THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
493 
It feeds on nuts, beech-mast, acorns, buds and the bark of young branches; 
generally, while eating, sitting on its haunches with its tail elevated, holding 
the object between its paws, and dexterously unshelling the kernel, from which 
it removes the outer pellicle before munching it. It does not live all the time 
in trees, but frequently resorts to the ground, where it moves with nearly equal 
agility, leaping like a rabbit. The female produces three or four young ones 
about midsummer, which are deposited in a nest, formed of moss, fibrous roots, 
grass and leaves, curiously interwoven, and placed in a hole or in the fork 
between two branches. In autumn it lays up a store of provisions for winter, 
bobac (Aretomys bobac). 
but usually in an irregular manner, depositing nuts in different places in the 
ground and in holes of trees. When the cold weather commences, it becomes 
less active, and often dozes for days in its retreat; but it does not become 
completely torpid; and it has been seen abroad in the midst of a most severe 
snow-storm. If the weather be comparatively mild, it exhibits its usual activity, 
feeding on barks and twigs. The squirrel may be domesticated if taken young, 
and becomes an agreeable, playful and gentle pet. It is generally distributed- 
through the wooded parts of the country. 
