ENEMIES TO WOODLAXDS AND NURSERIES. 63 



The gnawing and ringing of the bark of young saphngs 

 and poles is fortunately not a general practice of the 

 squirrel, for the damage would otherwise be of no little conse- 

 quence in young plantations. Among conifers, larch and 

 pine are most exposed to danger ; w^hilst beech, hornbeam, 

 aspen, and willow suffer most among the broad-leaved 

 species. Young woods of from fifteen to thirty years of age 

 are on the whole most liable to this form of danger ; as it 

 chiefly takes place during the months of May, June, and 

 July, and is more apt to be frequent in dry, hot years like 

 the last (1893), there seems every reason to believe that 

 the w^ounds are inflicted more for the purpose of obtaining 

 supplies of tasty sap than for the satisfaction of actual 

 requirements as regards food. The gnawing is usually 

 performed in the crown, where the bark is still soft. 

 Sometimes, only irregular-shaped patches are gnawed off 

 here and there, in w^hich case the crowns may recover ; but 

 not infrequently the bark is peeled off all round the shoot, 

 or, less frequently, in a very regular screw-like spiral 

 between the whorls of the conifers, and in either of these 

 latter cases the death of the crown ensues. 



Besides these direct cases of inflicting damage, other 

 indirect injuries are also caused by squirrels to woodlands, 

 nurseries, and garden 5 — for they cannot be altogether acquitted 

 of being carnivorous. They are often guilty of attacking the 

 young of very useful species of birds, like starlings, which 

 would otherwise help to maintain the due balance of 

 nature by waging war against injurious insects. 



The greatest enemy of the squirrel is the tree-marten ; 

 but where the latter occurs in large numbers it is apt to 

 multiply rapidly, and to become a serious pest, unless its 

 prolific tendency is counteracted by the use of the gun.''' 



On theInxrease axd Destrlxtiox of Squirrels.— '•' At Cawdor, Altyre, and else- 

 where they have multiplied to a great extent, and have become very injurious to the 

 Scotch fir and larch, though chiefly to the former. They are fond of the cones, or rather 

 the seeds, of the spruce fir, but have not been known to touch its bark asthev do — most 

 destructively— thit of the Scots f.r and larch. It is certainly remarkable that these- 



