LITTLE BEASTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 



taste, the squirrels arrange a loose platform or 

 framework of twigs in a convenient crotch, and 

 build their nest on that. There is also a con- 

 siderable range in the quality of workmanship dis- 

 played, in some instances the material being 

 apparently thrown together in the most hap-haz- 

 ard manner imaginable and even when newly built 

 with an effect of general dilapidation, the work 

 perhaps of young and inexperienced builders. 



The young squirrels are occasionally born and 

 reared in these nests, although a hollow tree is 

 usually chosen for a nursery, often merely a low 

 stump, two or three feet high, with the hollow 

 open at the top to all the rains of the season. The 

 interior is filled with a lot of fine dead grass and 

 soft lichens for a bed, which at first thought 

 might be expected to become completely satu- 

 rated in every shower or rainstorm. But as I now 

 recall the different nests that I have found so sit- 

 uated, I have a strong impression that all of them 

 were sheltered by the overhanging branches of 



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