192 THE ESSEX NATURALIST. 
The animal found a congenial home at Woburn and has flourished 
exceedingly, and several other places (to be mentioned later 
on) have been stocked from this source. 
The third centre in order of date is Finnart on Loch Long, 
Dumbartonshire, and reports are to the effect that a pair was 
liberated there about 1892, although it was not until 1903 that 
specimens first began to reach the hands of local taxidermists.5 
The large numbers of squirrels and great extension of area 
in the district (of which further particulars are given on page 200 
below) seem even more remarkable, if due to a single pair, than 
the developments at Woburn. 
TOPOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. 
I propose now to give some topographical details and shall 
begin with London and the home counties. In addition to 
personal observations these details are from reports made by 
other observers whose kindness and readiness in giving me 
information I gratefully acknowledge. Much of what follows 
is necessarily a compilation from these reports. 
LONDON. 
The first grey squirrels brought into the Metropolitan area 
were from Woburn, a number being sent to the Zoological Gardens 
in 1905.° In a few weeks they became sufficiently tame and 
a number were liberated in the Gardens from whence they 
_ spread into the Regents’ Park, where their familiar and confiding 
habits, combining friendliness with alertness, rapidly made 
them great favourites with visitors. This was the beginning 
of their popularity and many people became acquainted with 
this animal for the first time there. Now, after nearly eighteen 
years, they are estimated to number 250 in the Regent’s Park 
and they continue to maintain their numbers although there 
is no obvious increase in recent years. They have spread out- 
wards, and the gardens and open spaces of St. John’s Wood, 
Parliament Hill Fields, Hampstead, Ken Wood, Highgate, 
Hendon and probably other North London Districts have 
become populated. In Hampstead they were first observed in 
the year 1908. Sometimes they turn townwards and Mr. Chas. 
Oldham tells me that he recently saw one at the entrance of 
5. Mr. John Paterson, Glasgow Naturalist, 1912, iv., p. 136, and v., p. 40. 
6. Official Guide to the Gardens, Zool. Society, 5th ed., 1907, p. 78. 
