1889.] 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



121 



now at the height of his enjoyment. You may see him now as he 

 bounds aloft out of harm's way, and indulges himself in his curious 

 chucking cry, as if he were jeering at the clumsy creatures beneath 

 him. A pretty sight it is to see the squirrel feeding, sitting erect on 

 end, with its bushy tail curled over its back, and using its fore-feet as 

 hands, while it leers at you from its roguish looking eyes, and you 

 have a picture of an animal whose whole life appears to be a continual 

 round of merriment and pleasure. But it is not so, for the squirrel 

 though gay and active has some sober habits of its own. One of these 

 is to collect a store of food for its sustenance during the coming 

 winter, and this is its time for working, for do not hazel and cob-nuts 

 hang invitingly only to be gathered, and later on will not the chestnut, 

 the beechnut, and the acorn strew the ground, and the wood-mouse, 

 the vole, and the nuthatch come for their share, as well as the jay, 

 the magpie, the wood-pigeons, and numbers of other birds and beasts. 

 So our friend the squirrel is as busy as a bee. Its store houses are 

 generally in hollow trees, and here quantities of acorns, nuts, and 

 masts have been found snugly hidden away, but sometimes it will 

 bury its nuts in the ground, each in a separate hole. 



In winter the squirrel has a snug home to which to retire and 

 snooze away, if he thinks proper, the frosty days and nights ; he is 

 only a partial hybernator, however. The winter nest is a much more 

 substantial structure than the summer one, and is placed generally in 

 the cleft or fork of a tree, or at the junction of a branch with the 

 trunk. It is a mass of dry leaves, grass, and moss felted together. 



The colour of the squirrel is usually of a reddish brown, but darker 

 down the back and tail. The breast and belly is white. The colour 

 of the upper parts varies considerably. In the winter, I have seen 

 squirrels about this neighbourhood of a decided grey colour along the 

 sides and tail. Sometimes the tail is almost white, and I once saw an 

 individual with a nearly black head. A white one with brown ears 

 used to frequent a wood a short distance away, in company with an 

 ordinary coloured one. 



Gossiping Notes on British Coleoptera. 



By G. A. LEWCOCK. 



/. SYNONYMY (continued). 

 Since the May issue of the Young Naturalist there has come under 

 my notice the report of the committee appointed by the Netherlands 



