The Squirrel. 
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THE SQUIKKEL. (Sciurus vulgaris.) 
Elegance of shape, spiritedness, and agility to leap from 
bough to bough in the forest, are the principal character- 
istics of this pretty animal. The Squirrel is of a deep 
reddish brown colour, his breast and belly white. He 
is lively, sagacious, docile, and nimble : he lives upon 
nuts, and has been seen so tame as to dive into the 
pocket of his mistress, and search after an almond or a 
lump of sugar. In the woods he leaps from tree to tree 
with surprising agility, living a most frolicsome life, 
surrounded with abundance, and having but few ene- 
mies. His time, however, is not entirely devoted to 
idle enjoyment, for in the luxuriant season of autumn 
he gathers provisions for the approaching winter, as if 
conscious that the forest would then be stripped of its 
fruits and foliage. His tail serves him as a parasol to 
defend him from the rays of the sun, as a parachute to 
secure him from dangerous falls when leaping from tree 
to tree, and, some say, as a sail in crossing the water, 
which he sometimes does in Lapland on a bit of ice or 
hark inverted in the manner of a boat. 
The American Flying Squirrel (Pteromys volucella) 
has a large membrane proceeding from the fore feet to 
the hind legs, which answers the same purpose as the 
Squirrel's tail, and enables him to give surprising leaps 
that almost resemble flying. In the act of leaping, the 
loose skin is stretched out by the feet, whereby the sur- 
face of the body is augmented, its fall is retarded, and it 
