THE COMMON SQUIRREL 
One on a spruce fir in my garden was seen to take a flying leap 
at a small bird — a robin, I think — which, however, it failed to secure. 
Gilbert White observed that the Squirrel when eating a nut, after 
rasping off the small end, splits the shell in two with his long fore- 
teeth, as a man does with his knife. 
Stores of beech-mast and nuts are laid by in some hiding place 
for the winter, and during this time the Squirrel sleeps a good deal 
in his warm winter ' drey ' or nest, but it seems doubtful whether the 
animal hibernates much at this season, in Britain at all events. One 
sees them abroad even in the coldest weather, and the scattered remains 
of fir cones on the snow under the trees show where they have been 
feeding. 
Early in spring a nesting drey is prepared, in which from two to 
four young axe born at a time. 
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