7i6 SCIURID^— SCIURUS 



ever, available, as when young nearly as large as rats were 

 found in the second week of February ; ^ these must have 

 been born in January. Mr Forrest also mentions the finding 

 of three dead young at the foot of a tree in the latter month. 

 Later litters are found throughout May, June, and into July, 

 but the latest of which Barrett- Hamilton had personal know- 

 ledge was on 14th August 1891, when he saw "two quite 

 small young ones, the eyes unopened, which had fallen from 

 their nest in County Wexford." 



In early spring an energetic courtship takes place; as 

 usually observed, this consists chiefly of the strenuous pursuit 

 of a coy female by several ardent males. According to Blasius, 

 the males of the nearly allied continental species sometimes 

 fight fiercely with each other for the possession of the females ; 

 but we are not aware that this habit has ever been observed 

 in British Squirrels, although males are often far more 

 numerous than females. We have no definite information as 

 to the length of the period of gestation, the Squirrel usually 

 being sterile in captivity ; Collett states that Norwegian 

 Squirrels go pregnant for four or five weeks. Lataste was 

 not able to determine whether the ovarian cycle lasted ten 

 days, as in many other rodents, or not ; he thought those of 

 Southern Europe to be polyoestrous. On the other hand 

 Heape regards the British Squirrel as probably monoestrous. 



The young at birth are blind and naked, with long, straight 

 tails and well-developed claws on their hands and feet. One, 

 not more than three or four days old, has been figured, from a 

 photograph, by Mr W. Evans (as mentioned above, p. 701). 

 They grow rapidly, and leave the nest after they are a few 

 weeks old. The parents are said to be monogamous, and their 

 offspring, according to some writers, remain with them until 

 the following pairing season, the young of two litters even 

 uniting to follow their mother. We doubt the truth of this 

 story, however, and prefer to believe that the experience of Mr 

 Hodgson, who saw the father and mother combining to drive 

 away their young, is more usual. 



Although, perhaps, not too careful a mother, the female 

 will guard her young jealously while they are still in the nest, 



1 J^'ield, 6th March 1886. 



