THE BRITISH OR LIGHT-TAILED SQUIRREL 717 



and she is not afraid to approach within 4 or 5 feet of a man 

 to scold him vigorously. There is a record of one which twice 

 flew at a birdnester's throat, and cut his shirt with her teeth 

 before she had to retire before superior force. After the 

 retreat of an enemy the mother often removes her young, 

 especially if they have been handled, from the nest to some 

 place of supposed greater safety, bearing them in her mouth, 

 and venturing away from trees and across roads. One young, 

 while thus carried, was observed to occupy a position wrapped 

 round the neck of the dam like a boa. But one which Mr 

 W. Evans caused the mother to drop, and which he sent to 

 Barrett - Hamilton in May 1911, was carried by the skin 

 between the right fore-leg (arm) and the breast. Sometimes a 

 female may be seen playing with and training her babies after 

 they leave the nest, and this forms one of the prettiest sights 

 of the woodlands. 



Apart from man, and Martens formerly, the Squirrel does 

 not appear to have many enemies in Britain. Owls, kestrels, 

 and stock-doves sometimes occupy its drey, but probably not 

 until after desertion by the rightful owner.'' Mr Forrest once 

 found a pair of stoats in occupation — a far more serious 

 invasion. It probably suffers more diminution in numbers 

 during hard winters than from any other causes, and great 

 numbers are said to have perished in Upper Nidderdale during 

 the very hard winters of the early eighties. 



The Squirrel is liable to considerable variety in point of 

 colour (vide supra, p. 697) the details of which were not properly 

 understood until Mr Oldfield Thomas explained that much that 

 was formerly supposed to be accidental is in reality normally 

 recurrent each season as part of the animal's regular routine 

 of moult and change of coat. This is particularly the case in 

 regard to the cream-coloured tails, which were so long thought 

 to be instances of irregular variation, but which are really 

 characteristic of the animal and the basis of its scientific name. 



The fur of the British Squirrel is no longer used in 

 commerce, although at one time it was a favourite decoration 

 for robes, and it is known to have been exported in quantities 



' For a record of a Squirrel being seized and carried away by a Tawny Owl, see 

 R. W. B. in L. E. Hope and D. I. Thorpe {Zoologist, 1912, 184). 



VOL. II. 2 Z 2 



