The Squirrel. 105 



Its breeding nest is a hollow ball — as those of the 

 harvest and wood, or long-tailed, mouse — the entrance 

 rarely visible. It is sometimes set in a thick thorn-hedge 

 or coppice ; but the favourite nesting-place of the Dor- 

 mouse seems to be in a young beech with bushy top, on 

 which the leaves stay all the winter through. I once saw 

 a family of dormice thus domiciled, just after the young 

 ones had got big enough to be abroad. The beech, a 

 mere sapling, with stem not more than an inch in diameter^ 

 and clear of branches for a yard or so, gave me an excel- 

 lent opportunity for observing the behaviour of the little 

 quadrupeds. They seemed to play as lambs, some run- 

 ning down the stem on one side as others went up on 

 the opposite ; and this in continuance, like the revolving 

 links of an " endless chain." 



THE SQUIREEL. 



It is hardly necessary to say that in a wooded district, 

 as is the greater portion of the Wye Valley, Squirrels 

 abound. I have them in a grove in my own grounds, 

 while on Penyard's wooded hill, and throughout the 

 adjacent Forest of Dean, they are common enough. 

 Our English Squirrel (Sciurns vulgaris) is interesting for 

 many reasons. Its beauty, both of form and colour, its 

 wonderful agility, with its many pretty ways, make it 

 one of the greatest ornaments of our woodland scenery. 

 Besides, it is the only indigenous tree-climbing and tree- 

 inhabiting quadruped we have in our islands. I will not 

 here enter into lengthened particulars of its ordinary 



