THE BRITISH OR LIGHT-TAILED SQUIRREL 705 



Remarks : — All the specimens dealt with in the foregoing tables were 

 in adult pelage; the individuals enumerated include the largest and 

 the smallest specimens of each sex in each of the long series examined 

 from Blandford and Saffron Walden. Macgillivray states that the female 

 is smaller than the male ; to some extent this statement is supported 

 by the above figures, although the difference is small ; the largest males 

 appear to exceed by 5 mm. the largest females as regards the length of 

 the head and body. 



Weight: — Four from Saffron Walden were weighed, viz., a male 

 and a female (Nos. 19 and 14 respectively of the above table) of 12 and 

 8 oz., or 340 and 227 grammes respectively ; and two males, one taken 

 on 26th April (head and body, 235) of 10 oz. or 283 grammes, the other 

 killed on 30th September (head and body, 227) of g oz. or 255 grammes. 

 A male from Upware, Cambridgeshire, taken on 24th August (head and 

 body, 224) weighed 8f oz. or 248 grammes. Three males, killed 26/27 

 December, from Co. Wexford (lengths unrecorded), weighed 10, loj, 

 and 11^ oz., or 283, 298, and 319 grammes respectively. The heaviest, 

 of which we have a record, was a male from Ringwood, which reached 

 17 oz. or 482 grammes (Corbin, Zoologist, 1886, 178). 



SktUl : — Condylo-basal length, 44 to 48 : breadths — zygomatic, 29 

 to 31-6; mastoid, 21 to 22-2; least postorbital, 17 to i8-2; least inter- 

 orbital, 16 to 18; anterior rostral, 7 to 8-8: lengths — of nasals, 13-8 to 

 15-8; of diastema, 11 to 13; of maxillary tooth-row, 8-8 to 9-6; of 

 mandible, 30 to 33-6 ; of mandibular tooth-row, 8-4 to 9-4. 



The form and habits of this elegant little creature combine 

 to render it one of the most beautiful and entertaining of 

 our native mammals. Dwelling principally upon trees, but 

 frequently descending to the ground, it leaps from bough to 

 bough with astonishing agility ; but should it miss its mark it 

 usually alights safely like a cat, and runs away little the worse 

 for a fall from even a considerable height.^ 



Though bold and easily observed, it is subject to fits of 

 panic, and exhibits a somewhat contradictory character. Thus, 

 although not hesitating to descend to the ground and roam for 

 a considerable distance from trees, it will, on the slightest 

 alarm, race in a series of long bounds for its leafy refuge. 

 With the utmost circumspection it carefully climbs the tree- 

 trunk, on the side away from its enemy ; but then, perhaps 

 thinking itself secure and possibly overcome with indignation 



' See Editor, Field, 24th September 1893, 473 ; on the other hand, W. H. Scott, 

 ibid., 1900 (95), 771, records the death of one from a fall. 



