THE BRITISH OR LIGHT-TAILED SQUIRREL 693 



which we possess any information, even from before the Norman 

 Conquest, furs and skins always hold a prominent position {Sinn 

 Feinn, 1908, 130-138). The names of these are given in some 

 detail, and we find that of the Squirrel included, besides Horse, 

 Ox, Sheep, Lamb, Deer, Wolf, Marten, Otter, Wild Cat, Hare and 

 Rabbit {op. cit., 1 30 ; also Mrs Green's The Making of Ireland and its 

 Undoing, 1908, 73). 



In the thirteenth century there are several allusions to a tax on 

 Squirrel skins, as at Waterford, where in 1 243 the citizens were allowed 

 customs' for walling the town, including those on the skins of Squirrels 

 {Cal. Doc, Ireland, \., 2612,). A similar grant was allowed to the men 

 of Drogheda in 1278 {op. cit., ii., 15 17), of Cork in 1284 {op. cit., iii., 520), 

 of Fethard in 1292 {op. cit., 1015), and again of Waterford on 28th June 

 1 291 {op. cit, 917).^ On 28th April 1286, Thomas Fitzmaurice was 

 granted customs to enable him to wall Tralee and Moyal (Mallow) ; 

 these customs included a tax of one halfpenny on every hundred skins 

 of squirrels {Proc. Roy, Soc. Antiquaries, Ireland, xxiv., 16). Quite three 

 quarters of Ireland are thus represented, and the records indicate a 

 wide distribution, including the whole island except the north and 

 north-west. 



At that period the fur of the Squirrel was used for trimming 

 the robes of superior Irish officials, as mentioned by Froissart in 

 describing the visit of Richard II.; and Barrett-Hamilton was 

 informed by Captain Philip Hore, the well-known author of the 

 History of County Wexford, that the records of the reign of Edward I. 

 (1272-1307) include many notices of the prices paid for the skins, 

 which are clearly distinguished from those of the Marten and 

 "Weazil." 



A particular use of the fur of the Squirrel may be cited from 

 the accounts of the Lordship of Carlow, made out between 1279 

 and 1284 for the owner, Roger Biford, Earl of Norfolk, who died 

 in 1306 (see James Mills, Proc. Roy. Soc. Antiquaries, Ireland, April 

 1892, 50-56). So well-known was the fur that it had two distinct 

 names, being called " Strangling," ^ when at its best as between 

 Michaelmas and winter, and " Roskyn," perhaps from its russet 

 colour, in summer. 



There is a comprehensive list of the fur-bearing animals of Ireland 

 and its other natural products in the Libel of English Policie, written 



' For many references Barrett-Hamilton was indebted to the kindness of 

 T. J. Westropp, who met with them during his studies of Irish History. 



^ A name also known in Scotland (variously spelt as " Strandling," " Strandeling," 

 "Strandlyn," "Stranling," or "Stradling") in 1328 and 1329; see Harvie-Brown, 

 op. cit, vi., 38. One might hazard the suggestion that " Strandlings" signified 

 "skins coming from beyond the seas," and that the term was equivalent to the 

 " Calabar " of modern furriers. 



