79 
seen birds manifesting any alarm at their presence. Mr. 
Brewster is very positive that the squirrels have never 
troubled the birds at his place in Cambridge, where he has 
watched carefully for years the habits of both birds and 
squirrels. Mr. Mason A. Walton, the hermit of Gloucester, 
says that he has several times seen red squirrels examining 
the nests of birds, but that they never disturbed the nests 
or young birds . 1 
There may be many good squirrels, but there certainly 
are some bad ones, as the literature of field natural history 
teems with instances of their destructiveness. To convince 
the reader, some new evidence is appended, collected dur- 
ing this inquiry. 
- “ Bed squirrels, I think, do fully as much damage as 
crows. For a number of years I had quite a colony of red 
squirrels on my premises, and protected them, as the family 
liked to see them around. But one morning there was a 
great commotion among the robins in the yard; I stepped 
to the door with gun in hand, expecting to find crows, but, 
on looking closely, found a red squirrel at the nest, from 
which he soon started, carrying something in his mouth. I 
fired at him, and he dropped to the ground, and with him a 
young robin with the head partly eaten; and on looking the 
ground over, I found two others in the same condition. 
Since then by observing closely I have found them despoil- 
ing the nests of robins and other birds of either the eggs or 
young, and shoot them on sight, as a nuisance.” (W. J. 
Cross.) 
“ I was at work in one of my gardens when my attention 
was attracted by the cries of a pair of thrushes near by. 
On approaching, I discovered a red squirrel sitting upon 
the nest, busily devouring their young. I drove the little 
rascal away with stones, but he returned again, and had bit- 
ten the remaining birds before I reached the nest again, it 
being several rods distant. The next day I found nothing 
left but the empty nest. The young thrushes were more 
than half grown, and were all destroyed, undoubtedly by 
this same squirrel.” (Henry FT. Smith.) 
“ There is an apple orchard on the rear of my place, and 
1 “ A Hermit’s Wild Friends,” Mason A. Walton, p. 69. 
