6go SCIURID^— SCIURUS 



ing to the New Engl. Diet, it first occurs in Topsell, who mentions 

 " the draies of squirrels." 



(Celtic) : — Irish — FeorSg (MacBain) ; lora or Ir (the latter obsolete 

 according to C. M. Robertson) ; Easag or Easog (MacBain) ; 

 " Criehdran " (? Craobharan). 



Scottish Gaelic: — Fhebrag ox fedrag ; Easag {C H. Alston). 



Welsh : — Gwiwair (Pennant) ; or better Gwiwer (Fisher). 



The Celtic names for the squirrel are puzzling and their literal 

 translation diiificult. The difficulty seems to arise largely from the 

 fact that squirrels have, at all times and among all peoples, been often 

 confused with martens, weasels, and even with foxes. 



Fedrag (with its variants) may be translated as " the little inquisitive 

 one " ; but if it has been derived ixova fhiodarag it would signify merely 

 a "wood- or tree-animal." lora and ir also indicate the inquisitive 

 nature of the animal, and O'MuIrennan {fide Warren, in Harvie-Brown, 

 MS^ was inclined to explain feorag as a derivative — -f-iorag^f being 

 prefixed, in accordance with the common Celtic practice of prefixing 

 /to a word commencing with a vowel, and the diminutive ag being 

 suffixed. 



Easag, or easog, is perhaps more properly applicable to mustelines ; 

 for in Irish easag is the name of the Stoat, while easag-cram signifies 

 the " tree-weasel " or Marten. But no doubt easag has often been used 

 for the squirrel and it is used for pheasants as well. 



" Criehdran " appears in the list of wild animals produced before the 

 king at Tara, as the ransom of Finn MacCumhaill, given in a MS. 

 poem dating from before A.D. looo (see Wilde, Proc. Roy. Ir. Acad., vii., 

 i8i). The word "criehdran" appears to be unknown in either Irish or 

 Scottish Gaelic ; but James Macpherson {fide Harvie-Brown) thought 

 it to be possibly a mis-reading oi craobharan or "the tree-animal." 



Distribution: — This Squirrel is confined to the British Islands, 

 where it is common in all wooded localities of Great Britain, except 

 only those in which its numbers are kept in check by persecution. 

 Where there are no woods it is absent, and it disappeared almost 

 from Scotland, and entirely from Ireland. But it soon appears in newly 

 planted districts, and has been reintroduced in both the last-named 

 countries. It is increasing in the newly wooded districts of Wales, 

 where it is common up to lOOO feet (Forrest), and ascends to 1400 feet 

 in Aberdeen (Dickie).^ It comes quite close to towns, and may even 

 enter public gardens connected with them. 



Its status in Bngland requires no special comment, except as 

 regards Cornwall and " Lakeland." In the former it is stated to be 

 extending its range. Although abundant throughout the Truro and 



' Dickie, Botanists Guide to Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine, i860 ; quoted by 

 Harvie-Brown, op. cit. infra, 151. 



