MORE SQUIRRELS 



is commonly a hollow tree or branch, some partic- 

 ularly capacious interiors harbouring a dozen or 

 more individuals at certain seasons, and, strangely 

 enough, without any very noticeable quarrels, al- 

 though the old males are apt to be unpleasantly 

 ugly and tyrannical. They also construct arbo- 

 real nests like those of the red squirrel, only 

 smaller as compared with the size of the builder, 

 composed of broad leaves cut off while still green 

 in the late summer, half a dozen in a bunch 

 adhering to the twig they grew upon. These 

 are placed in successive layers on a slight plat- 

 form of twigs in such a manner as to shed water 

 satisfactorily enough, but without leaving much 

 space inside, even for a single inmate. 



I watched the construction of one of these 

 nests for nearly the whole of a hot afternoon. 

 The squirrel, a big dark-coloured fellow with 

 a splendid brush, kept hurrying out to the ends 

 of the branches to clip off twigs, a quarter of an 

 inch in diameter, apparently with a single stroke 



233 



