THE SQUIRREL, 237 



door of the hut. Mud and stones the beaver always carries 

 by holding them between his fore paws and throat. 



"Their work is all performed at night, and with much 

 expedition. As soon as any part of the material is placed 

 where it is intended to remain, they turn round and give it 

 a smart blow with the tail. The same sort of blow is struck 

 by them upon the surface of the water when they are in the 

 act of diving. The outside of the hut is covered or plastered 

 with mud late in the autumn, and after frost has begun to 

 appear. By freezing it soon becomes almost as hard as stone, 

 and effectually excludes their great enemy, the wolverine, 

 during the winter." 



The Squirrel. The family of the Squirrel is a very large one 

 and with it are included the marmots, the prairie dogs, and 

 the anomalures, the latter of which form a sub-family. The 

 common squirrel, the variety familiar in England, is a pretty 

 little creature with its bright piercing eyes, and knowing look, 

 and its graceful bushy tail. It is one of the most agile of 

 animals, ascending and descending trees with the rapidity of 

 a flash and so sensitive, that it is said that if the tree upon 

 which its nests is only touched at the bottom it takes alarm 

 and seeks safety on another tree. It builds its nests in the 

 forks of branches of trees, — of moss, twigs, and dried leaves, 

 — and leaps great distances from tree to tree. The ground 

 squirrel is characterised by fine longitudinal black bands on 

 its back, which form a very pretty marking. It belongs 

 chiefly to North America. "Itlivesin villages under ground," 

 says an American writer, "and plunders the farmers worse 

 than the gopher. Every two months the ground squirrel 

 breeds and neither State premiums nor strychnine diminishes 

 its numbers. It levies an assessment of thirty per cent 

 on the profits of a wheat crop in many sections." 



The flying squirrel, also common in the United States, has 

 a membranous skin which extends from the fore limbs along 

 the body to the hind limbs by which its body is buoyed up 



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