THE SQUIRREL 



squirrel (S. v. Ulceus), in which the tendency to blackness is general if not universal ; 

 the general colour being brown, passing into blackish on the hind half of the back 

 and the outer sides of the limbs. This, however, by no means exhausts the colour 

 range of this extremely variable species, for in northern Russia and Siberia we find 

 squirrels (S. v. argenteus and 5. v. sibiricus) in which the general colour of the 

 winter coat is light French grey, with the long ear-tufts black. It is these grey 

 squirrels which are used in such numbers to form the linings of ladies' cheap 

 cloaks ; but perfect skins, to say nothing of the living animal, are scarcely ever 

 seen in England. 



For the reception of their young, squirrels build a well-constructed nest, 

 or "drey," which is oval in shape, and made of fibres and leaves with a lining of 

 moss ; its usual position being the fork of a large tree or a hole in the trunk. The 

 fibres are neatly and intricately interwoven ; and when the nest is placed in a fork, 

 the entrance is usually made to open near to one of the branches, with the colour 

 of which it agrees very closely. In this comfortable home the female brings forth 

 three or four young, usually in June, which are tended by both parents, with whom 

 they remain till the following year. 



Although squirrels are stated to make an occasional meal of birds' eggs, they 

 are in the main strict vegetarians, feeding chiefly upon pine-cones, nuts, beech-mast, 

 bark, buds, and young shoots. Where they are unusually numerous, as in certain 

 parts of Scotland, they are stated to inflict considerable damage on young larch- 

 plantations. When feeding, squirrels sit up and grasp the food in their fore-paws, 

 with which they hold nuts while these are pierced by the chisel-like front teeth. 

 Long flying leaps from tree to tree are frequently taken by these active rodents. 



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