52 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
Carolina parrakeets in the world—the famous 
bison — the other wild things are to stay — and 
Cincinnati keeps her Zoo for indefinite time. 
CONTINENTAL SQUIRRELS IN 
BRITAIN. 
By Frederick J. Stubbs. 
A note on the increase of the squirrel in Brit- 
ain may hold a little interest for those concerned 
in the handling of wild animals. During recent 
years the squirrel has decreased in a remarkable 
way in several counties where formerly the crea- 
ture was abundant, but so far no explanation is 
forthcoming. In Essex, particularly, this diminu- 
tion has been noticed; but, latterly, the animal 
seems to be increasing in the neighbourhood of 
Epping Forest. In January of the present year, 
near Epping, a squirrel was killed by a boy and 
shown to me the same day. This mammal is 
probably, so far as colour is concerned, the most 
variable in the world. The seasonal changes in 
the pelage of our own species are very compli- 
cated, but the tail is never, I believe, either black 
or red. The Epping specimen had the tail prac- 
tically black, the body a dull and very dark brown. 
Certainly it was not our own Sciurus v. leucourus', 
and I hazarded the guess that the specimen be- 
longed to C. v. fuscoater, a native of Central 
Europe. 
Unfortunately, it was inadvertently destroyed 
while in the hands of a local taxidermist, and its 
actual identity could not be settled. In August 1 of 
this year, in Epping Forest, I had a good view 
of a squirrel, and particularly noted its black tail. 
At that season, the tail of the British squirrel is 
invariably light — indeed, in some cases appearing 
quite white, and frequently cream colour. On 
Sunday last (October 15th), in the same locality, 
we saw another squirrel, and this also was strik- 
ingly dark, with a blackish tail. Several of my 
friends here have observed this increase of squir- 
rels, and all have remarked the unusually dark 
tints of the animals. 
Two or three years ago I remember seeing a 
squirrel which had been caught somewhere near 
London (I cannot at the moment remember exactly 
where), which had a reddish tail similar in colour 
to the fur of the back. This one, perhaps, was 
of Dutch or Scandinavian origin. There is no 
doubt whatever in my mind that these increasing 
Essex squirrels are not native, but descendants 
of the imported animals that have recently been 
turned loose in England. I am informed that a 
gentleman in Epping set free a number some years 
ago, and I know that Mr. Hamlyn has imported 
squirrels from several Continental countries, es- 
pecially (as he informs me) from Italy and South- 
eastern Europe. 
The interesting point is this. Our own squir- 
rel, for some mysterious reason, has died out, or 
is dying out, in Essex, Somerset, Oxford, Staf- 
ford, Lancashire and Yorkshire. But, in Essex 
at least, it is again increasing, and apparently 
from an introduced stock. These Continental sub- 
species are so much like our' own that they cannot 
be distinguished without difficulty. The reader, 
however, if ever he has the chance, should com- 
pare recently-captured animals with stuffed speci- 
mens killed in past years, and if the recent squirrel 
happens to be Continental, he will soon detect the 
difference. 
The charming "fairy in furs," the American 
grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), is rapidly in- 
creasing as a wild British species; but I have not 
seen it in Essex, and have heard of but a single 
occurrence in Epping Forest. It appears to have 
been turned out originally in Bushey Park in 1889, 
and afterwards it was introduced at Woburn Park. 
At the latter place they increased so rapidly that 
thinning out became necessary, and 1,000 were 
killed in a single winter. This species is now 
common in Scotland, North Yorkshire, Bucks, 
Bedfordshire, Hampstead Heath, Regent's Park 
and Richmond Park. 
Personally, I would prefer to see the brown 
squirrel ratlher than the grey as an ornament to 
British woodlands; and it is pleasant to think that 
this infusion of Continental blood promises to re- 
stock the places from which the native species 
has so strangely disappeared during the past 
generation or so. 
P.S. — Since writing the above I have been shown 
a stuffed specimen of a squirrel shot in a gar- 
den at Theydon Bois, on the borders of Epping 
Forest, about February of the present year. It 
closely resembles the red phase of our British 
squirrel so far as the body is concerned, but the 
tail is rich chestnut red, distinctly brighter than 
the tint of the body. Assuredly it cannot be 
our native race, and I think that if it were com- 
pared with Continental specimens it would prove 
to be Sciurus vulgaris fuscoater in the winter 
pelage of its light phase. It should be added 
that in most of these races, apart from season- 
able changes, there is a dark phase and a light 
phase, Apparently we have both phases of this 
Continental squirrel now wild in Essex. — F.J.S. 
Children's Pets Exhibition at Panama- 
Pacific International Exposition. 
By Frederick W. D 'Evelyn, 
Secretary, Children's Pets Exhibition, 
Association of America. 
It may seem a far cry from a Pets Show to a 
Menagerie. After all, is not the relationship com- 
