SQUIRRELS IVON BV KINDNESS. 
227 
Wings, meant for flight, that could not fly 
Are rotting, high above, in air ; 
Beneath, the carrion bodies lie 
Whose fault was being fair. 
And Vanity that wrought this doom 
Goes dancing off with egret-plume. 
O English mother, maid, or bride. 
Who seek for Fashion’s feathered grace. 
Come in your beauty and your pride 
And gaze upon the place : 
Then say if Love can wear again 
For Pity’s sake, such plumes of pain. 
H. D. Rawnsley. 
SQUIRRELS WON BY KINDNESS. 
BOUT ten years ago we began taming the wild squirrels 
which exist in great numbers in the woods around 
this house. We put Barcelona nuts in a small basket 
hung outside the dining-room window, and every day 
a handful thrown on the ground served to attract the notice of the 
little animals. In a very short time the squirrels ventured to 
approach, timidly at first, to pick up their favourite food ; they 
would scratch up the nuts and rush away to some quiet spot out 
of sight. Generations of the graceful little rodents have been 
trained to come nearer and nearer to the window, until they are 
now so delightfully tame that I feel induced to suggest to others 
the means of enjoying the pleasure we find in watching our daily 
visitors from the woods. 
My first act before breakfast is to place a handful of nuts 
on a small table which stands in the room close to a bay window. 
Hardly have I done so, when in come the squirrels, sliding up 
to the window and leaping on to the table to enjoy the nuts. 
They will take nuts gentl}^ from our hands, and sitting up in 
the graceful position a squirrel adopts when quite at ease — its 
tail curved over its back, and its tiny paws holding the nut — 
they crack them and fling away the shells in careless fashion. A 
scrimmage sometimes takes place when several come in together. 
One bolder spirit will chase another round the room until both 
spring out at the window, and dart across the lawn. At length, 
the nuts on the table being eaten or carried away, the squirrels, 
well knowing where the supply is kept, descend to the floor and 
hop leisurely to a cupboard, where on the first shelf is a box full 
of Barcelonas. The little animals spring on to the shelf and 
help themselves. This they are allowed to do for a little while, 
as we like to watch their proceedings ; but I make a protest 
