Skeleton of Squirrel.

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The food of the Squirrel is fairly varied. In pine woods the cones provide the staple dish, and the ground beneath a Squirrel's tree will be found littered with chips and cores of the cone from which the seeds have been extracted. This débris should be looked for as an unfailing sign that there are Squirrels in the wood. In beech woods they rely largely on beech-mast, the sharp-edged triangular seeds contained in the prickly nuts. They usually have a hazel-copse not far distant whence they derive their favourite food in the autumn, storing up considerable quantities in holes for use during the winter. Several times when filling our own pockets with hazel-nuts we have met with angry protests from a Squirrel who considered the place his own preserve. Standing on a stout limb just overhead he would stamp his forefeet and utter a little bark. Similar objection has been made at times when we were filling our basket with the nutty Blusher Toadstool (Amanita rubescens), of which some of the caps in a clump showed the marks of the Squirrel's incisors. He is also fond of cherries, wild or cultivated, and the shoots of Pines which contain the burrowing larvæ of the Pine Tortrix moth. It is also accused of being so far carnivorous as to consume bird's eggs and nestlings.

[Pl. 52.]][F 80.
Nest of Dormouse.
Mother removing her young.

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