SQUIRRELS. 
81 
SQUIRRELS. 
The squirrel is one of the prettiest and most engaging animals of all the 
pets. It is elegant in form and cheerful in disposition, and is completely 
formed for a “life among the trees.” "When on the ground, it moves by 
successive leaps, with the tail extended and undulating; when sitting, the 
tail is elevated over its back like a plume, in a most elegant manner. The 
squirrels most common here are the gray and flying squirrels. 
The squirrel lives upon nuts, acorns, beech-mast, the bark of trees, leaf- 
buds, and tender shoots. Like the hare and rabbit, it generally sits upon 
its hind-legs; and it uses its fore-paws, which are like hands, to convey its 
food to its mouth. It is most provident in laying up its winter stores, not 
only in a place of safety, but in several holes of trees in the immediate 
neighborhood of its own retreat. 
The squirrel’s nest is constructed with great art in the hollow of some 
old tree, or in the bark; and is composed of twigs and dry leaves. 
It breeds generally in Mayor June, and the young family consists of four or 
five. 
The squirrel never appears in the open fields, but keeps among the tallest 
trees, and avoids as much as possible the habitations of man. It is so ex¬ 
tremely vigilant, that if the tree on which it resides be only touched at tho 
bottom, it instantly takes the alarm, quits its nest, leaps to another and an¬ 
other tree, and then travels on till it finds itself in perfect security. They 
have been seen, when hard pressed, and when the distance to the next tree 
has been beyond their most extravagant leaps, to throw themselves ofi^ 
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