714 SCIURIDiE— SCIURUS 



The Squirrel loves comfort, and prepares for its sleeping- 

 place a capacious nest or "drey" built high amongst the 

 branches of a tree — in Scotland very often a fir of some kind, 

 according to Mr W. Evans — or hidden inside a hollow trunk.^ 

 This is constructed in a very beautiful and intricate manner of 

 moss, leaves, and fibres curiously interleaved. It is lined with 

 dry grass or wool ^ if available, and looks like an immense wren's 

 nest. Usually a definite entrance is wanting, the sides being 

 elastic and self-closing after the inmate has passed through. 

 At all times, even if present, the orifice is hard to find — a fact 

 which probably induced Pliny's remark that the owner closes 

 its retreat on the side from which the wind is likely to blow 

 and opens it on the opposite direction.^ 



The Squirrel is sometimes a sound sleeper, and may, on 

 occasion, be caught napping. Since its presence inside the 

 drey cannot be detected until the touch of the birdnester's 

 hand arouses it, its sudden exit is often not a little disconcerting 



' Probably climate and season have something to do with the site of the nest. 

 In the cold regions of North America, Squirrel nests are invariably concealed 

 in holes in trees, or even in the ground, while in the more temperate regions 

 they are built in branches of trees, like the nests of crows (Merriam, Mamm. 

 Adirondacks, Trans. Linn. Soc. New York, ii., 1884, 132). 



2 Squirrels were seen by Hodgson collecting sheep's wool for this purpose from 

 a thorn hedge {Trans. Cumberland and Westmorland Assoc, 1885-86, 30). Mr W. 

 Evans {in lit., 23rd March 1910) has given us detailed information as to the structure 

 of three breeding nests examined by him. One (at Clubbiedean, Pentlands, 23rd 

 March i8g6) was "profusely lined with sheep's wool, etc., but no young in it yet." 

 Another (near Edinburgh, 21st April 1904, with three young) had a "foundation of 

 twigs, then moss outwardly, and lined with profusion of sheep's wool and rabbits' 

 fur ; green leafy fir twigs were placed on top of nest." The third (near Edinburgh, 

 4th May 1904, with three small blind young) was "made outwardly of moss, then 

 shreds of inner bark of lime, followed by a dense matted lining of rabbits' fur, mixed 

 with bits of fibre and some feathers of pheasant and wood-pigeon ; thatched with 

 fresh spruce twigs ; approximate diameters : horizontal, 10 inches ; vertical, 13 

 inches ; circumference about 35 inches." Mr Mofifatt saw one "freshly lined with 

 squirrel's fur and covered with fresh moss " ; and Mr C. E. Wright of Kettering 

 found a nest in a hole in a tree "lined with a little fur on leaves." 



^ The ancients held a similar belief regarding the hedgehog : this is mentioned 

 by Aristotle {Hist. Anim., D'A. W, Thompson's ed., 1910, ix., 6, 612 b, 4), Plutarch 

 {Soil. Anim., 979 A), and in Pliny (viii., 56) : " In regard to the instinct of hedgehogs,. 

 it has been observed in many places that, when the wind is shifting from north to 

 south, and from south to north, they shift the outlook of their earth-holes, and 

 those that are kept in domestication shift over from one wall to the other 

 (Plutarch). The story is that a man in Byzantium got into high repute for 

 foretelling a change of weather, all owing to his having noticed this habit of 

 the hedgehog." 



