native boughs, its apparent reckless- 

 ness is certainly enough to startle the observer unacquainted 

 with squirrel nature. Without the least hesitation it will launch 

 itself into the air though there may not be a branch on which 

 it can alight for fuU twenty feet below ; but, buoyant, almost, as 

 a bird, it alights on the branch, and, staying but an instant, 

 it makes another leap more tremendous than the last. It 

 rather seems to swifc through the air as does a weight in water 

 than to fall, and there can be no doubt that the expanded tail 

 and spread feet opposing the air tends to this effect. 



It may be easily imagined that a creature whose playground 

 is the top twigs of tall trees, where no human climber dare ven- 

 ture, is by no means easy to capture — especially as its hearing is 

 keen, and its vision remarkably acute. Still, among boys living 

 in the vicinity of lai'g© woods and copses, squirrel-hunting is a 

 favourite diversion, and none the less so because it is seldom 

 attended by success. " The only plan," says the Eev. Mr. Wood, 

 " is to watch the animal until it has ascended an isolated tree, 

 or, by a well-directed shower of missiles, to drive it into such a 

 place of refdge, and then to form a ring round the tree so as 

 to intercept the squirrel, should it try to escape by leaping to 

 the ground and running to another tree. The best cliinber is 

 then sent in chase of the squirrel, and endeavours, by violently 

 shaking the branches, to force the little animal to loose its 

 hold and fall to the earth. But it is by no means an easy 

 matter to shake a squirrel from a branch, especially as the 

 little creature takes refuge on the topmost and most slender 

 boughs, which even bend under the weight of its own small 

 body, and can in no way be trusted with the weight of a 

 human being. By dint, however, of perseverance, the squirrel 

 is at last dislodged, and comes to the ground as Ughtly as a 



