LITTLE BEASTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 



ings above referred to, but when the country was 

 newly settled they were of not infrequent occur- 

 rence, and compared favourably in magnitude with 

 the well-known swarming of lemmings across 

 northern Europe. 



The red squirrel is popularly supposed to 

 drive away the gray variety, and probably does 

 to a certain extent, for he is pretty sure to attack 

 the other on sight and generally comes out ahead, 

 although an actual hand-to-hand tussle is of rare 

 occurrence, the encounter generally consisting of 

 ill-natured bickerings at a distance of ten inches 

 or more, terminating in the retreat of the larger 

 of the two combatants. I have been told, how- 

 ever, that when the gray squirrel is fairly cor- 

 nered, he usually succeeds in putting the other to 

 flight, and at all events I have never known the 

 red squirrels to succeed in actually clearing any 

 grove, no matter how small, of the enemy, al- 

 though often outnumbering them three to one. 



The gray squirrel's home, as already mentioned, 

 232 



