40 



THE SQUIRREL. 



THE SQUIRREL. 



[This paper was written in answer to one by Mr. Wighton 

 in the Gardener's Magazine for March, 1843, in which it was 

 asserted that squirrels sometimes feed on birds.] 



Horticulture and zoology are contiguous 

 provinces. Surely, then, no one in these 

 days of liberality can find fault with Mr. 

 Wighton for straying a little out of bounds. 

 Let him not fear the apparition of a birch rod. 



If squirrels injure the shoots of my spruce 

 firs, which they are known to frequent, trivial 

 indeed must be the damage, and quick the re- 

 paration by old Dame Nature, for the trees 

 bear no marks of aggression. 



Had the squirrel been wild, in the wild woods, 

 at the time that Mr. Wighton saw it eat the birds, 

 I should not hesitate to pronounce that indi- 

 vidual squirrel to be carnivorous, because I 

 believe that Mr. Wighton would only state 

 what he conceived to be " correct." Still, we 

 must allow that there are exceptions to all rules. 

 Don Quixote put Sancho Panza in mind that 

 summer did not always set in with the appear- 

 ance of the first swallow. Sir William Jardine 



