SQUIRRELS 



dense hemlock or spruce trees, capable of turning 

 aside the water as effectually as a thatched roof. 

 The young squirrels are most absurd looking 

 little beasts at first, like miniature pug dogs, blind 

 and naked, and with enormous heads. In a few 

 days their fur begins to show like the down on a 

 peach, and as a fringe of short hair along each side 

 of the tail, which at length assumes something of 

 the flattened aspect of that worn by their elders, 

 but without displaying much of the fluffy, 

 shadowy quality of the ideal squirrel tail until 

 late in the following autumn. The fur, from the 

 very first, is so close and dense as to give them the 

 typical red colour of their species, although still so 

 short as to be barely perceptible to the touch, giv- 

 ing them a brilliant, newly painted appearance, Hke 

 toy squirrels covered with some bright coloured 

 satiny cloth to catch the eyes of children. Al- 

 though they do not remain long in the nest, they 

 are seldom seen abroad until fully grown, or very 

 nearly so, at least, which is rather remarkable when 



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