120 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



[June 



their claws on the loose bark of the trees while thus engaged is very 

 curious. This I conclude is the squirrel's manner of courting. The 

 young squirrels to the number of three or four (and very funny little 

 creatures they are too) make their appearance' in the summer time, 

 and are placed by their careful mamma in a nest of moss, dead leaves, 

 and twigs, previously prepared for their accommodation, and situated 

 high up among the thick boughs of the pine and the fir. In some 

 counties, Hampshire for instance, the squirrel's nest is called a "drey." 



The food of the squirrel is of a somewhat varied character. It is 

 fond of nuts, acorns, walnuts, beechmast, &c. It will also nibble off 

 larch shoots, and the buds and bark of other trees. At various times 

 of the year numbers of pine and fir-cones may be found lying under 

 the trees partly stripped of their scales. This is the work of the 

 squirrel, which I have many a time seen with a cone in its grasp, which 

 it adroitly stripped, biting off each scale neatly at the base for the sake 

 of the seed nestling under the inner scale. The squirrel will also 

 sometimes banquet on fungi, and a neighbour of mine once told me 

 that it will rob rooks and pheasants nests, and that the olive-brown 

 egg of the latter is a certain bait to catch a squirrel. Wood-pigeons 

 and blackbirds nests are often harried by the squirrel, and it has been 

 known to attack young and weakly rabbits. I cannot speak from 

 personal knowledge of the carnivorous habits of this pretty little 

 wood-dweller, but I have seen birds in a state of great agitation at 

 the appearance of a squirrel in their neighbourhood. 



The best time for observing the habits of the squirrel are the 

 two autumn months, September and October. These to my thinking 

 are the pleasantest months in the year, that is provided the weather 

 is as it should be. How delightful to stroll through the woods at this 

 time and to note the various interesting objects on every side ! As 

 you enter the wood you hear the sharp shrill cry of the kestrel, the 

 laugh of the woodpecker, the crow of the pheasant, and the harsh 

 chatter of the magpie. Then from yonder oak the beautiful jay takes 

 its flight, uttering its loud alarm-cry. Through the fading ferns and 

 dead leaves the brown rabbit presses its way, and an occasional weasel 

 crosses the path. Those autumn flowers, the harebell and ragwort, 

 bloom freely at the edge of the wood, and the rank fungi are springing 

 up by the old tree stumps. The pleasant but indescribable smell of 

 the autumn woods prevade the atmosphere, but an occasional puff of 

 chilly wind tells that the year is fast getting into its " sere and yellow 

 leaf." 



Amid these pleasant woodland scenes the squirrel dwells, and is 



