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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a958184 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #51031 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51031) diff --git a/old/51031-0.txt b/old/51031-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5c61d89..0000000 --- a/old/51031-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2080 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of More About the Squirrels, by Eleanor Tyrrell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: More About the Squirrels - -Author: Eleanor Tyrrell - -Illustrator: Honor C. Appleton - -Release Date: January 25, 2016 [EBook #51031] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - -Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end. - - * * * * * - -MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS. - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: The squirrel sprang here, there, and everywhere. _See -page 29._] - - * * * * * - - - - -MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS - - - BY - ELEANOR TYRRELL - AUTHOR OF “HOW I TAMED THE WILD SQUIRRELS,” ETC. - - THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LTD. - LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PART I. MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS 15 - - PART II. THE TRAGEDY 45 - - PART III. FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS 65 - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - - - - -LIST OF COLOURED PLATES. - - - The squirrel sprang here, there, and everywhere _Frontispiece_ - - The snow was falling so thickly I could scarcely see him 32 - - I saw them huddled together on the floor of the cage 48 - - Laurence hid himself in the twinkling of an eye 64 - - She coquetted with the birds round the drinking pan 80 - - Seven furry infants!... The heartlessness of it! 96 - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - - - - -FOREWORD. - - -Amongst the many satisfactions of writing is that of receiving letters -of appreciation from unknown friends. From all parts of the United -Kingdom, from Canada and from South Africa, animal lovers have written -to me expressing their pleasure in reading “How I Tamed the Wild -Squirrels,” published in the autumn of 1914 by Messrs. Nelson and Sons, -Ltd. The note most frequently struck is that of gratitude for something -to think about that had lessened for a while the sadness and depression -caused by this terrible war. - -That many of these correspondents have asked for more tidings of Fritz -and his companions, must be my excuse for putting forth another book -about them--again illustrated by Miss Appleton’s clever and delicate -pen and brush. - -Fritz has now enjoyed the liberty of the garden for four years. His -first wife deserted him after the advent--from the country of the -Huns--of a fierce little red compatriot, who would brook no rival. -She and he have since produced a most charming orange and gray son, -who happily shows all his father’s sweet confidence and none of his -mother’s truculence. - -Young Fritz is now a daily visitor to my bedroom, and, to the joy of -our young people, sometimes finds his way to other parts of the house. - -Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Housman are rarely seen. Fritz, as the -first-comer, has stood his ground and chased them far. Occasionally in -bitter weather, or in early spring (when food is most scarce), they -will furtively creep back to the old squirrel-house--the door of which -is always open--to steal the secreted nuts of the Fritz family. And, -as proof of their domestic felicity, comes sometimes a mysterious and -beautiful young black-tailed squirrel--a tail orange-tipped, with -delicate markings of gray. - -Is it possible that these two fiery-red beings have produced a creature -so unlike themselves? I think it is. Red-haired human parents sometimes -have black-haired children, so why should not squirrels? - -In Nature study one is always learning, refuting former deductions -and coming to conclusions which, after more patient observation, -prove themselves false. Thus I recollect bemoaning my little Fritz’s -miserable and mangy appearance in the month of July, after six months -of liberty. And I said in “How I Tamed the Wild Squirrels” that I -thought these little animals, given proper food and space for exercise, -are happier and better off in captivity than when running wild. I have -since learned that all male adult squirrels look miserable and mangy -in July, because they are then “changing their tails.” - -One hears people exclaim: “I have just seen a dear little squirrel. It -must be quite a baby, for it had no hair on its tail.” Young squirrels -in July, and long before, are very fully furred, and have delightful -tails. It is their fathers who are going about thus dilapidated. The -mothers change a little later in the year. - -But space forbids more on this fascinating subject. My thanks are due -to Messrs. Nelson for turning out both books so attractively, and at a -price so moderate. And especially are they due to Miss Appleton for her -careful and charming illustrations. - -Go forth then, little book, with my love to all squirrel lovers young -and old. - - ELEANOR TYRRELL. - - ST. KATHERINE’S, HOOK HEATH, ABOVE WOKING. - - - - -PART I. MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS. - - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: St Katherine’s. Hook Heath.] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - -MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS. - -As I am often asked about the little beasts whose adventures were set -forth in “How I Tamed the Wild Squirrels,” perhaps a further account of -my furry friends will not come amiss. - -I no longer keep any of them confined. After the death of three in the -winter of 1914, I resolved that, dear and fascinating as they were as -little companions in my room, I would never have them caged and in -artificial conditions again. - -There are two pairs of Germans loose in our little wood--Mr. and Mrs. -Fritz and Mr. and Mrs. Laurence; while the wild Surrey ones, the little -natives, come to the garden from the firs on the railway cutting. - -There is no doubt that Fritz, the German, with his superior strength -and masterfulness, drove away that first little colony which I had -tamed so wonderfully. Toto had met a tragic death, killed by a -marauding cat. Tito and Tara and the dainty little thing I used to -call Miss Fritz after a time took up their quarters elsewhere. I have -since come to the conclusion that Miss Fritz was not Miss Fritz--more -probably Miss Tito. As she grew to maturity she proved herself entirely -a Surrey squirrel. There was no tint of orange or gray about her, and -she remained when full-grown as small and dainty as the rest, showing -not a sign of the German larger, coarser breed. - -[Illustration] - -Besides, had Fritz been her father, she would not have disappeared -from the wood. Young squirrels remain with their parents, I am told, -for a year. Fritz had been assiduous in his attentions to a very -charming squirrel with a lovely tail, whom for some time I had called -Mrs. Fritz, but she too vanished in September 1913 and left him master -of the wood. - -He became very lonely. It was poor fun to be cock of the walk when -there was none to dispute his sway. Consequently, during the autumn, -he took to visiting Wych Hill, Hurstgate, and Allen House, where the -owners, also admirers of squirrels, were in the habit of hanging out -cocoanuts and other dainties to attract them. - -[Illustration] - -It has always been a mystery to me how he contrived to get to these -plantations across the heath without being seen. To reach them he had -to cross two wide public roads bristling with motor cars, bicycles, -errand boys, and dogs. Besides crossing these dangerous zones, he must -(unless he went a circuitous route by fir trees, quite a mile round) -have traversed an open gorsy heath. Had he his little runs, I wondered, -as rabbits have? And how dangerous, with watchful cats and lynx-eyed -terriers about! As long as he could keep to the trees he was safe from -the latter, but there was no consecutive belt of trees from our place -to those I have mentioned. That he arrived there, there was no doubt, -for I sometimes found him there myself, and he would come running -down the pine trees at my call. Neighbours told me of his fugitive -appearances in their gardens: “A large, red squirrel, very strong and -active.” - -[Illustration] - -Occasionally he stayed away from us altogether for a week or ten days. -Sometimes the food which was placed for him would not be touched, at -others it disappeared at midday, showing that he had slept away and -come over for it somewhere between eleven and twelve o’clock. When -a longer time than usual elapsed without a trace of him in wood or -garden, I was perfectly miserable, thinking that the dear, bright-eyed, -clever little thing had at last fallen a victim to boys or dogs. And -then the joy of his reappearance at my window, as intimate and cocky as -ever! - -[Illustration] - -I remember one morning in particular, a soft, sunny, spring-like day -in winter, I came into my room to find him, after an absence of more -than a fortnight, very hungry and very pleased with himself. He cocked -his tail on one side with a rakish air, and pranced over the carpet and -up the curtains, in the way he used to do when courting Bunty a year -ago, and showed, with all his little squirrel nature, his affection and -pleasure at our meeting again. I stuffed him with every dainty I had -till he could eat no more, and insisted on hiding the rest in the ivy -on the wall, where, as I knew, mice would steal it when night came. - - * * * * * - -Meantime Peter and Rufina lived in the big cage on the wall outside my -other window. - -They never became friends. As I have said in my former book, by the -time the latter had been a fortnight in the cage she was completely -mistress of the situation. She appropriated Peter’s sleeping-box, she -stole all his best nuts, and should he dare to approach her while she -was eating, she routed him fiercely. He was thankful when the short -winter day was over, and he could sneak behind the curtains in my room -and snuggle into his blue serge sleeping-bag, remaining there till next -morning. - -I must explain that Peter was a little English squirrel, whom I had -reared from babyhood. He was now about nine months old. Rufina was a -lady, German, bought from Devon and Co. at Bethnal Green. At this time -I had had her barely three months. - -Squirrels hate a high wind. The noise in the trees makes it difficult, -I suppose, to hear enemies about. Also perhaps they fear to lose their -hold of the tossing branches. Be it as it may, I was always certain -that in a gale not a glimpse of a squirrel would be obtained all day. -Torrents of rain, too, will deter them from scampering about; their -tails get bedraggled and heavy and upset their balance. I have known -Fritz come in the rain, but it generally meant that the weather was -going to clear. I have seen him out in a wild snow squall. He spent a -quarter of an hour once on the roof of the garden squirrel-house trying -to scratch his way in through the heather thatch where a rival lived, -while the snow was falling so thickly I could scarcely see him. - -[Illustration] - -Young squirrels are very playful, and I think they amuse themselves -with toys. - -I shall never forget my astonishment at one of Rufina’s achievements. -There had been an empty mouse-trap in my room for some weeks. It was -five or six inches long and two or three inches deep, made of wood, -with a wire top. It was not baited, and I had carefully unset it in -case Peter or Rufina playing about the room should put their noses -inside and get nipped by the spring. The father of a mouse family had -once been caught in it, and I had had some very miserable moments; but -that is another story. Ever since that tragic night his widow and -children had carefully avoided it. Still, it lay under a cupboard, -forgotten. One day I was surprised to see it on the floor of the -squirrel-house. I wondered if the housemaid had thrown it out, meaning -to take it away, and had forgotten it. The evening, however, was -closing in, and I left it alone, intending to remove it next day. Early -the following morning I was awakened by extraordinary sounds in the -cage, a bumping and a scrabbling quite unaccountable, punctuated every -now and then by the fall of something on the floor. When I got up to -look, I saw Rufina in the act of climbing up the wire netting _with the -trap in her mouth_. - -[Illustration] - -I watched her. She gave me a backward glance, as much as to say, -“Don’t _you_ interfere,” and recommenced her haulings and tuggings. -She dragged the thing some four feet up, and then along a wooden bar -till she got below the little platform outside the sleeping-box. Then -she made a spring, but lost her hold of the trap, and down it came -clattering to the floor. What could she want it for? It was no good -as a receptacle for storing nuts, as the spring door was closed, and -the wires were too closely set for it to be possible to push anything -through them. I came to the conclusion that she meant to place it -somewhere as a barrier to circumvent Peter. - -[Illustration] - -The whole of the morning was occupied by the persistent little creature -in efforts to get her plaything up to where she wanted it. It fell to -the floor quite a dozen times, but she tackled it again, every time -with unabated energy. I questioned the housemaid as to why she had -thrown it into the cage, and found that she had never touched it. -Rufina must therefore have dragged it from under the cupboard, across -the room, and by a great effort jumped with it in her mouth to the -level of the window-sill, about two and a half feet from the floor. - -By the evening, however, it had disappeared, and I descried it at last -in the very topmost corner of her home. It was above the sleeping-box, -wedged into an old bicycle basket, which was nailed under the eaves. -This had some hay in it, and was used for hiding nuts. Did Rufina place -it there as a shield against Peter’s thefts? - -After a day or two the trap fell down again, and I took it away, afraid -lest a little paw might be caught and wedged between the wires. - - * * * * * - -When Miss Appleton kindly undertook to illustrate my first book about -the squirrels, though she stayed with us several times in order to -sketch Fritz and Bunty from life, it was found necessary for her to -have a squirrel model in her friends’ studio in London, where she was -working at the time. A wire-netting place was therefore improvised on -the roof, outside the high studio window in Kensington, and in due time -came a package from Devon and Co. labelled “LIVE SQUIRREL.” - -[Illustration] - -The lady artists who owned the studio were delighted at the idea of -having this little pet, and, in Miss Appleton’s absence, proceeded at -once most incautiously to open the box. They prised one end open, and -were going to bring it to the door of the cage they had prepared, when -hey! presto! there was a flash, a scurry of fur upon hands and arms, -and away went the squirrel helter-skelter over pictures, statuary, -easels, chairs, and shelves. Crash! crash! bang went glass, smashing -to atoms, down fell pictures, over went models, and a wild and -exciting uproar followed. The artists shrieked, the squirrel sprang -here, there, and everywhere in a fifty by seventy feet room crammed -indiscriminately with painters’ and sculptors’ paraphernalia. - -Inarticulate with laughter, the ladies sprang after it. Faster and -faster it flew, taking wild leaps from the top of one easel to -another; pattering swiftly over angels’ wings and Mercury’s helmet, -over Clytie’s bust and the horns of Mephistopheles; diving down to the -floor, scrambling up the walls, till dismay arose as the bewildered -creature jumped upon the stove and ran along the hot-water pipes. - -[Illustration] - -More than an hour was spent in this breathless chase, till some one -bethought her of a tiny room across the vestibule. Setting the door -open, the frightened little beast was at length chased into this, and -the door shut. A model’s cloak was flung over the runaway and twisted -round the struggling bundle, which was transferred to its future home. - -The ladies of the studio were great admirers of Mr. Laurence Housman, -so the new arrival was named after him by common consent. - -Laurence spent the following four and a half months (from the beginning -of November till the middle of March) in a cage about three feet by -two, which was fastened against a chimney-pot on the roof. - -I have often wondered what his nights were like, with London cats all -round. - -He was furnished with a sleeping-box, with a hinged lid. I once saw him -asleep, as my friend opened the top. Anything neater and warmer could -not well be imagined. Wood-wool was tightly wedged round the inside of -the box first, then came a thick layer of cotton-wool, all of which -he had arranged himself. In the middle, a curled red centre, lay the -squirrel fast asleep, his face completely hidden. The box lid fitted -tightly down over this compact mass, and the two little holes at either -end, through which he crept in and out, were so small, I wondered how -he could get any air at all. - - * * * * * - -When I went away for the Christmas week of 1913, I could not leave -Peter and Rufina the run of my bedroom. The house being shut up and -empty, with no one to see after them, they would have made hay of -all my possessions. So I hung the sleeping-bag on a nail on the wall -inside the cage, and shut and bolted the window, giving Smithers, the -gardener, instructions to feed them and replenish the water-jar from -outside; this he was accustomed to do by means of a ladder. He told me -that Rufina sometimes jumped out of the bag when he put his hand in to -scatter nuts; so poor Peter must have been forced to give up even this -pet hiding-place. - -When I returned from Devonshire on 1st January, both squirrels were -invisible. As the weather was bitterly cold, I was a little anxious -when night came on lest their jar of water should be frozen; so I -opened the window, and, finding a solid block of ice, I took the vessel -in and replenished it. I mention this, as I fancy my action was the -cause of the tragedy which followed. The casement opened backwards upon -the inner wall of the cage, against which, upon a nail, hung the blue -cloth bag I have spoken of. The casement would just touch this bag and -shake it, though it was protected a little by a branch of the shrub -which grew up through the cage. - -[Illustration] - -I did not guess that Rufina was asleep in the bag; the night was pitch -dark. I saw nothing, and closing the window again, went to bed. - -[Illustration: The snow was falling so thickly I could scarcely see -him. _See page 24._] - -Next morning, hearing a tiny pattering about eight o’clock, I got -up to peep and see my little pets. What was my astonishment and -distress to see Rufina’s little form dangling, stiff and cold, from the -platform against the sleeping-box. Above, there glared down upon me the -horror-struck face of Peter, with eyes starting out of his head, and -ears frantically bristling. Only for a second, for, catching sight of -me, he bolted precipitately. I opened the window, jumped on the sill, -and stretching up as far as I could, felt Rufina’s little body. It was -quite stiff and quite cold. Her head was caught and jammed between -the platform and the sleeping-box; there was the space of a couple of -inches or so between the two. It seemed an inexplicable thing that a -squirrel should get its head into an interstice from which it could not -withdraw it, or that, having got its whole head in, it should not have -been able to draw its shoulders after it. - -I think and hope that in her struggles she may have broken her neck -at once; she had no purchase below with which to help herself. The -accident could never have happened in the daylight. I was convinced, -upon reflection, that my opening the casement overnight had startled -her into jumping out of the serge bag, and that she had blindly made -for the hole in the sleeping-box some three feet above. She must have -missed the perch from which she always scrambled upon the platform, and -from thence to the nest. - -This nesting-box and platform had been in the same relative positions -for a year and a half. No other squirrel had jammed its head in between -them; nor would Rufina have made the mistake had she not been in the -dark, and blind and stupid with sleep. - -[Illustration] - -These conclusions came to me afterwards. For the moment I extricated -the little body with difficulty from the death-trap, and tried for -nearly an hour to bring back life. So amazed and puzzled was I at -first that I could not believe she had hanged herself. I thought she -was merely frozen; for it had been a bitterly cold night, with ice -everywhere. I brought her to my fire, and strove by moving her little -arms backwards and forwards to bring breath back into the lungs. I -chafed her tiny close-shut claws; I held her by the fire, and rubbed -her beautiful little body. She was in such perfect condition, and so -exquisitely clean and sweet! - -When all hope was abandoned, I laid her gently on the floor of the -cage to see what Peter would do, and whether he would show any sign of -grief. At sight of me at the window he fled, wildly jibbering, stamping -his feet, and screaming. Here was fresh lead on my heart. It was bad -enough to lose Rufina, but that Peter should look upon me as her -murderer was the sharpest cut of all! - -[Illustration] - -He was angry and horror-struck, but by no means grief-stricken, -however, for a few minutes later I heard him cracking nuts, busy over -his breakfast. - -[Illustration] - -To most of us when a tragedy like this happens, the feeling is “to have -no more pets.” But Rufina had never been what Bunty was. She had never -sat on my hand, or played with me, or come at my call, or nipped my -fingers to make me quicker. She had not won her way into my heart as -that first little Surrey squirrel had done. She had, it is true, just -begun to come into my room and eat fearlessly, and I had had great -hopes of winning her confidence as spring came on. But this hope was -now shattered. - -It was dismal to have nothing to play with. Peter continued so angry -that he would not let me see him. Moreover, my plan of a mate of his -own nationality for Fritz was frustrated. I had resolved to let Rufina -loose with him in the wood when March arrived, and here was the blunt -and miserable end to all my hopes of little ones. - -[Illustration] - -A week or so afterwards, therefore, found me inquiring of Messrs. Devon -and Co. if haply they could find me another German female squirrel, -warranted young and healthy. - - * * * * * - -In a few days Ruby arrived. We had missed meeting her at the station, -and the little package came by the midday delivery van. - -I expected Peter to be much annoyed by the advent of this new -trespasser in his domain. He had never for two minutes been on friendly -terms with Rufina. In fact, to judge from squirrel signs and tokens, -he hated her; but the same day that Ruby arrived, we found the two -amicably cracking nuts together. - -[Illustration] - -The newcomer was very red, as Rufina had been when she first came -in October. I was a little surprised at this, for it was now -winter--January 1914--and Rufina’s coat had long since taken on a -lovely pearly gray which, with the undergrowth of red and an autumn -tail, gave her quite a distinguished air. - -Ruby was a dear little kittenish creature, very fond of play. She was -dreadfully afraid of me at first, and much too suspicious to venture -inside my room. The sight of me at the window sent her flying into the -safe shelter of the sleeping-box, and once there she would, like all -the others of her sex, swear at Peter, and dig her little claws into -his nose if he tried to get in too. After a week or so, however, he was -allowed to get in at the back entrance, and though there were always -some expostulations, he was not turned out. - -She would come into the room when I was not there, and eat her fill of -nuts on the inverted lid of the clothes-basket. The weather was quite -mild just then, and she seemed to like her quarters better than any of -the former new arrivals had done. - -[Illustration] - -She had a dear little face, a lovely red coat, and a beautiful plumy -tail. She kept herself exquisitely clean, and spent a good deal of time -over her toilet. Naturally, it being the depth of winter, she spent a -great many hours asleep. - -[Illustration] - -It is evident that caged squirrels sleep a great deal more, especially -in winter, than when they are at large in the woods. Fritz was -constantly to be seen, at least twice a day for a couple of hours at -a time, bounding about the trees. And I used to notice the wild ones, -the year before, very active even in the snow. A biting east wind would -keep them snug in their nests, or a cold pitiless rain continuing all -day. Otherwise they were nearly as active in winter as in summer, -with this great difference, that whereas in summer 4 a.m. would find -them at my window, their morning toilet finished and their appetites -keen, in winter they did not appear at all till between eight and nine -o’clock, and by 3 p.m. they had curled themselves up for the night. In -the summer, I have heard them cracking nuts at 8 p.m. I think they all -sleep from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., winter or summer. - -[Illustration] - -I often came upon Fritz having forty winks, on a comfortable branch -sheltered from the wind, in the daytime. Squirrels’ claws are so strong -and flexible, and cling so firmly, that there is no danger of their -falling from any perch, awake or asleep. - -[Illustration] - -It was very interesting and amusing to watch Ruby as she became more -and more used to seeing me about. I would open the casement into the -squirrel cage, and go back to bed and watch. This cage was built on -to the wall outside my window; it was five or six feet high, and -about three feet broad, with a good wooden floor, and what made it -delightfully home-like for squirrels was that an evergreen shrub grew -inside against the wall right up to the eaves. Ruby would clamber -down the central pole, which, with perches nailed upon it, made a -capital substitute for a tree trunk, and would come peeping round the -casement, to look for nuts which would be on a chair, or on the tall -clothes-basket near by. Her little pointed ears, with their pretty -tufts, would be sharply cocked, her whiskers quivering nervously, and -her tail erect but turned back at the tip in the form of a query. Then -as I made no sign of movement she would gain confidence, and venture -farther in. When she got a nut and sat up to eat it, breaking the shell -so cleverly in two halves, and keeping one half in her paws as a little -cup, while nibbling it her ears would come close together, and her -tail would curl comfortably right over her dainty little head. She was -a charming picture as she sat up, showing her snow-white waistcoat, -holding her food between her wee thumbs, her little jaws going like -lightning, her brilliant eyes keeping a sharp lookout towards my part -of the room--ready to vanish in a second should I dare to move. - -[Illustration] - -And then would come another nervous and anxious little face; this was -Peter, hoping that there would be something left for him. But Ruby -would scold and grumble; and he, silently withdrawing, would wait till -her ladyship had finished. - -[Illustration] - - - - -PART II. THE TRAGEDY. - - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - -THE TRAGEDY. - -We had a very cold snap the last fortnight in January. Morning after -morning the water, and also the milk, in the squirrel-house were frozen -into solid blocks of ice. I did not worry. I thought squirrels were -such hardy little animals. The year before, Bunty and Fritz had lived -happily through the same conditions, and been healthy and well all -the time. I did not take into account that both these squirrels, being -so tame and confiding, were never afraid to come inside the room, and -often spent the coldest nights sleeping together in the serge bag -hanging behind the curtains. This must have kept them very warm all -night. Peter and Ruby were, on the contrary, so wild and timid that -nothing would induce them to remain long in my room. - -[Illustration] - -Little Peter, it is true, did often slip into the serge bag in the -daytime; but the maid, drawing the curtains at night, annoyed and -startled him, and he generally bolted for the cage. - -I consoled myself with the thought that he and Ruby would keep quite -warm cuddled up together in the sleeping-box. And besides, was not -Fritz exceedingly well and lively all the time out of doors? - -[Illustration: I saw them huddled together on the floor of the cage. -_See page 54._] - -Poor little things! I don’t think they did sleep together. The box -was partitioned inside, and I think each kept entirely to its own -compartment; and Peter, being the male, would come off worst as to -nesting material. - -[Illustration] - -I noticed that he was not well on the 25th January. The entry in my -diary is: “Peter looks miserable, eats scarcely anything, and sleeps -twenty-three hours and three-quarters out of the twenty-four.” - -If then I had only known! If I had kept him inside my room, furnished -the serge bag with heaps of cotton wool, and never let him spend the -night in the outside cage, I should in all probability have saved his -little life. - -It never entered my head at this time that he had got a chill. I -thought he was “out of sorts” with the approach of spring. I remembered -that Bunty had seemed seedy early in February the year before, and -that with complete change of diet she had quickly recovered. I -remembered that I had given her meal-worms, which she ate greedily from -my hand. - -“Finger-sauce” always tempted her, whereas my poor, wild little Peter -would never come near me. He would feed while I was in the room, but if -I stirred so much as a hand would be off as fast as he could go. This -was most disheartening after nine months’ captivity, and after having -reared him from babyhood. There was something inherently untamable in -him, and though I longed inexpressibly to mother and warm and coax him, -I was powerless to make him better. His weakness increased, he became -cruelly emaciated, and I was compelled to watch day by day the advance -of a mortal illness. - -He would never eat from my hand, and though I put meal-worms into his -food dish, he would not touch them. Sunflower seeds at this time were -almost the only things he would eat, and but few of them. I was afraid -that an exclusive diet of them was bad for his liver, and therefore -gave them but sparingly. Poor little fellow! had I only known it, they -were the best food for him, being most nutritious. - -His fur was staring, and he never seemed to have strength enough to -clean himself. All his little lickings and bitings and scratchings -ceased. As the days passed he became more and more feeble. I only -saw him for five or ten minutes in the twenty-four hours. He became -painfully thin; his lustrous eyes were dim and apparently sunk in their -sockets, instead of bulging out as all squirrels’ eyes do. - -[Illustration] - -What vexed me was my powerlessness, and his pitiful shrinking from me. -When I tried to coax him with endearing words, and food in my hand, -he would feebly scramble away from me and cease eating altogether. -“Why, oh, why!” I asked myself bitterly, “did I ever have squirrels in -confinement?” - -Fritz was perfectly well and strong out in the open, bounding about -from tree to tree, and voraciously hungry whenever he visited the stump -or the nut traps. - -Still I never guessed that Peter was suffering from a chill. -“Squirrels,” I read in a natural history book--no natural history books -tell one much about them--“squirrels invariably die of one thing, and -that is inflammation of the lungs; and nothing can cure them--they die -in a very few days.” - -It did not seem to me possible that Peter had inflammation of the -lungs. There was no cough, no running at the nose--just emaciation and -feebleness and loss of appetite. I gave him milk with sugar in it every -day. He took a few tiny laps of it, and I thought it must be nourishing -and helpful. I learnt afterwards that milk was one of the worst things -to give. The books said that squirrels died of lung trouble “in a very -few days.” Peter was ill more than four weeks. Soon he became too -feeble to crack his nuts, so I cracked them for him; and he would eat -perhaps one and a half during the five or ten minutes he was out of the -sleeping-box in the mornings. - -It was melancholy to see the effort it was to the poor little creature -to climb back to his nest. He had to wait for breath and for strength -four or five times before he finally disappeared. - -[Illustration] - -By the 14th February Ruby, who had hitherto kept well and sprightly, -though she also slept twenty-three hours and a half out of the -twenty-four--unlike Fritz, who was to be seen several times a day in -the coldest weather--Ruby, to my great grief, began to exhibit the -same signs of illness as poor little Peter had shown. Her coat became -rough and staring, her eyes sunken and dull, and her appetite nil. -She grew as emaciated as he, and as painfully feeble. Morning after -morning it was more and more difficult to her to clamber down from her -sleeping-box, and worse to clamber up again. She, too, lost strength -even to crack her nuts. In vain I bought grapes and every dainty I -could think of. - -[Illustration] - -It was too pitiful to see them. Squirrels, as a rule, will rarely or -never eat together--as one springs up another springs down. If these -two happened to be feeding at the same hour, it was always in different -parts of the cage or of my room. There seems a sort of etiquette about -this, and it is never transgressed. But the day before my little -squirrels died, I saw them both huddled together on the floor of the -cage. Peter’s little fore paw was over Ruby’s neck, and their piteous -helplessness and feebleness were very touching. - -It may be asked, why did I not take them into the warmth of my room -when I first noticed something amiss? But I was afraid of adding to -their distress--I was so firmly convinced that animals prefer to be -let alone when they are out of sorts, and that nature cures in her own -way with plenty of sleep. The nesting-box was six or seven feet from -the floor of the cage and difficult to get at, through perches and the -branches of the shrub that grew up inside against the wall. I ought to -have unhooked the box and brought the squirrels inside altogether long -ago, when day after day there was a black frost and a bitter biting -north-east wind. - -I believe now, looking back, that if I had done this I should not have -lost them; but they were so nervous and shy, I was afraid of worrying -and distressing them by changing their quarters. - -Unfortunately, the wall of my pets’ cage faced north. The winter -sunshine used to shine for an hour or so a day upon the top of the -climbing pole, and in health this sunny perch used to be a favourite -place with them. But when they were ill they never attempted to climb -as high. Having quenched their thirst, and nibbled an atom of food, -they struggled painfully to regain their box, and hid away for the rest -of the day. - -[Illustration] - -I felt it cruel to disturb them--“Sick animals curl themselves up -and sleep alone in the dark,” thought I, “and they will be best left -unmolested.” Besides, as I have said before, Bunty and Fritz had lived -all through last winter in the same place, and I did not imagine that -it could be the cold that was killing these two, more especially as the -cold snap was all over--February came in mildly. Fritz used to come -bouncing in to pay me a visit in the highest health and spirits, and in -the garden squirrel-house was there not the future Mrs. Fritz extremely -lively? They had managed to keep themselves well in spite of black -frosts and biting winds. - -[Illustration] - -Anything more different than a sick squirrel from a healthy one cannot -be conceived. The eyes, instead of protruding like carriage lamps, -become flattened and then sunk in, giving the impression of blindness. -The whole expression of the face becomes altered from mischievous -sprightliness, an intense vivacity, to a miserable, dumb suffering. The -tail is never curled over the back, but hangs down dejectedly; the ears -are far apart; and the movements, instead of being electric springs -and jerks, are mere crawlings, and are evidently made with great -difficulty, exhausting the poor little creature very much. - -I have watched Ruby, consumed with thirst, peer over from the edge of -her box, and let herself go with a feeble bundling sort of slither -down the pole always used for ascents and descents. She would leap -feebly, with pauses for breath between; and then, to watch her climb -up again used to break my heart. It was only too evident that she found -it a most exhausting performance. She would cling weakly, and wait -for breath and strength to crawl up a few steps; then wait again, and -finally hoist herself the few inches on to her box with panting effort. - -[Illustration] - -To see animals suffer like this, and to be powerless to help, throws -a black cloud over life for the time being. I longed for my pets to -die, and wondered if I could chloroform them. Every morning on waking I -hoped to find them gone. - -The end came on the last day of February, about five weeks after I had -first noticed that Peter was not quite himself, and a little over a -fortnight since Ruby had begun to droop. - -[Illustration] - -And here let me say, in parenthesis, that I had written to the -authorities at the Zoo for advice. The reply I received was kind -and courteous; but said that probably my pets were suffering from -consumption, and that nothing could be done. Perhaps I might try -a little Benger’s food. Now with all due deference to the larger -experience and knowledge of the Zoological Society, if I had known how -important it is to keep little mammals warm enough in their sleeping -quarters in cold weather, and if I had taken mine in at the very first -signs of illness and kept them in a warm place like the conservatory, I -cannot help thinking that I should have saved them. - -[Illustration] - -I think it is commonly supposed that nothing can be done for sick -squirrels because the first incipient signs of illness _are not noticed -and dealt with in time_. - -On the morning of the day they died neither of them came out of the -sleeping-box at all. So after a while, with a good deal of difficulty, -I unhooked the box from the wall, and brought it inside. When I opened -the lid and looked in, each little animal was crouching in its separate -compartment hiding its little face in the darkest corner. - -Ruby was too far gone to resist when I picked her up and slipped her -inside a warm flannel cosy, with a hot water-bag under it. - -When I turned my attention to Peter, he suddenly leapt out and flew -round the room in an agony of terror. He scrambled somehow up the -_portière_ over the door, where he used to go to hide long ago in his -babyhood, and then fell with a scream. He would not let me pick him up, -but pantingly struggled out of my reach. After a time the poor little -thing somehow found his way to the old serge bag behind the curtain. - -I tried to feed Ruby with warm sweetened milk, but scarcely a drop went -down. Her little body was just skin and bone. She feebly snuggled away -into the farthest corner of the cosy. - -[Illustration] - -And so the miserable day dragged on. Towards evening I thought I -must try to get some food down Peter’s throat, for his strength in -scrambling round the room had amazed me, and I did not despair of -somehow pulling him round yet. He seemed sound asleep in the serge bag, -so I lifted him down very gently, and sitting on the floor with the bag -in my lap, I attempted to get a teaspoonful of milk near his little -nose. But the moment I touched him he _screamed_ and sprang out, biting -my finger with extraordinary strength as I tried to stop him. - -[Illustration] - -To my horror, he tore up the window curtain with amazing rapidity and -attempted to run along the pole, a thing he had not done for many -weeks. But his strength gave out, he lost his footing, clung on upside -down for a miserable second, then _fell_ with a scream upon the hard -wooden floor. With a look at me I shall never forget, he dragged -himself (for his hindquarters were now paralyzed) behind the chest of -drawers. - -I moved the piece of furniture and got him to drag himself out, and -with a supreme effort to scramble into his box, which was on a chair -close by. When I lifted the lid, a minute or two later, he was dead. -He was curled up, with a queer little smile upon his face, as if -triumphant that he had defied me to the last, and I--I could only be -thankful that his sufferings and his terror were ended. - -Ruby’s eyes were glazing when I looked at her a little later, and she -died quietly half an hour after Peter had breathed his last. - -I sent their two little bodies to be post-mortemed to a veterinary -college in North London, kindly recommended by the Zoo people. The -verdict was that Peter had died of acute congestion of the lungs, and -Ruby of pneumonia, complicated by nephritis of some standing. - -[Illustration] - -People who love animals do not need to be told how remorse and grief -poisoned my days for some time. - -Why had I, in my stupid human misunderstanding, sacrificed these little -lives?--changed the existence of these blithe, merry little creatures -into dumb, lengthened suffering? - -I was glad Peter had bitten me--I deserved it--and I hope it was some -satisfaction to him to do it. - -[Illustration: Laurence hid himself in the twinkling of an eye. _See -page 75._] - - - - -PART III. FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS. - - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - -FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS. - -It will be remembered that I had obtained another squirrel as a mate -for Laurence when he should leave London and come to Hook Heath and -freedom. This little creature had arrived on the thirteenth of January; -had been kept in the conservatory while the bitter weather lasted; and -had been put into the garden squirrel-house on the twenty-eighth of -the month. I called her Sulky at first, for she remained so implacably -invisible; and, though food disappeared, I never caught a glimpse of -her for a fortnight. She was, as I have said, intended to be a mate for -Laurence; but after Ruby’s death I felt she must be given to Fritz, -and I must get another little lady for Laurence. So, the day after my -little pets died, I opened the door of the squirrel-house, and let the -captive free to go where she would. - -[Illustration] - -I had reason to believe, however, that for a week she sneaked back to -the squirrel-house every night to sleep; for nuts put in overnight were -gone before 7 a.m., and one morning I saw her slipping down from the -sleeping-box to make her breakfast. - -I watched her afterwards get out and run along the fence, and then -think better of it, and come back and climb up to have another nap. - -By midday, however, she was gone, nor did I see her again for more than -a fortnight. We had some very stormy weather, with high gales and snow -squalls, and I began to fear that she had got a chill and would die of -pneumonia, like poor little Rufina. - -How should we ever know? She would creep into one of the deserted nests -in the wood, and there gasp out her little life as the two others had -done. - -The only thing that gave me hope that she was alive and well, though -unseen, was Fritz’s cheerful behaviour, and the fact of his still -remaining in the wood and garden. For it was springtime, and surely, if -there had not been some attraction here, he would have been off to the -plantations across the heath, where there were plenty of little ladies -to be courted. His demeanour when he paid visits to my room--which he -did every day--was suggestive of happiness and of amorous thoughts. -He would cock his tail roguishly, and skip about and run up the -curtains--plainly “showing off.” - -[Illustration] - -I therefore hoped that, though I could not see her, he was aware of -Sulky’s presence, and was hugging to himself hopes of domestic bliss. - -And, sure enough, one bright morning I peeped out at 6 a.m., to see -Fritz tearing across the lawn, as fast as his little legs could carry -him, towards the stump, where Sulky was boldly cracking nuts, looking -exceedingly well and pretty. I saw her lift the cocoanut shell with her -little fore paws from off the cob nuts, and she tucked in an excellent -breakfast. Fritz, being the gentleman he always was, would not disturb -her, but came up the ivy to me, where his antics betokened great -happiness. - -From that day the name of Sulky was dropped, and became “Mrs. Fritz.” - - * * * * * - -By the 17th March Miss Appleton required Laurence Housman no longer as -a model, so she brought him down to me at Hook Heath. - -[Illustration] - -She had secured his sleeping-box (while he was curled up in it for a -nap), wrapped it in thick brown paper, wired it across the holes, and -held it in her lap all the time in tubes and train. - -“I suppose he is here, and I suppose he is alive,” she said when she -arrived; “but I have not heard the ghost of a sound, nor felt the -faintest wriggle in the box. I hope he has not died of fright!” - -We put the package down for a moment upon the sofa, when, to our -amusement and relief, there immediately came forth squeaks and grunts -of expostulation. - -“Poor little fellow! how cramped he must be,” we exclaimed; and -proceeded forthwith to place him, box and all, within the spacious -squirrel-house in the garden. This was safely accomplished by Smithers, -good man--as kind and interested in my pets as ever. - -[Illustration] - -In this abode Laurence remained till the 2nd May, when I set him free -altogether. But before giving him his liberty I had to get a mate for -him, so that there should be no excuse for fights with the masterful -Fritz. As Messrs. Devon and Co. took some time before they found what I -wanted (for she had to be a German, young, and healthy), Laurence had -to remain solitary for a month. - -March 1914 was a dreadful month of gales, rain, and snow squalls; but -with the first days of April came spring-like warmth and brilliant -sunshine, and the wild squirrels visited the garden again. - -One morning the dear little thing, whom I used to call Miss Fritz in -the summer of 1913, came dancing and skipping along the fence rails, -and I watched her at 6 a.m. from my bedroom window. She climbed the -big lime tree to have a look at the little shelf outside my casement, -where, as she well remembered, nuts were spread galore in the days of -her childhood last year. Yes! there they were, and down she ran and -made a dash for the wall and the sheltering ivy. Up she scrambled, -and in another moment was perched on the extreme corner of the ledge, -with her beautiful tail cocked over her back, and an almond clutched -in her little claws. She let me stand quite close, not a foot away, -with the window wide open; and oh! how pretty and small and dainty she -looked to my eyes, accustomed for so many months to the coarser build -and shaggier fur of the Germans. Her little face was so appealing and -baby-like, her nut-coloured fur so soft, and her tail so fluffy! - -[Illustration] - -She knew me again quite well; looked at me with recognition in her -brilliant black eyes; and presently, dropping the empty shell of her -almond, she came hesitatingly to the inside ledge of the window, -stretching out her nose to sniff at me--to make quite sure that I was -in very truth her old friend; and, having satisfied her little mind, -she picked up a walnut and concentrated her attention upon it. I -stood beside her there for ten minutes, till she had finished all the -provender except one cob nut, which she carefully hid in the ivy. Then -she raced down to coquette with poor Laurence, who in his garden-cage -was doing his wild best to excite her attention. Round and round the -wire she darted, sniffing nose to nose with him and “twizzling” her -plumy tail. Every now and then I heard squeaks and exclamations. Then -they started a sort of hide-and-seek, she outside, he inside. I felt -very sorry for him, and longed to let him out; but his peace, let alone -his life, would not have been worth a moment’s purchase with Fritz in -the wood. - -Two days before this, Laurence had got out. The little door of his -house, though shut, had not been bolted, and with a sudden burst of -summer-like sunshine and high wind the rain-swollen wood had shrunk, -and was easily burst open when pressed by his eager paws. I did not see -him go. He must have skipped off very early indeed; but about 10 a.m. I -happened to be looking out of the window, and was suddenly aware of two -hurrying furry forms across the ground. Poor Laurence was tearing for -all he was worth towards the shelter of his lately forsaken house, and -Fritz was after him, with murder in his eyes. - -[Illustration] - -I clapped my hands and shouted, startling them both and diverting -Fritz’s attention. He sprang up a tree, and Laurence hid himself in -the twinkling of an eye. I saw Master Fritz watching intently for a -few moments, and wrathfully “twisting his tail” (as a young friend of -mine puts it). His rival remaining invisible, however, I soon saw him -skipping leisurely back along his tree footpath to Mrs. Fritz in the -wood. - -Half an hour later I perceived Laurence stealthily making his way along -the fence towards his house, where nuts were plentifully spread. (I -suspect he had not had much of a breakfast.) I fled downstairs and -out in time to see his tail drawn neatly through the open door, as he -seized a cob nut and sat up to enjoy it. He scarcely noticed me as I -bolted him in--only too thankful, I fancy, to find himself once more -where were plenty of nuts and no Fritz. - - * * * * * - -Towards the end of March--to be accurate, on the 22nd--I see in a -note in my squirrel diary that Laurence wakened and was busy over his -breakfast at 6 a.m., and that Fritz came along, and, perching on the -heather thatch of his house, swore fiercely at him, twisting his tail -with rage. He heeded not my call, nor the rattle of nuts on my window -sill; but burrowed his nose into the heather, in vain attempts to come -to close quarters with his enemy. Laurence swished his tail too, and -returned his compliments with interest; but, finding it impossible -to fight, he presently turned his back on Fritz and resumed his nut -cracking--with a lofty contempt for the other--and Fritz had to come up -to me to be fed and consoled. - -[Illustration] - -At last Laurence’s bride arrived, and as had happened before with the -various pairs under observation, she soon took the best of everything. -Laurence was turned out of his sleeping-box; she stole all his best -nuts; and invariably made him wait till she had finished her meals, -leaving only the refuse for him. - -She arrived on the seventeenth of April, and I opened the cage door -to set them both free after she had had a fortnight to get used -to the sight of the house and the human beings in the garden, and -to understand that food and water were always to be found in that -particular place. - -I also made a little hole in the thatched roof--as squirrels like to -have two entrances to their abodes--and Laurence immediately set out to -enjoy his liberty. I soon saw his little head emerging from the hole -at the top, and I watched his furtive joy as he capered about among -the foxgloves and periwinkles below, and finally was lost to my sight -clambering up a cherry tree. Mrs. Laurence, on the contrary, was quite -a week before she quitted the cage. She preferred to remain where food -was abundant, and where her comfortable sleeping-box kept her snug at -night. - -When at length she did venture forth with her husband into the unknown, -she still stole back for several nights to her safe shelter. But at -last, I suppose, they built between them a nest in the wood, for I -constantly saw Laurence very busily tearing strips of fibre from the -trees just then, and the cage was finally deserted. - - * * * * * - -Squirrels are very busy in the spring stripping bark for making new -nests, and in the summer this is sometimes carried on for remaking and -mending the old. - -They generally choose damp rainy days for doing this, when the material -they gather is full of moisture. Once, however, in a spell of prolonged -hot dry weather, I was much struck with a clever device on the part of -one of them, probably Fritz. - -I found one morning two little bundles of stripped fibre thrust into -the jar of drinking water inside the garden squirrel-house. (The -entrance to this was always left open, and the squirrels ran in and -out for food and water.) - -There was no mistaking these neat little bundles. I had too often -watched Bunty, Fritz, Rufina, and Co. not to know the look of them, -with the ends tucked in, in the form of a little bolster. I left the -packages there, grasping at once that the weather being so dry the -fibre had become too stiff and hard to be easily woven, hence the -bringing of these bundles to the water and leaving them to soak. They -remained there for two or three days, then one was carried off, and a -day or two later the second disappeared. - -[Illustration: She coquetted with the birds round the drinking pan. -_See page 83._] - -[Illustration] - -What made the performance more interesting was that this special fibre -was only obtained from one particular tree, a certain conifer which -grew on the other side of the garden. Fritz had been frequently seen in -the spring stripping the fibre from this half-dead tree, the only one -of its kind we had. In carrying his little bundles from it to where -he placed them to soak, he would pass two birds’ drinking pans full -of water; but they were in public places on the lawn, and constantly -bathed in by all sorts of birds. Fritz--if it was he, and I very much -suspect it was--preferred the comparative secrecy and seclusion of the -small water-jar in the squirrel-house in the back garden. His sagacity -was justified, for no one meddled with them till he considered them to -be sufficiently moistened for weaving purposes. - - * * * * * - -One hot afternoon under the weeping tree there was coolness and shade. -Half drowsily I was reading the Saturday _Westminster_, when I was -aware--I can’t say I heard it, for it was so slight--but I was aware -of a minute noise. It was not the fitful summer breeze swaying the -hanging branches of my sanctuary, nor the scratches of birds under -the rhododendrons in a vain quest for worms. I lifted my head very -cautiously, and twisted it slowly towards the rough stem of the -white-blossomed acacia, twenty feet away. Yes, up in a fork of the -branches was a bit of brown fur. Part of it seemed to be quivering -incessantly. The tiny noise I heard was the dropping of a nutshell on -the grass. The quivering I saw was a little jaw nibbling very fast. -Presently there was a flashing movement, and out into the sunshine -she came, a beautiful, brilliant foxy red, with a tail which put her -husband’s to shame, for this was Mrs. Fritz. - -[Illustration] - -With electric jerky motions she came down the tree stem and clawed -out another nut from the crevices, and swung head downward easily and -securely, her hind feet firmly clenching the deeply-grooved bark. Nut -after nut she searched out from where I had hidden them, and then, -catching sight of me, she swiftly and noiselessly put herself out of -sight. - -Presently, as I remained very still, she plucked up more courage and -skipped down to the grass. Here for some minutes she coquetted--there -is no other word for it--she coquetted with the birds round the -drinking pan. After many feints, advancing and retreating, she buried -her nose in the cool, sparkling water, and took a long, long drink. -Eyeing me through the veil of green which dropped round me, she -suddenly made up her frisky mind to dare all and come to the nut tray -close to my seat. - -She rushed towards me in a tremendous hurry as if afraid of changing -her mind again, her tail straight out behind her, and in two seconds -was within touching distance of my hand. I kept rigid, and watched out -of half-closed eyes. She stood up on her flexible hind feet and reached -out a quivering, sniffling little nose in my direction, trembling all -over with fear and curiosity. But as the dreaded human smell reached -her moist nostrils, she turned and darted like an arrow under the -shelter of a thick rhododendron. Here she hid, and I saw her bright -eyes peeping out at me behind the leaves. I still remained motionless, -and presently was aware of a noiseless furry form vanishing up the -holly tree which leans against some of the outer branches of the beech. - -The long hanging green around me shook a moment, and by that I knew -that she had jumped from the holly to the beech, and was somewhere -above my head. I moved imperceptibly so as to look upwards, and close -above me was a little white stomach with a fiery tail cocked over a -chestnut back. - -And now she began to scold and stamp her feet and lash her tail; but -seeing that I kept calm and moved not an eyelash, she made for the -nuts, and sat up within a yard of my chair cracking and devouring them -one by one. - -I was immensely pleased, as this was the first time since I let her go -three months ago that I had seen Mrs. Fritz so near. - - * * * * * - -There came a day at the end of June when Fritz brought a son and heir -to the nuts on the stump. The stump, I must explain, was near the -squirrel-house in the back garden, and was in full view of my window. -The youngster was a lovely colour, almost orange, with a smart bushy -tail. Fritz at this time was changing his tail, and was a lamentable -object in that respect--his spiny little appendix had hardly a hair on -it. I was amused at his elderly paterfamilias ways--“twizzling” his -bald tail in mock anger, and carefully hiding away several nuts for -future occasions. And this reminds me that I never saw him bury his -nuts as the Surrey squirrels did. He preferred to hide them in the -forks of the trees, or in the ivy, or in deserted birds’ nests. - -[Illustration] - -I have forgotten to say that when Laurence’s mate arrived in the -middle of April it was Smithers who received her, and put her into the -squirrel-house in the garden, for I was spending Easter amid the deep -green lanes of Devonshire. - -There, one hot spring morning, as I was lying on moss and whortleberry, -under the shoulder of Mutter’s Moor, I watched a wild squirrel running -up a larch. It was soon hidden from view in the tree’s delicate green -branches--and what is more exquisite than the earliest green of the -larch? I heard the delicious scrabble of little claws on the bark, -while about me droned the big bumble-bees and their quick-working -cousins of the hive, all intent on honey-getting. I was puzzled to know -where the honey was to be found, till I saw that the whortleberry was -full of innumerable tiny crimson bell-flowers. - -[Illustration] - -It was a wonderful Easter. After “the wettest March on record” April -came in hot and brilliant, with a steady east wind that dried up the -saturated ground. - -[Illustration] - -In every sheltered valley and “goyle” the trees rushed into leaf. The -birch shook out her fairy tassels, and larches lit up the hillsides -with their vivid green lace. Everywhere the busy birds flew in and out -of the hedges, intent on nest-making. The rooks cawed from morning to -night, the jackdaws “chucked,” and sea-gulls sailed aloft exchanging -their wild free calls in the blue. It was a joy to live. - - * * * * * - -Back in Surrey again after a cold spell--“the tail of winter in the -middle of May”--the icy wind dropped, and a still, hot day soothed our -ruffled nerves, and warmed our shivering bodies once more. Early one -morning wild Miss Tito paid me a second visit. She came to the bedroom -window, and allowed me to stand close beside her, while she cracked her -favourite Barcelona nuts. - -When her back was turned, and her eyes shielded by her lovely tail, I -gently unfastened the casement and very slowly pushed it out, holding -my breath and body very still, when she quickly jerked round to see -what was happening. I then backed quietly into the shadow of the room, -having placed more nuts on a chair. Presently, her nut finished, and no -more to be found under the inverted cocoanut in spite of her vigorous -nose-pushings, her wee intelligent face peeped inside the casement, two -little fore paws appeared, and then she jumped upon the chair to seize -a nut--skipping outside again to crack it. I crept back into bed, and -lay still. Then she came again, jumped down upon the blue carpet, and -executed a sort of _pas seul_--pitter-patter--and back. She had not -been inside my room since last September--eight months ago! - -Through the autumn and winter I had scarcely seen her, even in the -garden. With Tito and Tara I suppose she had been driven away by -the masterful Fritz. As mentioned already, in April she had once -reappeared, and had even clambered up the ivy to breakfast at the -old place. But this running about in my room to-day showed that she -had not forgotten the spring of 1913, when she was such a fearless -little visitor that I once caught her, and put her for ten days in the -squirrel-house, in a vain attempt to tame her altogether--an attempt -which, as I have explained in a former book, completely failed. - -To return, however, to this particular morning, she came in and out -several times till the nuts were finished, and then took a bit of brown -bread in her mouth, and hid it in the curtains before she finally -departed. Afterwards I saw her in the lime tree licking her little -paws, and cleaning her whiskers assiduously. - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - -“There’s a boy downstairs with some baby squirrels in his pocket, and -he says will you buy one, and he has sold the others already, and will -you tell him how to feed them?” - -This from an excited child who came bounding to my door, the morning -holidays began, and we were all going away from home. - -I went downstairs and found a bright-eyed, sturdy little chap of nine, -who held in his hand a tiny bit of fur, with a fuzzy turned-up tail, -and a pair of sharp tufted ears. Putting it on the kitchen table--where -it darted about in electric fashion, saved from falling off the edge -every minute by eager hands--the boy pulled another, and another, and -yet another out of his pockets, and then diving into a basket on the -floor, he produced three more. Seven furry infants! I gasped. The -heartlessness of it! What were the bereaved and distracted parents -doing? - -I questioned him wrathfully, as I dashed round the table, with others, -to prevent imminent catastrophes. The electric movements spread all -over the broad surface of the kitchen table. - -[Illustration] - -“Where did you get them?” - -“Out in the fir plantations on the heath, Miss. Oi cloimed up a tree -and put me ’and in the nestises. Oi let one fall, and ’e doid.” - -Some one brought warmed milk in a soup plate, and we placed the seven -wee things round it, dipping their noses in, as one does with kittens, -to make them lap. Three tackled the food at once; tiny pink tongues -shot out, tiny tails curled comfortably over backs. The others were -too feeble, and too young to understand; they were palpitating, and -fell over as fast as they were put upon their four legs. Poor little -innocents, taken away far too young from their mothers and their dark, -warm nests! I saw they would not live; already two were in convulsions. - -I was furious with the boy. But what was to be done? He had already -sold most of them for a shilling apiece, on condition he reared -them for the first week himself. He had heard that I knew all about -squirrels, and came to me for instructions about food. - -[Illustration] - -I warned him as emphatically as I knew how against overfeeding, and -pointed out the absolute necessity of plenty of sleep, warmth, and -_no_ handling. But what was the use? He had seven little brothers -and sisters at home. They all wanted to cuddle the squirrels; they -all wanted to feed them. Two died that evening, three followed their -example next day, and by the day after not one was left alive. - -It was impossible for me to have taken them myself. I was going a -long journey to friends--whom I love, but whose prime aversion is -pet animals! Our house was being shut up, and Smithers, with all his -kindness and patience, firmly declined a responsibility in my absence -that entailed getting up at 4 a.m. to give food, and that in any case -was by no means an easy task. Baby squirrels are notoriously difficult -to rear. - - * * * * * - -Later in the month found me once more established with books and work -in my old summer quarters under the weeping beech on the lawn. - -The beech had been, as usual, the last to come out; while larches, -limes, and chestnuts had flung open their treasures and burst into -spring loveliness almost before the middle of that wonderful April, -the beech, still shrinking and coy, had kept her little brown sheaths -wrapped tightly round her buds. But by the second week in May, after -“Winter’s tail” had fled, she hung out all her delicate green; and -her swaying tresses swept the turf around me, as I sat alone in the -sweetness and promise of yet another spring. - -[Illustration] - -Sparrows, thrushes, and robins were busy feeding young broods; -chaffinches and blue tits were still sitting on their eggs; the spotted -flycatchers had not yet arrived. Forget-me-nots, violas, and irises -made a sea of blue and purple, seen through the pendent branches of my -sanctuary. White broom leant over with its fairy flowerets, and back -amongst the evergreens glowed the crimson of early rhododendrons. - -Presently there was a scolding and chattering above my head, and I -looked up to see Fritz, who had, I suppose, come by his usual overland -route along the tree tops, and was minded to come down to the tray at -my elbow for nuts. He did not like the look of my rug and cushions, -and was apparently trying to stamp at and scold them out of his way. -Finding them immovable and harmless, however, he came leaping down for -almonds and walnuts, and as I talked to him his nervousness ceased, and -we were both happy. - -After he had gone came the conscientious robin, who just now was hard -at it feeding her newly-fledged young. I helped her, at intervals, -all day in the performance of this duty, with currants, oatmeal, and -cheese. Scarcely did she allow herself a morsel, so intent was she -upon the needs of her brood. As she waited expectantly for my dole -another robin flew down. They did not fight, so I presumed this was -a cock, and I watched his antics to attract her with considerable -amusement. - -[Illustration] - -First, he sang to her, a little low whispering song, swaying his head -and neck to and fro, in an extraordinary manner bowing and sidling. - -As, perfectly unconcerned, she continued assiduously picking up -invisible insects for her children, he changed his tactics, and, flying -to a branch above, he cocked up his tail, and trilled a loud jubilant -strain. Nothing moved by this exhibition, she simply ignored him, and -he flew away in disgust. - -[Illustration: Seven furry infants!... The heartlessness of it! _See -page 90._] - -I named him Robin Adair, because the garden was so dull when he was not -there, and he became eventually the most persistent little visitor. He -caused me to waste no end of time, for just as I had settled down -in the garden with writing or work, there he would be in an instant, -silently arriving out of nowhere. - -Perched upon the open lid of my dispatch case, he would eye me with a -determined expression there was no mistaking. It said plainly, “Where -are my worms? Here I sit till you produce them. Be quick, please; my -family is waiting.” And I would have to get up, and go inside and bring -out the tin which contained his meal-worms. This I would place on my -knee, and take up my pen again, meaning really to write. But his dainty -little flutterings, his wee spindly legs, his beautiful plumage, and -his dew-bright eye were invariably too fascinating and too distracting. -I would leave off my writing a hundred times, to admire him and talk -to him. He was a most devoted father. He plied to and from the nest -where his little ones were all day long, and when one remembers that -a bird’s day at this time of year begins at 4 a.m., and lasts till 5 -or 6 p.m., it will be admitted that this involves a tremendous amount -of energy. Very occasionally did Robin Adair give himself the treat -of swallowing one of the meal-worms which he was given. Sometimes -the delicious taste of the worm quite demoralized him, and he would -gulp down three or even four in succession. But to do him justice, -this happened but rarely. I found out where his nest was, and once I -commissioned some one else to dole out the worms, while I went behind -the shrubbery to watch the little hole, almost indistinguishable, on -the ground beneath the furze bushes in the field. He arrived with a fat -worm in his beak; but the expression in his black eyes the moment he -saw me so near his home was extremely angry. In a second he flew off -and hid. I waited and waited. Then _I_ hid, and peered through the -furze; but though he had hopped upon a twig nearer the nest, he spotted -me again instantly, and nothing would induce him to go in. He must have -warned his children, too, somehow, for though at other times I had seen -four little gaping mouths, all was silence and darkness now. - -[Illustration] - -His cleverness in carrying several worms at once was remarkable, as -each had to be killed before it was given to his babies. This entailed -a good deal of manipulation with his beak, biting and striking the -ground. I have constantly seen him doing this, and finally carrying -four worms in a row, to save the trouble of four journeys. - -He became absolutely fearless while the very dry weather of June -lasted, as all ordinary worms refused to come to the surface of the -earth; and he would have got none at all but for my tin box. Not only -would he perch on my shoe, or on the box in my lap, but I trained -him to peck them out of my hand. Currants dipped in oatmeal, cheese, -and gingerbread made pleasant changes of diet, and helped to save the -worms, or he would have carried off hundreds in the course of the day. - -[Illustration] - -He was always with me, appearing, as I have said, suddenly and swiftly -out of nowhere; in whatever part of the garden I placed my chair, there -close to me in half a second would be the dapper little creature, trim, -neat, and alert. He was never dishevelled like the sparrows, and when -in the late afternoon it would seem as if he must be exhausted, he -would go and take an energetic bath, and come and sit beside me to dry -his feathers. - - * * * * * - -Sometimes for days together the garden was forsaken by the squirrels; -but to make up for their absence, many little episodes of bird life -amused me as I sat out of doors in the sun and the wind. - -[Illustration] - -The tits were shameless thieves, and their ingenuity was surprising. -I have watched one of these tiny birds manipulating--if one can use -such a word in connection with a beak--a cocoanut shell, which had been -turned over upon some nuts on purpose to keep them from him. Cob nuts -or walnuts he could not tackle, but almonds were not safe from him, and -monkey nuts he was determined to have. I saw him mount the cocoanut -shell, and with his head on one side peer into the hole at the top. -Satisfied that the coveted food was beneath it, he began to try to lift -the heavy shell. With his little beak he pecked and pulled manfully at -the outside fibre. He could just raise the shell, but not high enough -to get what he wanted. - -After a good deal of exertion, which only shuffled it about on the -stump, he flew off for a minute’s rest and reflection. Then he tackled -it again, leaning down and pushing his beak sideways under the edge, -pecking valiantly, and every now and then mounting the nut to peer -through the hole to make sure that what he wanted was still there. - -[Illustration] - -The stump on which the shell was placed had a sloping surface, and to -prevent the squirrels’ food from rolling off, a ledge had been put on -two sides and across the bottom. Presently I was amazed to see that the -small bird had succeeded in wriggling and shuffling the cocoanut till -he had tilted it up upon this ledge. Out rolled the monkey nut from -beneath, and he flew away with it in triumph. I then heard a vigorous -knocking going on, a little way off, and saw him in a shrub banging the -nut against the trunk to break the pod. Having made an opening, he held -it firmly on a branch with one little claw, and feasted royally. This -exploit, from the time he first tackled the cocoanut till he got the -monkey nut out, took him just a quarter of an hour. - - * * * * * - -It was during this summer of 1914 that I saw, for the first time in my -life, a young cuckoo in a nest. - -[Illustration] - -Parting the furze bushes one day I came upon a linnet’s nest, -moss-built and tiny. There seemed to be a weird sort of an eye looking -over the top of it, and I touched the rim. To my amazement half a -foot of ruffled black and white shot up like a Jack-in-the-box, and -an orange-coloured maw and throat opened wide and hissed angrily. -It was quite formidable, and looked enormous compared with its wee -foster-parents, but I have no doubt they were immensely proud of it. We -had a tennis tournament that day, and I think about fifty young people -must have visited the furze bush. The excitement could not have been -very good for the poor creature. For the next two days he remained dull -and sleepy, and entirely declined to shoot himself up, or even to open -his lovely orange mouth. The third day found him flown. The little -mossy cup was empty-and time too, I should say; with such a swelling -bulk, I wonder the walls had not burst. - -I think we may disabuse our minds of the traditional belief in the -wickedness of the cuckoo _mère_, and of the supposed grief and distress -of the youngster’s foster-parents. It seems to me much more likely -that, instead of considering it a misfortune to find a cuckoo’s egg in -their nests, our British birds only hope for such luck, and swell with -pride as they rear a magnificent chick, under the delusion that it is -their own. - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - -One very hot morning in June I was the interested spectator of a -mother tit showing her offspring how to bathe. The family party were -unaware of my presence. There were five young hopefuls--all sons, I -should imagine, for they were bigger than their active little mother. -All had been born and reared in a “Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary” -nesting-box, on a holly tree close by. The mother’s darker, more -pronounced colouring, longer tail, and determined expression of -countenance betrayed her matronhood. The children were delicious balls -of pale green and gray, with tiny black markings, and their innocent -and timid little faces were fascinating as they clustered round the -large earthenware saucer, full of water, in which the mother was -splashing. - -[Illustration] - -Her energy was astounding. She flapped and ducked and soused herself -till she had not a dry feather, then flew out and told them to go in. -Not a bit of it! The little cowards hopped upon the saucer’s edge, -stooped till their beaks touched the water, then turned right about -face, and looked gravely at their claws. They flew or hopped across -the saucer many times, but had not courage to plunge in. Back flew the -mother, hustled them away, and launched herself once more. They watched -her, and then began to imitate her movements--in the grass! The lawn -just there was thickly covered with fallen blossoms from a white -acacia, as also was the water in the saucer. The babies ducked and -quivered their wings, and bent up and down, and quirked imaginary drops -of water over their little backs. Out flew the mother, and perched on -a foxglove stalk, and into the water went a siskin, and thoroughly -enjoyed himself--but not for long; back came the mother tit, routed -him, and called to her little ones not to be outdone by a siskin. She -ducked and splashed, and twinkled and sprinkled all over again, till -she was a drenched little object; but beyond crouching near her, so as -to catch some of her splashings on themselves, not one of her children -had nerve enough to take a bath that morning. The last that I saw of -them, they were all five crouching and busily imitating her movements -amongst the grass and acacia blossoms; their shrill little voices, -could I have understood them, were probably calling out: - -“We are trying, mother! we are indeed! Look at us! We’re doing just -what you do!” - - * * * * * - -On the tenth of June, to my joy, my pretty turtle-doves appeared again. -I called them my Bible doves-- - - _“As the wings of a dove covered with silver, - And her pinions with yellow gold.”_ - -For there is a silvery sheen about them, and a glint of gold in their -plumage. - -This was the third summer that they had come to the garden and nested -in the wood. Such delicate lovely creatures! They came to drink, and to -pick up the small corn which I scattered for them every day on the lawn. - -The lovely fawn colour of their breasts, melting into lavender on their -heads, the blue and black bars on their necks, their ruby eyes, and -dainty rose-coloured feet were a joy to behold--a feast of exquisite -colouring. - -[Illustration] - -They were very shy, and, on their first arrival, the sight or sound of -a human being made them instantly take fright; but as time went on they -became accustomed to me, and would, as long as I kept still, approach -quite close to my chair. - -Though I searched the wood many times I never could find their nest. It -was well hidden. - - * * * * * - -And now autumn is approaching, with its splendour of amber and gold, of -crimson and brown. There is great activity in the squirrel world. Young -and old are busy storing and burying nuts. - -Early in the dewy mornings they hie themselves to the hazel coppices, -to the lordly beeches, and later they will strip the walnuts. Active -little creatures, intent upon this their supreme instinct, I have known -a pair entirely clear away the beech-mast under the weeping tree on our -lawn on a September morning before breakfast--beech-mast which thickly -covered the ground the night before. - -Fritz and Laurence Housman, too, are now disporting the full glory -of their autumn tails. Mrs. Fritz and Mrs. Laurence are teaching the -little Fritzes and the little Laurences where and how to hide the -winter food. Soon they will be stripping the fibre from the old conifer -in the shrubbery, and mending up their snug little homes in the wood, -ready for the short days and the long cold nights. - -Good-bye, gay and care-free little friends! Good-bye! My way lies -south, by the sea, where no squirrels come. - -FINIS. - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN. - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - - * * * * * - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Based on research, this book was most likely published in 1915, but -possibly in 1916. - -The illustrator for this book was Honor C. Appleton. - -Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are -mentioned. - -Punctuation has been made consistent. - -Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's More About the Squirrels, by Eleanor Tyrrell - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS *** - -***** This file should be named 51031-0.txt or 51031-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/0/3/51031/ - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: More About the Squirrels - -Author: Eleanor Tyrrell - -Illustrator: Honor C. Appleton - -Release Date: January 25, 2016 [EBook #51031] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> -<img id="coverpage" src="images/i_cover.jpg" width="640" height="850" alt="" /> -</div> - -<div style="padding-top:4em"> -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>Some illustrations in the original publication are formatted in -a way that is not natural for a web browser or eReader. All the -illustrations are included here, but the format for some of these -differs from the original publication. This is discussed further in the -<a href="#TN_end">Additional Transcriber’s Notes</a> at the end.</p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> - -<p id="half-title">MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div id="Fig_4" class="figcenter" style="width: 464px;"> -<img src="images/i_005.jpg" width="464" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">The squirrel sprang here, there, and everywhere. <em><a href="#Ref_29">See page 29</a>.</em></p></div> -</div> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> - -<h1>MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS</h1> - - -<p class="center smallfont" style="margin-top:3em">BY</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="largefont">ELEANOR TYRRELL</span></p> - -<p class="center smallfont">AUTHOR OF<br /> -“HOW I TAMED THE WILD SQUIRRELS,” ETC.</p> - -<p class="center largefont" style="margin-top:3em">THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span><br /> -<span class="smallfont">LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK</span> -</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_007.jpg" width="400" height="406" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_008.jpg" width="600" height="239" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h2 class="no-break">CONTENTS.</h2> - -<div class="center"> -<table class="toc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr><td class="center" style="padding-top:1em">PART I.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle">MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="center" style="padding-top:0.5em">PART II.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle">THE TRAGEDY</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="center" style="padding-top:0.5em">PART III.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle">FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_010.jpg" width="600" height="206" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<h2 class="no-break">LIST OF COLOURED PLATES.</h2> - -<div class="center"> -<table class="toc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr><td class="toctitle">The squirrel sprang here, there, and everywhere</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_4"><em>Frontispiece</em></a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" style="padding-top:0.25em">The snow was falling so thickly I could scarcely see him</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_32">32</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" style="padding-top:0.25em">I saw them huddled together on the floor of the cage</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_48">48</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" style="padding-top:0.25em">Laurence hid himself in the twinkling of an eye</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_64">64</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" style="padding-top:0.25em">She coquetted with the birds round the drinking pan</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_80">80</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" style="padding-top:0.25em">Seven furry infants!... The heartlessness of it!</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_96">96</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_012.jpg" width="600" height="224" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<h2 class="no-break">FOREWORD.</h2> - - -<p>Amongst the many satisfactions of writing is -that of receiving letters of appreciation from -unknown friends. From all parts of the -United Kingdom, from Canada and from South -Africa, animal lovers have written to me expressing -their pleasure in reading “How I -Tamed the Wild Squirrels,” published in the -autumn of 1914 by Messrs. Nelson and Sons, -Ltd. The note most frequently struck is that -of gratitude for something to think about -that had lessened for a while the sadness and -depression caused by this terrible war.</p> - -<p>That many of these correspondents have -asked for more tidings of Fritz and his companions, -must be my excuse for putting forth -another book about them—again illustrated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -by Miss Appleton’s clever and delicate pen -and brush.</p> - -<p>Fritz has now enjoyed the liberty of the -garden for four years. His first wife deserted -him after the advent—from the country of the -Huns—of a fierce little red compatriot, who -would brook no rival. She and he have since -produced a most charming orange and gray -son, who happily shows all his father’s sweet -confidence and none of his mother’s truculence.</p> - -<p>Young Fritz is now a daily visitor to my -bedroom, and, to the joy of our young people, -sometimes finds his way to other parts of the -house.</p> - -<p>Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Housman are rarely -seen. Fritz, as the first-comer, has stood his -ground and chased them far. Occasionally in -bitter weather, or in early spring (when food -is most scarce), they will furtively creep back -to the old squirrel-house—the door of which -is always open—to steal the secreted nuts of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -the Fritz family. And, as proof of their domestic -felicity, comes sometimes a mysterious -and beautiful young black-tailed squirrel—a tail -orange-tipped, with delicate markings of gray.</p> - -<p>Is it possible that these two fiery-red beings -have produced a creature so unlike themselves? -I think it is. Red-haired human parents sometimes -have black-haired children, so why -should not squirrels?</p> - -<p>In Nature study one is always learning, refuting -former deductions and coming to conclusions -which, after more patient observation, -prove themselves false. Thus I recollect bemoaning -my little Fritz’s miserable and mangy -appearance in the month of July, after six -months of liberty. And I said in “How I -Tamed the Wild Squirrels” that I thought -these little animals, given proper food and -space for exercise, are happier and better off -in captivity than when running wild. I have -since learned that all male adult squirrels look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -miserable and mangy in July, because they are -then “changing their tails.”</p> - -<p>One hears people exclaim: “I have just -seen a dear little squirrel. It must be quite -a baby, for it had no hair on its tail.” Young -squirrels in July, and long before, are very -fully furred, and have delightful tails. It is -their fathers who are going about thus dilapidated. -The mothers change a little later in -the year.</p> - -<p>But space forbids more on this fascinating -subject. My thanks are due to Messrs. Nelson -for turning out both books so attractively, and -at a price so moderate. And especially are -they due to Miss Appleton for her careful and -charming illustrations.</p> - -<p>Go forth then, little book, with my love to -all squirrel lovers young and old.</p> - -<p class="marginrightindent">ELEANOR TYRRELL.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">St. Katherine’s, Hook Heath,<br /> -<span style="padding-left:2em">Above Woking.</span></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>PART I.<br /> -MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS.</h2> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 504px;"> -<img src="images/i_017.jpg" width="504" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">St Katherine’s. Hook Heath.</p></div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_018.jpg" width="600" height="297" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="parttitle no-break">MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS.</p> - -<p class="dropcap">As I am often asked about the little beasts -whose adventures were set forth in -“How I Tamed the Wild Squirrels,” -perhaps a further account of my furry friends -will not come amiss.</p> - -<p>I no longer keep any of them confined. -After the death of three in the winter of 1914, -I resolved that, dear and fascinating as they -were as little companions in my room, I would -never have them caged and in artificial conditions -again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> - -<p>There are two pairs of Germans loose in -our little wood—Mr. and Mrs. Fritz and Mr. -and Mrs. Laurence; while the wild Surrey -ones, the little natives, come to the garden -from the firs on the railway cutting.</p> - -<p>There is no doubt that Fritz, the German, -with his superior strength and masterfulness, -drove away that first little colony which I had -tamed so wonderfully. Toto had met a tragic -death, killed by a marauding cat. Tito and -Tara and the dainty little thing I used to call -Miss Fritz after a time took up their quarters -elsewhere. I have since come to the conclusion -that Miss Fritz was not Miss Fritz—more -probably Miss Tito. As she grew to -maturity she proved herself entirely a Surrey -squirrel. There was no tint of orange or gray -about her, and she remained when full-grown -as small and dainty as the rest, showing not a -sign of the German larger, coarser breed.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_019.jpg" width="400" height="256" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Besides, had Fritz been her father, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -would not have disappeared from the wood. -Young squirrels remain with their parents, I -am told, for a year. Fritz had been assiduous -in his attentions to a very charming squirrel -with a lovely tail, whom for some time I had -called Mrs. Fritz, but she too vanished in September -1913 and left him master of the wood.</p> - -<p>He became very lonely. It was poor fun -to be cock of the walk when there was none -to dispute his sway. Consequently, during the -autumn, he took to visiting Wych Hill, Hurstgate, -and Allen House, where the owners, also -admirers of squirrels, were in the habit of -hanging out cocoanuts and other dainties to -attract them.</p> - -<div id="Ref_19" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_020.jpg" width="600" height="396" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>It has always been a mystery to me how he -contrived to get to these plantations across the -heath without being seen. To reach them he -had to cross two wide public roads bristling -with motor cars, bicycles, errand boys, and -dogs. Besides crossing these dangerous zones,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -he must (unless he went a circuitous route by -fir trees, quite a mile round) have traversed an -open gorsy heath. Had he his little runs, -I wondered, as rabbits have? And how -dangerous, with watchful cats and lynx-eyed -terriers about! As long as he could keep to -the trees he was safe from the latter, but there -was no consecutive belt of trees from our place -to those I have mentioned. That he arrived -there, there was no doubt, for I sometimes -found him there myself, and he would come -running down the pine trees at my call. -Neighbours told me of his fugitive appearances -in their gardens: “A large, red squirrel, -very strong and active.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_022.jpg" width="600" height="454" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Occasionally he stayed away from us altogether -for a week or ten days. Sometimes -the food which was placed for him would -not be touched, at others it disappeared at -midday, showing that he had slept away and -come over for it somewhere between eleven<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -and twelve o’clock. When a longer time than -usual elapsed without a trace of him in wood -or garden, I was perfectly miserable, thinking -that the dear, bright-eyed, clever little thing -had at last fallen a victim to boys or dogs. -And then the joy of his reappearance at my -window, as intimate and cocky as ever!</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;"> -<img src="images/i_023.jpg" width="150" height="318" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I remember one morning in particular, a -soft, sunny, spring-like day in winter, I came -into my room to find him, after an absence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -more than a fortnight, very hungry and very -pleased with himself. He cocked his tail on -one side with a rakish air, and pranced over -the carpet and up the curtains, in the way he -used to do when courting Bunty a year ago, -and showed, with all his little squirrel nature, -his affection and pleasure at our meeting -again. I stuffed him with every dainty I had -till he could eat no more, and insisted on -hiding the rest in the ivy on the wall, where, -as I knew, mice would steal it when night -came.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Meantime Peter and Rufina lived in the big -cage on the wall outside my other window.</p> - -<p>They never became friends. As I have -said in my former book, by the time the -latter had been a fortnight in the cage she was -completely mistress of the situation. She -appropriated Peter’s sleeping-box, she stole all -his best nuts, and should he dare to approach<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -her while she was eating, she routed him -fiercely. He was thankful when the short -winter day was over, and he could sneak -behind the curtains in my room and snuggle -into his blue serge sleeping-bag, remaining -there till next morning.</p> - -<p>I must explain that Peter was a little -English squirrel, whom I had reared from -babyhood. He was now about nine months -old. Rufina was a lady, German, bought -from Devon and Co. at Bethnal Green. At -this time I had had her barely three months.</p> - -<p>Squirrels hate a high wind. The noise in -the trees makes it difficult, I suppose, to hear -enemies about. Also perhaps they fear to -lose their hold of the tossing branches. Be it -as it may, I was always certain that in a gale -not a glimpse of a squirrel would be obtained -all day. Torrents of rain, too, will deter them -from scampering about; their tails get bedraggled -and heavy and upset their balance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -I have known Fritz come in the rain, but it -generally meant that the weather was going to -clear. I have seen him out in a wild snow -squall. He spent a quarter of an hour once -on the roof of the garden squirrel-house trying -to scratch his way in through the heather -thatch where a rival lived, while <a id="Ref_24"></a>the snow -was falling so thickly I could scarcely see him.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_024.jpg" width="600" height="505" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Young squirrels are very playful, and I -think they amuse themselves with toys.</p> - -<p>I shall never forget my astonishment at one -of Rufina’s achievements. There had been an -empty mouse-trap in my room for some weeks. -It was five or six inches long and two or three -inches deep, made of wood, with a wire top. -It was not baited, and I had carefully unset it -in case Peter or Rufina playing about the room -should put their noses inside and get nipped by -the spring. The father of a mouse family had -once been caught in it, and I had had some -very miserable moments; but that is another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -story. Ever since that tragic night his widow -and children had carefully avoided it. Still, it -lay under a cupboard, forgotten. One day I -was surprised to see it on the floor of the -squirrel-house. I wondered if the housemaid -had thrown it out, meaning to take it away, -and had forgotten it. The evening, however, -was closing in, and I left it alone, intending to -remove it next day. Early the following -morning I was awakened by extraordinary -sounds in the cage, a bumping and a scrabbling -quite unaccountable, punctuated every now -and then by the fall of something on the floor. -When I got up to look, I saw Rufina in the -act of climbing up the wire netting <em>with the -trap in her mouth</em>.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_026.jpg" width="600" height="182" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> - -<p>I watched her. She gave me a backward -glance, as much as to say, “Don’t <em>you</em> interfere,” -and recommenced her haulings and -tuggings. She dragged the thing some four -feet up, and then along a wooden bar till she -got below the little platform outside the sleeping-box. -Then she made a spring, but lost -her hold of the trap, and down it came clattering -to the floor. What could she want it -for? It was no good as a receptacle for storing -nuts, as the spring door was closed, and the -wires were too closely set for it to be possible -to push anything through them. I came to -the conclusion that she meant to place it somewhere -as a barrier to circumvent Peter.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;"> -<img src="images/i_027.jpg" width="150" height="376" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>The whole of the morning was occupied by -the persistent little creature in efforts to get -her plaything up to where she wanted it. It -fell to the floor quite a dozen times, but she -tackled it again, every time with unabated -energy. I questioned the housemaid as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -why she had thrown it into the cage, and -found that she had never touched it. Rufina -must therefore have dragged it from under the -cupboard, across the room, and by a great -effort jumped with it in her mouth to the level -of the window-sill, about two and a half feet -from the floor.</p> - -<p>By the evening, however, it had disappeared, -and I descried it at last in the very topmost -corner of her home. It was above the sleeping-box, -wedged into an old bicycle basket, -which was nailed under the eaves. This had -some hay in it, and was used for hiding nuts. -Did Rufina place it there as a shield against -Peter’s thefts?</p> - -<p>After a day or two the trap fell down again, -and I took it away, afraid lest a little paw -might be caught and wedged between the -wires.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When Miss Appleton kindly undertook to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -illustrate my first book about the squirrels, -though she stayed with us several times in -order to sketch Fritz and Bunty from life, it -was found necessary for her to have a squirrel -model in her friends’ studio in London, where -she was working at the time. A wire-netting -place was therefore improvised on the roof, -outside the high studio window in Kensington, -and in due time came a package from Devon -and Co. labelled “<span class="smcap">Live Squirrel</span>.”</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;"> -<img src="images/i_029.jpg" width="150" height="128" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>The lady artists who owned the studio were -delighted at the idea of having this little pet, -and, in Miss Appleton’s absence, proceeded -at once most incautiously to open the box. -They prised one end open, and were going -to bring it to the door of the cage they had -prepared, when hey! presto! there was a -flash, a scurry of fur upon hands and arms, -and away went the squirrel helter-skelter over -pictures, statuary, easels, chairs, and shelves. -Crash! crash! bang went glass, smashing to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -atoms, down fell pictures, over went models, -and a wild and exciting uproar followed. The -artists shrieked, the <a id="Ref_29"></a>squirrel sprang here, there, -and everywhere in a fifty by seventy feet room -crammed indiscriminately with painters’ and -sculptors’ paraphernalia.</p> - -<p>Inarticulate with laughter, the ladies sprang -after it. Faster and faster it flew, taking wild -leaps from the top of one easel to another; -pattering swiftly over angels’ wings and -Mercury’s helmet, over Clytie’s bust and the -horns of Mephistopheles; diving down to -the floor, scrambling up the walls, till dismay -arose as the bewildered creature jumped upon -the stove and ran along the hot-water pipes.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_030.jpg" width="600" height="168" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>More than an hour was spent in this -breathless chase, till some one bethought her -of a tiny room across the vestibule. Setting -the door open, the frightened little beast was -at length chased into this, and the door shut. -A model’s cloak was flung over the runaway<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -and twisted round the struggling bundle, which -was transferred to its future home.</p> - -<p>The ladies of the studio were great admirers -of Mr. Laurence Housman, so the new arrival -was named after him by common consent.</p> - -<p>Laurence spent the following four and a -half months (from the beginning of November -till the middle of March) in a cage about -three feet by two, which was fastened against -a chimney-pot on the roof.</p> - -<p>I have often wondered what his nights were -like, with London cats all round.</p> - -<p>He was furnished with a sleeping-box, with -a hinged lid. I once saw him asleep, as my -friend opened the top. Anything neater and -warmer could not well be imagined. Wood-wool -was tightly wedged round the inside of -the box first, then came a thick layer of cotton-wool, -all of which he had arranged himself. -In the middle, a curled red centre, lay the -squirrel fast asleep, his face completely hidden.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -The box lid fitted tightly down over this compact -mass, and the two little holes at either -end, through which he crept in and out, were -so small, I wondered how he could get any -air at all.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When I went away for the Christmas week -of 1913, I could not leave Peter and Rufina the -run of my bedroom. The house being shut -up and empty, with no one to see after them, -they would have made hay of all my possessions. -So I hung the sleeping-bag on a nail -on the wall inside the cage, and shut and bolted -the window, giving Smithers, the gardener, -instructions to feed them and replenish the -water-jar from outside; this he was accustomed -to do by means of a ladder. He told me that -Rufina sometimes jumped out of the bag when -he put his hand in to scatter nuts; so poor -Peter must have been forced to give up even -this pet hiding-place.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> - -<p>When I returned from Devonshire on 1st -January, both squirrels were invisible. As -the weather was bitterly cold, I was a little -anxious when night came on lest their jar -of water should be frozen; so I opened the -window, and, finding a solid block of ice, I -took the vessel in and replenished it. I mention -this, as I fancy my action was the cause -of the tragedy which followed. The casement -opened backwards upon the inner wall -of the cage, against which, upon a nail, hung -the blue cloth bag I have spoken of. The -casement would just touch this bag and shake -it, though it was protected a little by a branch -of the shrub which grew up through the cage.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_033.jpg" width="600" height="411" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I did not guess that Rufina was asleep in -the bag; the night was pitch dark. I saw -nothing, and closing the window again, went -to bed.</p> - -<div id="Fig_32" class="figcenter" style="width: 464px;"> -<img src="images/i_034.jpg" width="464" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">The snow was falling so thickly I could scarcely see him. <em><a href="#Ref_24">See page 24</a>.</em></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Next morning, hearing a tiny pattering -about eight o’clock, I got up to peep and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -see my little pets. What was my astonishment -and distress to see Rufina’s little form -dangling, stiff and cold, from the platform -against the sleeping-box. Above, there glared -down upon me the horror-struck face of Peter, -with eyes starting out of his head, and ears -frantically bristling. Only for a second, for, -catching sight of me, he bolted precipitately. -I opened the window, jumped on the sill, and -stretching up as far as I could, felt Rufina’s -little body. It was quite stiff and quite cold. -Her head was caught and jammed between -the platform and the sleeping-box; there was -the space of a couple of inches or so between -the two. It seemed an inexplicable thing that -a squirrel should get its head into an interstice -from which it could not withdraw it, or -that, having got its whole head in, it should -not have been able to draw its shoulders -after it.</p> - -<p>I think and hope that in her struggles she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -may have broken her neck at once; she had -no purchase below with which to help herself. -The accident could never have happened in -the daylight. I was convinced, upon reflection, -that my opening the casement overnight had -startled her into jumping out of the serge bag, -and that she had blindly made for the hole in -the sleeping-box some three feet above. She -must have missed the perch from which she -always scrambled upon the platform, and from -thence to the nest.</p> - -<p>This nesting-box and platform had been -in the same relative positions for a year and -a half. No other squirrel had jammed its -head in between them; nor would Rufina -have made the mistake had she not been in -the dark, and blind and stupid with sleep.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 150px;"> -<img src="images/i_038a.jpg" width="150" height="79" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>These conclusions came to me afterwards. -For the moment I extricated the little body -with difficulty from the death-trap, and tried for -nearly an hour to bring back life. So amazed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> -and puzzled was I at first that I could not -believe she had hanged herself. I thought she -was merely frozen; for it had been a bitterly -cold night, with ice everywhere. I brought -her to my fire, and strove by moving her little -arms backwards and forwards to bring breath -back into the lungs. I chafed her tiny close-shut -claws; I held her by the fire, and rubbed -her beautiful little body. She was in such -perfect condition, and so exquisitely clean and -sweet!</p> - -<p>When all hope was abandoned, I laid her -gently on the floor of the cage to see what -Peter would do, and whether he would show -any sign of grief. At sight of me at the -window he fled, wildly jibbering, stamping -his feet, and screaming. Here was fresh lead -on my heart. It was bad enough to lose -Rufina, but that Peter should look upon me -as her murderer was the sharpest cut of all!</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> -<img src="images/i_038b.jpg" width="450" height="160" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>He was angry and horror-struck, but by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -no means grief-stricken, however, for a few -minutes later I heard him cracking nuts, busy -over his breakfast.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;"> -<img src="images/i_039.jpg" width="150" height="130" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>To most of us when a tragedy like this -happens, the feeling is “to have no more -pets.” But Rufina had never been what Bunty -was. She had never sat on my hand, or played -with me, or come at my call, or nipped my -fingers to make me quicker. She had not -won her way into my heart as that first little -Surrey squirrel had done. She had, it is true, -just begun to come into my room and eat -fearlessly, and I had had great hopes of winning -her confidence as spring came on. But -this hope was now shattered.</p> - -<p>It was dismal to have nothing to play with. -Peter continued so angry that he would not -let me see him. Moreover, my plan of a -mate of his own nationality for Fritz was -frustrated. I had resolved to let Rufina loose -with him in the wood when March arrived,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -and here was the blunt and miserable end to -all my hopes of little ones.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 150px;"> -<img src="images/i_040.jpg" width="150" height="117" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>A week or so afterwards, therefore, found -me inquiring of Messrs. Devon and Co. if -haply they could find me another German -female squirrel, warranted young and healthy.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>In a few days Ruby arrived. We had -missed meeting her at the station, and the -little package came by the midday delivery van.</p> - -<p>I expected Peter to be much annoyed by -the advent of this new trespasser in his domain. -He had never for two minutes been on friendly -terms with Rufina. In fact, to judge from -squirrel signs and tokens, he hated her; but -the same day that Ruby arrived, we found -the two amicably cracking nuts together.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> -<img src="images/i_041a.jpg" width="450" height="193" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>The newcomer was very red, as Rufina had -been when she first came in October. I was -a little surprised at this, for it was now winter—January -1914—and Rufina’s coat had long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -since taken on a lovely pearly gray which, -with the undergrowth of red and an autumn -tail, gave her quite a distinguished air.</p> - -<p>Ruby was a dear little kittenish creature, -very fond of play. She was dreadfully afraid -of me at first, and much too suspicious to -venture inside my room. The sight of me -at the window sent her flying into the safe -shelter of the sleeping-box, and once there -she would, like all the others of her sex, swear -at Peter, and dig her little claws into his nose -if he tried to get in too. After a week or -so, however, he was allowed to get in at the -back entrance, and though there were always -some expostulations, he was not turned out.</p> - -<p>She would come into the room when I was -not there, and eat her fill of nuts on the inverted -lid of the clothes-basket. The weather -was quite mild just then, and she seemed to -like her quarters better than any of the -former new arrivals had done.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_041b.jpg" width="300" height="141" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> - -<p>She had a dear little face, a lovely red coat, -and a beautiful plumy tail. She kept herself -exquisitely clean, and spent a good deal of time -over her toilet. Naturally, it being the depth -of winter, she spent a great many hours asleep.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_042.jpg" width="600" height="532" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>It is evident that caged squirrels sleep a -great deal more, especially in winter, than -when they are at large in the woods. Fritz<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -was constantly to be seen, at least twice a day -for a couple of hours at a time, bounding -about the trees. And I used to notice the -wild ones, the year before, very active even -in the snow. A biting east wind would keep -them snug in their nests, or a cold pitiless rain -continuing all day. Otherwise they were -nearly as active in winter as in summer, with -this great difference, that whereas in summer -4 a.m. would find them at my window, their -morning toilet finished and their appetites -keen, in winter they did not appear at all till -between eight and nine o’clock, and by 3 p.m. -they had curled themselves up for the night. -In the summer, I have heard them cracking -nuts at 8 p.m. I think they all sleep from -about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., winter or summer.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 417px;"> -<img src="images/i_043.jpg" width="417" height="650" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I often came upon Fritz having forty winks, -on a comfortable branch sheltered from the -wind, in the daytime. Squirrels’ claws are -so strong and flexible, and cling so firmly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -that there is no danger of their falling from -any perch, awake or asleep.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_044.jpg" width="600" height="170" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>It was very interesting and amusing to -watch Ruby as she became more and more -used to seeing me about. I would open the -casement into the squirrel cage, and go back -to bed and watch. This cage was built on -to the wall outside my window; it was five -or six feet high, and about three feet broad, -with a good wooden floor, and what made it -delightfully home-like for squirrels was that -an evergreen shrub grew inside against the -wall right up to the eaves. Ruby would -clamber down the central pole, which, with -perches nailed upon it, made a capital substitute -for a tree trunk, and would come peeping -round the casement, to look for nuts which -would be on a chair, or on the tall clothes-basket -near by. Her little pointed ears, with -their pretty tufts, would be sharply cocked, -her whiskers quivering nervously, and her tail<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> -erect but turned back at the tip in the form -of a query. Then as I made no sign of movement -she would gain confidence, and venture -farther in. When she got a nut and sat up -to eat it, breaking the shell so cleverly in two -halves, and keeping one half in her paws as -a little cup, while nibbling it her ears would -come close together, and her tail would curl -comfortably right over her dainty little head. -She was a charming picture as she sat up, showing -her snow-white -waistcoat, holding her -food between her wee -thumbs, her little jaws -going like lightning, -her brilliant eyes keeping -a sharp lookout -towards my part of the -room—ready to vanish -in a second should I -dare to move.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 415px;"> -<img src="images/i_045.jpg" width="415" height="650" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> - -<p>And then would come another nervous and -anxious little face; this was Peter, hoping -that there would be something left for him. -But Ruby would scold and grumble; and he, -silently withdrawing, would wait till her ladyship -had finished.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_046.jpg" width="600" height="608" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>PART II.<br /> -THE TRAGEDY.</h2> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 458px;"> -<img src="images/i_049.jpg" width="458" height="650" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_050.jpg" width="600" height="516" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="parttitle no-break">THE TRAGEDY.</p> - -<p class="dropcap">We had a very cold snap the last fortnight -in January. Morning after -morning the water, and also the milk, -in the squirrel-house were frozen into solid -blocks of ice. I did not worry. I thought -squirrels were such hardy little animals. The -year before, Bunty and Fritz had lived happily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -through the same conditions, and been healthy -and well all the time. I did not take into -account that both these squirrels, being so -tame and confiding, were never afraid to come -inside the room, and often spent the coldest -nights sleeping together in the serge bag -hanging behind the curtains. This must have -kept them very warm all night. Peter and -Ruby were, on the contrary, so wild and timid -that nothing would induce them to remain -long in my room.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 285px;"> -<img src="images/i_051.jpg" width="285" height="650" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Little Peter, it is true, did often slip into -the serge bag in the daytime; but the maid, -drawing the curtains at night, annoyed and -startled him, and he generally bolted for the -cage.</p> - -<p>I consoled myself with the thought that he -and Ruby would keep quite warm cuddled -up together in the sleeping-box. And besides, -was not Fritz exceedingly well and -lively all the time out of doors?</p> - -<div id="Fig_48" class="figcenter" style="width: 463px;"> -<img src="images/i_052.jpg" width="463" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">I saw them huddled together on the floor of the cage. <em><a href="#Ref_54">See page 54</a>.</em></p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> - -<p>Poor little things! I don’t think they did -sleep together. The box was partitioned -inside, and I think each kept entirely to its -own compartment; and Peter, being the -male, would come off worst as to nesting -material.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 150px;"> -<img src="images/i_054.jpg" width="150" height="134" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I noticed that he was not well on the -25th January. The entry in my diary is: -“Peter looks miserable, eats scarcely anything, -and sleeps twenty-three hours and three-quarters -out of the twenty-four.”</p> - -<p>If then I had only known! If I had kept -him inside my room, furnished the serge bag -with heaps of cotton wool, and never let him -spend the night in the outside cage, I should -in all probability have saved his little life.</p> - -<p>It never entered my head at this time that -he had got a chill. I thought he was “out -of sorts” with the approach of spring. I -remembered that Bunty had seemed seedy -early in February the year before, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -with complete change of diet she had quickly -recovered. I remembered that I had given -her meal-worms, which she ate greedily from -my hand.</p> - -<p>“Finger-sauce” always tempted her, whereas -my poor, wild little Peter would never come -near me. He would feed while I was in the -room, but if I stirred so much as a hand -would be off as fast as he could go. This was -most disheartening after nine months’ captivity, -and after having reared him from babyhood. -There was something inherently untamable -in him, and though I longed inexpressibly to -mother and warm and coax him, I was powerless -to make him better. His weakness increased, -he became cruelly emaciated, and I -was compelled to watch day by day the -advance of a mortal illness.</p> - -<p>He would never eat from my hand, and -though I put meal-worms into his food dish, -he would not touch them. Sunflower seeds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -at this time were almost the only things he -would eat, and but few of them. I was afraid -that an exclusive diet of them was bad for his -liver, and therefore gave them but sparingly. -Poor little fellow! had I only known it, -they were the best food for him, being most -nutritious.</p> - -<p>His fur was staring, and he never seemed -to have strength enough to clean himself. All -his little lickings and bitings and scratchings -ceased. As the days passed he became more -and more feeble. I only saw him for five or -ten minutes in the twenty-four hours. He -became painfully thin; his lustrous eyes were -dim and apparently sunk in their sockets, instead -of bulging out as all squirrels’ eyes do.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_056.jpg" width="300" height="175" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>What vexed me was my powerlessness, and -his pitiful shrinking from me. When I tried -to coax him with endearing words, and food -in my hand, he would feebly scramble away -from me and cease eating altogether. “Why,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -oh, why!” I asked myself bitterly, “did I -ever have squirrels in confinement?”</p> - -<p>Fritz was perfectly well and strong out in -the open, bounding about from tree to tree, -and voraciously hungry whenever he visited -the stump or the nut traps.</p> - -<p>Still I never guessed that Peter was suffering -from a chill. “Squirrels,” I read in a -natural history book—no natural history -books tell one much about them—“squirrels -invariably die of one thing, and that is inflammation -of the lungs; and nothing can cure -them—they die in a very few days.”</p> - -<p>It did not seem to me possible that Peter -had inflammation of the lungs. There was no -cough, no running at the nose—just emaciation -and feebleness and loss of appetite. I -gave him milk with sugar in it every day. -He took a few tiny laps of it, and I thought -it must be nourishing and helpful. I learnt -afterwards that milk was one of the worst<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> -things to give. The books said that squirrels -died of lung trouble “in a very few days.” -Peter was ill more than four weeks. Soon -he became too feeble to crack his nuts, so I -cracked them for him; and he would eat -perhaps one and a half during the five or ten -minutes he was out of the sleeping-box in the -mornings.</p> - -<p>It was melancholy to see the effort it was -to the poor little creature to climb back to his -nest. He had to wait for breath and for -strength four or five times before he finally -disappeared.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_058.jpg" width="300" height="112" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>By the 14th February Ruby, who had -hitherto kept well and sprightly, though she -also slept twenty-three hours and a half out of -the twenty-four—unlike Fritz, who was to be -seen several times a day in the coldest weather—Ruby, -to my great grief, began to exhibit the -same signs of illness as poor little Peter had -shown. Her coat became rough and staring,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -her eyes sunken and dull, and her appetite nil. -She grew as emaciated as he, and as painfully -feeble. Morning after morning it was more -and more difficult to her to clamber down -from her sleeping-box, and worse to clamber -up again. She, too, lost strength even to -crack her nuts. In vain I bought grapes and -every dainty I could think of.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_059.jpg" width="200" height="146" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>It was too pitiful to see them. Squirrels, -as a rule, will rarely or never eat together—as -one springs up another springs down. If these -two happened to be feeding at the same hour, -it was always in different parts of the cage or -of my room. There seems a sort of etiquette -about this, and it is never transgressed. But -the day before my little squirrels died, I saw -them both <a id="Ref_54"></a>huddled together on the floor of -the cage. Peter’s little fore paw was over -Ruby’s neck, and their piteous helplessness -and feebleness were very touching.</p> - -<p>It may be asked, why did I not take them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -into the warmth of my room when I first -noticed something amiss? But I was afraid -of adding to their distress—I was so firmly -convinced that animals prefer to be let alone -when they are out of sorts, and that nature -cures in her own way with plenty of sleep. -The nesting-box was six or seven feet from -the floor of the cage and difficult to get at, -through perches and the branches of the shrub -that grew up inside against the wall. I ought -to have unhooked the box and brought the -squirrels inside altogether long ago, when day -after day there was a black frost and a bitter -biting north-east wind.</p> - -<p>I believe now, looking back, that if I had -done this I should not have lost them; but -they were so nervous and shy, I was afraid of -worrying and distressing them by changing -their quarters.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, the wall of my pets’ cage -faced north. The winter sunshine used to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -shine for an hour or so a day upon the top -of the climbing pole, and in health this -sunny perch used to be a favourite place with -them. But when they were ill they never -attempted to climb as high. Having quenched -their thirst, and nibbled an atom of food, they -struggled painfully to regain their box, and -hid away for the rest of the day.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_061.jpg" width="300" height="197" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I felt it cruel to disturb them—“Sick -animals curl themselves up and sleep alone -in the dark,” thought I, “and they will be -best left unmolested.” Besides, as I have said -before, Bunty and Fritz had lived all through -last winter in the same place, and I did not -imagine that it could be the cold that was -killing these two, more especially as the cold -snap was all over—February came in mildly. -Fritz used to come bouncing in to pay me a -visit in the highest health and spirits, and in -the garden squirrel-house was there not the -future Mrs. Fritz extremely lively? They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -had managed to keep themselves well in spite -of black frosts and biting winds.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_062a.jpg" width="300" height="189" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Anything more different than a sick squirrel -from a healthy one cannot be conceived. The -eyes, instead of protruding like carriage lamps, -become flattened and then sunk in, giving the -impression of blindness. The whole expression -of the face becomes altered from mischievous -sprightliness, an intense vivacity, to -a miserable, dumb suffering. The tail is never -curled over the back, but hangs down dejectedly; -the ears are far apart; and the movements, -instead of being electric springs and -jerks, are mere crawlings, and are evidently -made with great difficulty, exhausting the -poor little creature very much.</p> - -<p>I have watched Ruby, consumed with thirst, -peer over from the edge of her box, and let -herself go with a feeble bundling sort of slither -down the pole always used for ascents and -descents. She would leap feebly, with pauses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -for breath between; and then, to watch her -climb up again used to break my heart. It -was only too evident that she found it a most -exhausting performance. She would cling -weakly, and wait for breath and strength to -crawl up a few steps; then wait again, and -finally hoist herself the few inches on to her -box with panting effort.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_062b.jpg" width="400" height="265" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>To see animals suffer like this, and to be -powerless to help, throws a black cloud over -life for the time being. I longed for my pets -to die, and wondered if I could chloroform -them. Every morning on waking I hoped to -find them gone.</p> - -<p>The end came on the last day of February, -about five weeks after I had first noticed that -Peter was not quite himself, and a little over -a fortnight since Ruby had begun to droop.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> -<img src="images/i_063.jpg" width="450" height="493" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>And here let me say, in parenthesis, that I -had written to the authorities at the Zoo for -advice. The reply I received was kind and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -courteous; but said that probably my pets -were suffering from consumption, and that -nothing could be done. Perhaps I might try -a little Benger’s food. Now with all due -deference to the larger experience and knowledge -of the Zoological Society, if I had known -how important it is to keep little mammals -warm enough in their sleeping quarters in -cold weather, and if I had taken mine in at -the very first signs of illness and kept them in -a warm place like the conservatory, I cannot -help thinking that I should have saved them.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_064.jpg" width="200" height="162" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I think it is commonly supposed that -nothing can be done for sick squirrels because -the first incipient signs of illness <em>are not noticed -and dealt with in time</em>.</p> - -<p>On the morning of the day they died -neither of them came out of the sleeping-box -at all. So after a while, with a good -deal of difficulty, I unhooked the box from the -wall, and brought it inside. When I opened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -the lid and looked in, each little animal was -crouching in its separate compartment hiding -its little face in the darkest corner.</p> - -<p>Ruby was too far gone to resist when I -picked her up and slipped her inside a warm -flannel cosy, with a hot water-bag under it.</p> - -<p>When I turned my attention to Peter, he -suddenly leapt out and flew round the room -in an agony of terror. He scrambled somehow -up the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">portière</i> over the door, where he -used to go to hide long ago in his babyhood, -and then fell with a scream. He would not -let me pick him up, but pantingly struggled -out of my reach. After a time the poor little -thing somehow found his way to the old serge -bag behind the curtain.</p> - -<p>I tried to feed Ruby with warm sweetened -milk, but scarcely a drop went down. Her -little body was just skin and bone. She feebly -snuggled away into the farthest corner of the -cosy.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_065.jpg" width="300" height="132" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> - -<p>And so the miserable day dragged on. Towards -evening I thought I must try to get -some food down Peter’s throat, for his strength -in scrambling round the room had amazed me, -and I did not despair of somehow pulling -him round yet. He seemed sound asleep in -the serge bag, so I lifted him down very -gently, and sitting on the floor with the bag -in my lap, I attempted to get a teaspoonful of -milk near his little nose. But the moment -I touched him he <em>screamed</em> and sprang out, -biting my finger with extraordinary strength -as I tried to stop him.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_066.jpg" width="400" height="116" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>To my horror, he tore up the window curtain -with amazing rapidity and attempted to -run along the pole, a thing he had not done -for many weeks. But his strength gave out, -he lost his footing, clung on upside down for -a miserable second, then <em>fell</em> with a scream -upon the hard wooden floor. With a look -at me I shall never forget, he dragged himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -(for his hindquarters were now paralyzed) behind -the chest of drawers.</p> - -<p>I moved the piece of furniture and got -him to drag himself out, and with a supreme -effort to scramble into his box, which was -on a chair close by. When I lifted the lid, a -minute or two later, he was dead. He was -curled up, with a queer little smile upon his -face, as if triumphant that he had defied me -to the last, and I—I could only be thankful -that his sufferings and his terror were ended.</p> - -<p>Ruby’s eyes were glazing when I looked at -her a little later, and she died quietly half an -hour after Peter had breathed his last.</p> - -<p>I sent their two little bodies to be post-mortemed -to a veterinary college in North -London, kindly recommended by the Zoo -people. The verdict was that Peter had died -of acute congestion of the lungs, and Ruby of -pneumonia, complicated by nephritis of some -standing.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> -<img src="images/i_067.jpg" width="450" height="110" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> - -<p>People who love animals do not need to be -told how remorse and grief poisoned my days -for some time.</p> - -<p>Why had I, in my stupid human misunderstanding, -sacrificed these little lives?—changed -the existence of these blithe, merry -little creatures into dumb, lengthened suffering?</p> - -<p>I was glad Peter had bitten me—I deserved -it—and I hope it was some satisfaction to him -to do it.</p> - -<div id="Fig_64" class="figcenter" style="width: 464px;"> -<img src="images/i_070.jpg" width="464" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">Laurence hid himself in the twinkling of an eye. <em><a href="#Ref_75">See page 75</a>.</em></p></div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> - -<h2>PART III. FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS.</h2> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_074.jpg" width="600" height="240" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="parttitle no-break">FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS.</p> - -<p class="dropcap">It will be remembered that I had obtained -another squirrel as a mate for Laurence when -he should leave London and come to Hook -Heath and freedom. This little creature had -arrived on the thirteenth of January; had -been kept in the conservatory while the bitter -weather lasted; and had been put into the -garden squirrel-house on the twenty-eighth of -the month. I called her Sulky at first, for she -remained so implacably invisible; and, though -food disappeared, I never caught a glimpse of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -her for a fortnight. She was, as I have said, -intended to be a mate for Laurence; but after -Ruby’s death I felt she must be given to -Fritz, and I must get another little lady for -Laurence. So, the day after my little pets -died, I opened the door of the squirrel-house, -and let the captive free to go where she would.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_075.jpg" width="200" height="251" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I had reason to believe, however, that for a -week she sneaked back to the squirrel-house -every night to sleep; for nuts put in overnight -were gone before 7 a.m., and one -morning I saw her slipping down from the -sleeping-box to make her breakfast.</p> - -<p>I watched her afterwards get out and run -along the fence, and then think better of it, -and come back and climb up to have another -nap.</p> - -<p>By midday, however, she was gone, nor -did I see her again for more than a fortnight. -We had some very stormy weather, with high -gales and snow squalls, and I began to fear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -that she had got a chill and would die of -pneumonia, like poor little Rufina.</p> - -<p>How should we ever know? She would -creep into one of the deserted nests in the -wood, and there gasp out her little life as the -two others had done.</p> - -<p>The only thing that gave me hope that she -was alive and well, though unseen, was Fritz’s -cheerful behaviour, and the fact of his still -remaining in the wood and garden. For it -was springtime, and surely, if there had not -been some attraction here, he would have -been off to the plantations across the heath, -where there were plenty of little ladies to be -courted. His demeanour when he paid visits -to my room—which he did every day—was -suggestive of happiness and of amorous -thoughts. He would cock his tail roguishly, -and skip about and run up the curtains—plainly -“showing off.”</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_076.jpg" width="200" height="193" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I therefore hoped that, though I could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> -see her, he was aware of Sulky’s presence, and -was hugging to himself hopes of domestic bliss.</p> - -<p>And, sure enough, one bright morning I -peeped out at 6 a.m., to see Fritz tearing -across the lawn, as fast as his little legs could -carry him, towards the stump, where Sulky -was boldly cracking nuts, looking exceedingly -well and pretty. I saw her lift the cocoanut -shell with her little fore paws from off the cob -nuts, and she tucked in an excellent breakfast. -Fritz, being the gentleman he always -was, would not disturb her, but came up the -ivy to me, where his antics betokened great -happiness.</p> - -<p>From that day the name of Sulky was -dropped, and became “Mrs. Fritz.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>By the 17th March Miss Appleton required -Laurence Housman no longer as a model, so -she brought him down to me at Hook Heath.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_077.jpg" width="300" height="255" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>She had secured his sleeping-box (while he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -was curled up in it for a nap), wrapped it in -thick brown paper, wired it across the holes, -and held it in her lap all the time in tubes -and train.</p> - -<p>“I suppose he is here, and I suppose he is -alive,” she said when she arrived; “but I have -not heard the ghost of a sound, nor felt the -faintest wriggle in the box. I hope he has -not died of fright!”</p> - -<p>We put the package down for a moment -upon the sofa, when, to our amusement and -relief, there immediately came forth squeaks -and grunts of expostulation.</p> - -<p>“Poor little fellow! how cramped he must -be,” we exclaimed; and proceeded forthwith -to place him, box and all, within the spacious -squirrel-house in the garden. This was safely -accomplished by Smithers, good man—as kind -and interested in my pets as ever.</p> - -<div id="Ref_71" class="figright" style="width: 423px;"> -<img src="images/i_078.jpg" width="423" height="650" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>In this abode Laurence remained till the -2nd May, when I set him free altogether.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> -But before giving him his liberty I had to -get a mate for him, so that there should be -no excuse for fights with the masterful Fritz. -As Messrs. Devon and Co. took some time -before they found what I wanted (for she -had to be a German, young, and healthy), -Laurence had to remain solitary for a month.</p> - -<p>March 1914 was a dreadful month of gales, -rain, and snow squalls; but with the first days -of April came spring-like warmth and brilliant -sunshine, and the wild squirrels visited the -garden again.</p> - -<p>One morning the dear little thing, whom I -used to call Miss Fritz in the summer of -1913, came dancing and skipping along the -fence rails, and I watched her at 6 a.m. from -my bedroom window. She climbed the big -lime tree to have a look at the little shelf -outside my casement, where, as she well remembered, -nuts were spread galore in the -days of her childhood last year. Yes! there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> -they were, and down she ran and made a dash -for the wall and the sheltering ivy. Up she -scrambled, and in another moment was perched -on the extreme corner of the ledge, with her -beautiful tail cocked over her back, and an -almond clutched in her little claws. She let -me stand quite close, not a foot away, with -the window wide open; and oh! how pretty -and small and dainty she looked to my eyes, -accustomed for so many months to the coarser -build and shaggier fur of the Germans. Her -little face was so appealing and baby-like, her -nut-coloured fur so soft, and her tail so fluffy!</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_080.jpg" width="600" height="285" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>She knew me again quite well; looked at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -me with recognition in her brilliant black -eyes; and presently, dropping the empty shell -of her almond, she came hesitatingly to the -inside ledge of the window, stretching out -her nose to sniff at me—to make quite sure -that I was in very truth her old friend; and, -having satisfied her little mind, she picked up -a walnut and concentrated her attention upon -it. I stood beside her there for ten minutes, -till she had finished all the provender except -one cob nut, which she carefully hid in the -ivy. Then she raced down to coquette with -poor Laurence, who in his garden-cage was -doing his wild best to excite her attention. -Round and round the wire she darted, sniffing -nose to nose with him and “twizzling” her -plumy tail. Every now and then I heard -squeaks and exclamations. Then they started -a sort of hide-and-seek, she outside, he inside. -I felt very sorry for him, and longed to let -him out; but his peace, let alone his life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> -would not have been worth a moment’s purchase -with Fritz in the wood.</p> - -<p>Two days before this, Laurence had got out. -The little door of his house, though shut, had -not been bolted, and with a sudden burst of -summer-like sunshine and high wind the rain-swollen -wood had shrunk, and was easily burst -open when pressed by his eager paws. I did -not see him go. He must have skipped off -very early indeed; but about 10 a.m. I happened -to be looking out of the window, and -was suddenly aware of two hurrying furry -forms across the ground. Poor Laurence was -tearing for all he was worth towards the -shelter of his lately forsaken house, and Fritz -was after him, with murder in his eyes.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_082.jpg" width="600" height="159" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I clapped my hands and shouted, startling -them both and diverting Fritz’s attention. -He sprang up a tree, and <a id="Ref_75"></a>Laurence hid himself -in the twinkling of an eye. I saw Master -Fritz watching intently for a few moments,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> -and wrathfully “twisting his tail” (as a young -friend of mine puts it). His rival remaining -invisible, however, I soon saw him skipping -leisurely back along his tree footpath to Mrs. -Fritz in the wood.</p> - -<p>Half an hour later I perceived Laurence -stealthily making his way along the fence -towards his house, where nuts were plentifully -spread. (I suspect he had not had much of a -breakfast.) I fled downstairs and out in time -to see his tail drawn neatly through the open -door, as he seized a cob nut and sat up to -enjoy it. He scarcely noticed me as I bolted -him in—only too thankful, I fancy, to find -himself once more where were plenty of nuts -and no Fritz.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Towards the end of March—to be accurate, -on the 22nd—I see in a note in my squirrel -diary that Laurence wakened and was busy -over his breakfast at 6 a.m., and that Fritz<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -came along, and, perching on the heather -thatch of his house, swore fiercely at him, -twisting his tail with rage. He heeded not -my call, nor the rattle of nuts on my window -sill; but burrowed his nose into the heather, -in vain attempts to come to close quarters -with his enemy. Laurence swished his tail -too, and returned his compliments with interest; -but, finding it impossible to fight, -he presently turned his back on Fritz and -resumed his nut cracking—with a lofty -contempt for the other—and Fritz had to -come up to me to be fed and consoled.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 360px;"> -<img src="images/i_085.jpg" width="360" height="650" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>At last Laurence’s bride arrived, and as had -happened before with the various pairs under -observation, she soon took the best of everything. -Laurence was turned out of his sleeping-box; -she stole all his best nuts; and invariably -made him wait till she had finished -her meals, leaving only the refuse for him.</p> - -<p>She arrived on the seventeenth of April, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -I opened the cage door to set them both free -after she had had a fortnight to get used to -the sight of the house and the human beings -in the garden, and to understand that food and -water were always to be found in that particular -place.</p> - -<p>I also made a little hole in the thatched -roof—as squirrels like to have two entrances -to their abodes—and Laurence immediately -set out to enjoy his liberty. I soon saw his -little head emerging from the hole at the top, -and I watched his furtive joy as he capered -about among the foxgloves and periwinkles -below, and finally was lost to my sight clambering -up a cherry tree. Mrs. Laurence, on the -contrary, was quite a week before she quitted -the cage. She preferred to remain where food -was abundant, and where her comfortable -sleeping-box kept her snug at night.</p> - -<p>When at length she did venture forth with -her husband into the unknown, she still stole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -back for several nights to her safe shelter. -But at last, I suppose, they built between them -a nest in the wood, for I constantly saw -Laurence very busily tearing strips of fibre -from the trees just then, and the cage was -finally deserted.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Squirrels are very busy in the spring stripping -bark for making new nests, and in the -summer this is sometimes carried on for remaking -and mending the old.</p> - -<p>They generally choose damp rainy days for -doing this, when the material they gather is -full of moisture. Once, however, in a spell of -prolonged hot dry weather, I was much struck -with a clever device on the part of one of -them, probably Fritz.</p> - -<p>I found one morning two little bundles of -stripped fibre thrust into the jar of drinking -water inside the garden squirrel-house. (The -entrance to this was always left open, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -the squirrels ran in and out for food and -water.)</p> - -<p>There was no mistaking these neat little -bundles. I had too often watched Bunty, -Fritz, Rufina, and Co. not to know the look -of them, with the ends tucked in, in the form -of a little bolster. I left the packages there, -grasping at once that the weather being so -dry the fibre had become too stiff and hard to -be easily woven, hence the bringing of these -bundles to the water and leaving them to soak. -They remained there for two or three days, -then one was carried off, and a day or two -later the second disappeared.</p> - -<div id="Fig_80" class="figcenter" style="width: 476px;"> -<img src="images/i_088.jpg" width="476" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">She coquetted with the birds round the drinking pan. <em><a href="#Ref_83">See page 83</a>.</em></p></div> -</div> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_090.jpg" width="200" height="113" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>What made the performance more interesting -was that this special fibre was only -obtained from one particular tree, a certain -conifer which grew on the other side of the -garden. Fritz had been frequently seen in -the spring stripping the fibre from this half-dead -tree, the only one of its kind we had.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> -In carrying his little bundles from it to where -he placed them to soak, he would pass two -birds’ drinking pans full of water; but they -were in public places on the lawn, and constantly -bathed in by all sorts of birds. Fritz—if -it was he, and I very much suspect it was—preferred -the comparative secrecy and seclusion -of the small water-jar in the squirrel-house in -the back garden. His sagacity was justified, -for no one meddled with them till he considered -them to be sufficiently moistened for -weaving purposes.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>One hot afternoon under the weeping tree -there was coolness and shade. Half drowsily -I was reading the Saturday <cite>Westminster</cite>, when I -was aware—I can’t say I heard it, for it was so -slight—but I was aware of a minute noise. It -was not the fitful summer breeze swaying the -hanging branches of my sanctuary, nor the -scratches of birds under the rhododendrons in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -a vain quest for worms. I lifted my head -very cautiously, and twisted it slowly towards -the rough stem of the white-blossomed acacia, -twenty feet away. Yes, up in a fork of the -branches was a bit of brown fur. Part of it -seemed to be quivering incessantly. The tiny -noise I heard was the dropping of a nutshell -on the grass. The quivering I saw was a -little jaw nibbling very fast. Presently there -was a flashing movement, and out into the -sunshine she came, a beautiful, brilliant foxy -red, with a tail which put her husband’s to -shame, for this was Mrs. Fritz.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 375px;"> -<img src="images/i_091.jpg" width="375" height="650" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>With electric jerky motions she came down -the tree stem and clawed out another nut from -the crevices, and swung head downward easily -and securely, her hind feet firmly clenching -the deeply-grooved bark. Nut after nut she -searched out from where I had hidden them, -and then, catching sight of me, she swiftly and -noiselessly put herself out of sight.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> - -<p>Presently, as I remained very still, she -plucked up more courage and skipped down -to the grass. Here for some minutes she -coquetted—there is no other word for it—she -<a id="Ref_83"></a>coquetted with the birds round the drinking -pan. After many feints, advancing and -retreating, she buried her nose in the cool, -sparkling water, and took a long, long drink. -Eyeing me through the veil of green which -dropped round me, she suddenly made up her -frisky mind to dare all and come to the nut -tray close to my seat.</p> - -<p>She rushed towards me in a tremendous -hurry as if afraid of changing her mind again, -her tail straight out behind her, and in two -seconds was within touching distance of my -hand. I kept rigid, and watched out of half-closed -eyes. She stood up on her flexible hind -feet and reached out a quivering, sniffling little -nose in my direction, trembling all over with -fear and curiosity. But as the dreaded human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> -smell reached her moist nostrils, she turned -and darted like an arrow under the shelter of -a thick rhododendron. Here she hid, and I -saw her bright eyes peeping out at me behind -the leaves. I still remained motionless, and -presently was aware of a noiseless furry form -vanishing up the holly tree which leans against -some of the outer branches of the beech.</p> - -<p>The long hanging green around me shook -a moment, and by that I knew that she had -jumped from the holly to the beech, and was -somewhere above my head. I moved imperceptibly -so as to look upwards, and close above -me was a little white stomach with a fiery tail -cocked over a chestnut back.</p> - -<p>And now she began to scold and stamp her -feet and lash her tail; but seeing that I kept -calm and moved not an eyelash, she made for -the nuts, and sat up within a yard of my chair -cracking and devouring them one by one.</p> - -<p>I was immensely pleased, as this was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -first time since I let her go three months ago -that I had seen Mrs. Fritz so near.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There came a day at the end of June when -Fritz brought a son and heir to the nuts on -the stump. The stump, I must explain, was -near the squirrel-house in the back garden, -and was in full view of my window. The -youngster was a lovely colour, almost orange, -with a smart bushy tail. Fritz at this time -was changing his tail, and was a lamentable -object in that respect—his spiny little appendix -had hardly a hair on it. I was amused at his -elderly paterfamilias ways—“twizzling” his -bald tail in mock anger, and carefully hiding -away several nuts for future occasions. And -this reminds me that I never saw him bury -his nuts as the Surrey squirrels did. He preferred -to hide them in the forks of the trees, -or in the ivy, or in deserted birds’ nests.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_094.jpg" width="400" height="453" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I have forgotten to say that when Laurence’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -mate arrived in the middle of April it was -Smithers who received her, and put her into -the squirrel-house in the garden, for I was -spending Easter amid the deep green lanes of -Devonshire.</p> - -<p>There, one hot spring morning, as I was -lying on moss and whortleberry, under the -shoulder of Mutter’s Moor, I watched a wild -squirrel running up a larch. It was soon -hidden from view in the tree’s delicate green -branches—and what is more exquisite than -the earliest green of the larch? I heard the -delicious scrabble of little claws on the bark, -while about me droned the big bumble-bees -and their quick-working cousins of the hive, -all intent on honey-getting. I was puzzled -to know where the honey was to be found, -till I saw that the whortleberry was full of -innumerable tiny crimson bell-flowers.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_095.jpg" width="200" height="269" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>It was a wonderful Easter. After “the -wettest March on record” April came in hot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -and brilliant, with a steady east wind that -dried up the saturated ground.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_096.jpg" width="200" height="482" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>In every sheltered valley and “goyle” the -trees rushed into leaf. The birch shook out -her fairy tassels, and larches lit up the hillsides -with their vivid green lace. Everywhere -the busy birds flew in and out of the hedges, -intent on nest-making. The rooks cawed from -morning to night, the jackdaws “chucked,” -and sea-gulls sailed aloft exchanging their wild -free calls in the blue. It was a joy to live.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Back in Surrey again after a cold spell—“the -tail of winter in the middle of May”—the -icy wind dropped, and a still, hot day soothed -our ruffled nerves, and warmed our shivering -bodies once more. Early one morning wild -Miss Tito paid me a second visit. She came -to the bedroom window, and allowed me to -stand close beside her, while she cracked her -favourite Barcelona nuts.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> - -<p>When her back was turned, and her eyes -shielded by her lovely tail, I gently unfastened -the casement and very slowly pushed it out, -holding my breath and body very still, when -she quickly jerked round to see what was -happening. I then backed quietly into the -shadow of the room, having placed more nuts -on a chair. Presently, her nut finished, and -no more to be found under the inverted cocoanut -in spite of her vigorous nose-pushings, her -wee intelligent face peeped inside the casement, -two little fore paws appeared, and then -she jumped upon the chair to seize a nut—skipping -outside again to crack it. I crept -back into bed, and lay still. Then she came -again, jumped down upon the blue carpet, and -executed a sort of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pas seul</i>—pitter-patter—and -back. She had not been inside my room since -last September—eight months ago!</p> - -<p>Through the autumn and winter I had -scarcely seen her, even in the garden. With<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> -Tito and Tara I suppose she had been driven -away by the masterful Fritz. As mentioned -already, in April she had once reappeared, and -had even clambered up the ivy to breakfast -at the old place. But this running about in -my room to-day showed that she had not -forgotten the spring of 1913, when she was -such a fearless little visitor that I once -caught her, and put her for ten days in the -squirrel-house, in a vain attempt to tame her -altogether—an attempt which, as I have explained -in a former book, completely failed.</p> - -<p>To return, however, to this particular morning, -she came in and out several times till the -nuts were finished, and then took a bit of -brown bread in her mouth, and hid it in the -curtains before she finally departed. Afterwards -I saw her in the lime tree licking her little -paws, and cleaning her whiskers assiduously.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_098.jpg" width="300" height="128" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“There’s a boy downstairs with some baby<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> -squirrels in his pocket, and he says will you -buy one, and he has sold the others already, -and will you tell him how to feed them?”</p> - -<p>This from an excited child who came bounding -to my door, the morning holidays began, -and we were all going away from home.</p> - -<p>I went downstairs and found a bright-eyed, -sturdy little chap of nine, who held in his -hand a tiny bit of fur, with a fuzzy turned-up -tail, and a pair of sharp tufted ears. Putting -it on the kitchen table—where it darted about -in electric fashion, saved from falling off the -edge every minute by eager hands—the boy -pulled another, and another, and yet another -out of his pockets, and then diving into a -basket on the floor, he produced three more. -<a id="Ref_90"></a>Seven furry infants! I gasped. The heartlessness -of it! What were the bereaved and -distracted parents doing?</p> - -<p>I questioned him wrathfully, as I dashed -round the table, with others, to prevent imminent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> -catastrophes. The electric movements -spread all over the broad surface of the kitchen -table.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_100.jpg" width="600" height="572" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“Where did you get them?”</p> - -<p>“Out in the fir plantations on the heath, -Miss. Oi cloimed up a tree and put me ’and -in the nestises. Oi let one fall, and ’e doid.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p> - -<p>Some one brought warmed milk in a soup -plate, and we placed the seven wee things -round it, dipping their noses in, as one does -with kittens, to make them lap. Three tackled -the food at once; tiny pink tongues shot out, -tiny tails curled comfortably over backs. The -others were too feeble, and too young to understand; -they were palpitating, and fell over -as fast as they were put upon their four legs. -Poor little innocents, taken away far too young -from their mothers and their dark, warm nests! -I saw they would not live; already two were -in convulsions.</p> - -<p>I was furious with the boy. But what was -to be done? He had already sold most of -them for a shilling apiece, on condition he -reared them for the first week himself. He -had heard that I knew all about squirrels, and -came to me for instructions about food.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_102.jpg" width="300" height="456" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>I warned him as emphatically as I knew -how against overfeeding, and pointed out the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -absolute necessity of plenty of sleep, warmth, -and <em>no</em> handling. But what was the use? He -had seven little brothers and sisters at home. -They all wanted to cuddle the squirrels; they -all wanted to feed them. Two died that -evening, three followed their example next -day, and by the day after not one was left -alive.</p> - -<p>It was impossible for me to have taken -them myself. I was going a long journey to -friends—whom I love, but whose prime aversion -is pet animals! Our house was being -shut up, and Smithers, with all his kindness -and patience, firmly declined a responsibility -in my absence that entailed getting up at -4 a.m. to give food, and that in any case was -by no means an easy task. Baby squirrels are -notoriously difficult to rear.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Later in the month found me once more -established with books and work in my old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -summer quarters under the weeping beech on -the lawn.</p> - -<p>The beech had been, as usual, the last to -come out; while larches, limes, and chestnuts -had flung open their treasures and burst into -spring loveliness almost before the middle of -that wonderful April, the beech, still shrinking -and coy, had kept her little brown sheaths -wrapped tightly round her buds. But by the -second week in May, after “Winter’s tail” had -fled, she hung out all her delicate green; and -her swaying tresses swept the turf around me, -as I sat alone in the sweetness and promise of -yet another spring.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_103.jpg" width="300" height="363" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Sparrows, thrushes, and robins were busy -feeding young broods; chaffinches and blue -tits were still sitting on their eggs; the spotted -flycatchers had not yet arrived. Forget-me-nots, -violas, and irises made a sea of blue and -purple, seen through the pendent branches -of my sanctuary. White broom leant over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> -with its fairy flowerets, and back amongst -the evergreens glowed the crimson of early -rhododendrons.</p> - -<p>Presently there was a scolding and chattering -above my head, and I looked up to see -Fritz, who had, I suppose, come by his usual -overland route along the tree tops, and was -minded to come down to the tray at my -elbow for nuts. He did not like the look -of my rug and cushions, and was apparently -trying to stamp at and scold them out of his -way. Finding them immovable and harmless, -however, he came leaping down for almonds -and walnuts, and as I talked to him his -nervousness ceased, and we were both happy.</p> - -<p>After he had gone came the conscientious -robin, who just now was hard at it feeding -her newly-fledged young. I helped her, -at intervals, all day in the performance of -this duty, with currants, oatmeal, and cheese. -Scarcely did she allow herself a morsel, so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> -intent was she upon the needs of her brood. -As she waited expectantly for my dole another -robin flew down. They did not fight, so I -presumed this was a cock, and I watched -his antics to attract her with considerable -amusement.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_105.jpg" width="300" height="127" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>First, he sang to her, a little low whispering -song, swaying his head and neck to and -fro, in an extraordinary manner bowing and -sidling.</p> - -<p>As, perfectly unconcerned, she continued -assiduously picking up invisible insects for -her children, he changed his tactics, and, flying -to a branch above, he cocked up his tail, -and trilled a loud jubilant strain. Nothing -moved by this exhibition, she simply ignored -him, and he flew away in disgust.</p> - -<div id="Fig_96" class="figcenter" style="width: 468px;"> -<img src="images/i_106.jpg" width="468" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">Seven furry infants!... The heartlessness of it! <em><a href="#Ref_90">See page 90</a>.</em></p></div> -</div> - -<p>I named him Robin Adair, because the -garden was so dull when he was not there, and -he became eventually the most persistent little -visitor. He caused me to waste no end of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> -time, for just as I had settled down in the -garden with writing or work, there he would -be in an instant, silently arriving out of nowhere.</p> - -<p>Perched upon the open lid of my dispatch -case, he would eye me with a determined expression -there was no mistaking. It said -plainly, “Where are my worms? Here I -sit till you produce them. Be quick, please; -my family is waiting.” And I would have to -get up, and go inside and bring out the tin -which contained his meal-worms. This I -would place on my knee, and take up my -pen again, meaning really to write. But his -dainty little flutterings, his wee spindly legs, -his beautiful plumage, and his dew-bright eye -were invariably too fascinating and too distracting. -I would leave off my writing a -hundred times, to admire him and talk to him. -He was a most devoted father. He plied to -and from the nest where his little ones were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -all day long, and when one remembers that a -bird’s day at this time of year begins at 4 a.m., -and lasts till 5 or 6 p.m., it will be admitted -that this involves a tremendous amount of -energy. Very occasionally did Robin Adair -give himself the treat of swallowing one of -the meal-worms which he was given. Sometimes -the delicious taste of the worm quite -demoralized him, and he would gulp down -three or even four in succession. But to do -him justice, this happened but rarely. I found -out where his nest was, and once I commissioned -some one else to dole out the worms, -while I went behind the shrubbery to watch -the little hole, almost indistinguishable, on the -ground beneath the furze bushes in the field. -He arrived with a fat worm in his beak; but -the expression in his black eyes the moment -he saw me so near his home was extremely -angry. In a second he flew off and hid. I -waited and waited. Then <em>I</em> hid, and peered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> -through the furze; but though he had hopped -upon a twig nearer the nest, he spotted me -again instantly, and nothing would induce him -to go in. He must have warned his children, -too, somehow, for though at other times I -had seen four little gaping mouths, all was -silence and darkness now.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_110.jpg" width="200" height="246" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>His cleverness in carrying several worms at -once was remarkable, as each had to be killed -before it was given to his babies. This entailed -a good deal of manipulation with his -beak, biting and striking the ground. I have -constantly seen him doing this, and finally -carrying four worms in a row, to save the -trouble of four journeys.</p> - -<p>He became absolutely fearless while the -very dry weather of June lasted, as all ordinary -worms refused to come to the surface of the -earth; and he would have got none at all but -for my tin box. Not only would he perch -on my shoe, or on the box in my lap, but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -trained him to peck them out of my hand. -Currants dipped in oatmeal, cheese, and -gingerbread made pleasant changes of diet, and -helped to save the worms, or he would have -carried off hundreds in the course of the day.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_111a.jpg" width="200" height="240" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>He was always with me, appearing, as I -have said, suddenly and swiftly out of nowhere; -in whatever part of the garden I placed my -chair, there close to me in half a second -would be the dapper little creature, trim, neat, -and alert. He was never dishevelled like the -sparrows, and when in the late afternoon it -would seem as if he must be exhausted, he -would go and take an energetic bath, and -come and sit beside me to dry his feathers.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sometimes for days together the garden was -forsaken by the squirrels; but to make up for -their absence, many little episodes of bird life -amused me as I sat out of doors in the sun -and the wind.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_111b.jpg" width="200" height="496" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> - -<p>The tits were shameless thieves, and their -ingenuity was surprising. I have watched -one of these tiny birds manipulating—if one -can use such a word in connection with a -beak—a cocoanut shell, which had been -turned over upon some nuts on purpose to -keep them from him. Cob nuts or walnuts -he could not tackle, but almonds were not -safe from him, and monkey nuts he was determined -to have. I saw him mount the cocoanut -shell, and with his head on one side peer into -the hole at the top. Satisfied that the coveted -food was beneath it, he began to try to lift -the heavy shell. With his little beak he -pecked and pulled manfully at the outside -fibre. He could just raise the shell, but not -high enough to get what he wanted.</p> - -<p>After a good deal of exertion, which only -shuffled it about on the stump, he flew off -for a minute’s rest and reflection. Then he -tackled it again, leaning down and pushing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> -his beak sideways under the edge, pecking -valiantly, and every now and then mounting -the nut to peer through the hole to make sure -that what he wanted was still there.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_113.jpg" width="600" height="512" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>The stump on which the shell was placed -had a sloping surface, and to prevent the -squirrels’ food from rolling off, a ledge had -been put on two sides and across the bottom. -Presently I was amazed to see that the small -bird had succeeded in wriggling and shuffling -the cocoanut till he had tilted it up upon -this ledge. Out rolled the monkey nut from -beneath, and he flew away with it in triumph. -I then heard a vigorous knocking going on, a -little way off, and saw him in a shrub banging -the nut against -the trunk to -break the pod. -Having made -an opening, he -held it firmly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> -on a branch with one little claw, and feasted -royally. This exploit, from the time he first -tackled the cocoanut till he got the monkey -nut out, took him just a quarter of an hour.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was during this summer of 1914 that I -saw, for the first time in my life, a young -cuckoo in a nest.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_114.jpg" width="200" height="246" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Parting the furze bushes one day I came -upon a linnet’s nest, moss-built and tiny. -There seemed to be a weird sort of an eye -looking over the top of it, and I touched -the rim. To my amazement half a foot of -ruffled black and white shot up like a Jack-in-the-box, -and an orange-coloured maw and -throat opened wide and hissed angrily. It -was quite formidable, and looked enormous compared -with its wee foster-parents, but I have -no doubt they were immensely proud of it. -We had a tennis tournament that day, and I -think about fifty young people must have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> -visited the furze bush. The excitement could -not have been very good for the poor creature. -For the next two days he remained dull and -sleepy, and entirely declined to shoot himself -up, or even to open his lovely orange mouth. -The third day found him flown. The little -mossy cup was empty-and time too, I should -say; with such a swelling bulk, I wonder the -walls had not burst.</p> - -<p>I think we may disabuse our minds of the -traditional belief in the wickedness of the -cuckoo <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mère</i>, and of the supposed grief and -distress of the youngster’s foster-parents. It -seems to me much more likely that, instead of -considering it a misfortune to find a cuckoo’s -egg in their nests, our British birds only hope -for such luck, and swell with pride as they -rear a magnificent chick, under the delusion -that it is their own.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_115.jpg" width="300" height="165" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>One very hot morning in June I was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> -interested spectator of a mother tit showing -her offspring how to bathe. The family -party were unaware of my presence. There -were five young hopefuls—all sons, I should -imagine, for they were bigger than their active -little mother. All had been born and reared -in a “Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary” nesting-box, -on a holly tree close by. The mother’s -darker, more pronounced colouring, longer -tail, and determined expression of countenance -betrayed her matronhood. The children were -delicious balls of pale green and gray, with -tiny black markings, and their innocent and -timid little faces were fascinating as they -clustered round the large earthenware saucer, -full of water, in which the mother was -splashing.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_117.jpg" width="600" height="457" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Her energy was astounding. She flapped -and ducked and soused herself till she had not -a dry feather, then flew out and told them to -go in. Not a bit of it! The little cowards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -hopped upon the saucer’s edge, stooped till -their beaks touched the water, then turned -right about face, and looked gravely at their -claws. They flew or hopped across the saucer -many times, but had not courage to plunge -in. Back flew the mother, hustled them away, -and launched herself once more. They watched -her, and then began to imitate her movements—in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> -the grass! The lawn just there was -thickly covered with fallen blossoms from a -white acacia, as also was the water in the -saucer. The babies ducked and quivered their -wings, and bent up and down, and quirked -imaginary drops of water over their little -backs. Out flew the mother, and perched on -a foxglove stalk, and into the water went a -siskin, and thoroughly enjoyed himself—but -not for long; back came the mother tit, -routed him, and called to her little ones not -to be outdone by a siskin. She ducked and -splashed, and twinkled and sprinkled all over -again, till she was a drenched little object; -but beyond crouching near her, so as to catch -some of her splashings on themselves, not one -of her children had nerve enough to take a -bath that morning. The last that I saw of -them, they were all five crouching and busily -imitating her movements amongst the grass -and acacia blossoms; their shrill little voices,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> -could I have understood them, were probably -calling out:</p> - -<p>“We are trying, mother! we are indeed! -Look at us! We’re doing just what you -do!”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>On the tenth of June, to my joy, my pretty -turtle-doves appeared again. I called them -my Bible doves—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="indentquotebase"><em>“As the wings of a dove covered with silver,</em></div> -<div class="indentbase"><em>And her pinions with yellow gold.”</em></div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>For there is a silvery sheen about them, and a -glint of gold in their plumage.</p> - -<p>This was the third summer that they had -come to the garden and nested in the wood. -Such delicate lovely creatures! They came to -drink, and to pick up the small corn which I -scattered for them every day on the lawn.</p> - -<p>The lovely fawn colour of their breasts, -melting into lavender on their heads, the blue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> -and black bars on their necks, their ruby eyes, -and dainty rose-coloured feet were a joy to -behold—a feast of exquisite colouring.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_120.jpg" width="600" height="328" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>They were very shy, and, on their first -arrival, the sight or sound of a human being -made them instantly take fright; but as time -went on they became accustomed to me, and -would, as long as I kept still, approach quite -close to my chair.</p> - -<p>Though I searched the wood many times -I never could find their nest. It was well -hidden.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>And now autumn is approaching, with its -splendour of amber and gold, of crimson and -brown. There is great activity in the squirrel -world. Young and old are busy storing and -burying nuts.</p> - -<p>Early in the dewy mornings they hie themselves -to the hazel coppices, to the lordly -beeches, and later they will strip the walnuts. -Active little creatures, intent upon this their -supreme instinct, I have known a pair entirely -clear away the beech-mast under the -weeping tree on our lawn on a September -morning before breakfast—beech-mast which -thickly covered the ground the night before.</p> - -<p>Fritz and Laurence Housman, too, are now -disporting the full glory of their autumn tails. -Mrs. Fritz and Mrs. Laurence are teaching -the little Fritzes and the little Laurences -where and how to hide the winter food. Soon -they will be stripping the fibre from the old -conifer in the shrubbery, and mending up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> -their snug little homes in the wood, ready for -the short days and the long cold nights.</p> - -<p>Good-bye, gay and care-free little friends! -Good-bye! My way lies south, by the sea, -where no squirrels come.</p> - -<p class="center" style="margin-top:2em">FINIS.</p> - -<p class=" center smallfont" style="margin-top:2em">PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_123.jpg" width="400" height="486" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 494px;"> -<img src="images/i_end_paper_a.jpg" width="494" height="650" alt="" /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 485px;"> -<img src="images/i_end_paper_b.jpg" width="485" height="650" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 id="TN_end" style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>Based on research, this book was most likely published in 1915, but -possibly in 1916.</p> - -<p>The illustrator for this book was Honor C. Appleton.</p> - -<p>Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they -are mentioned.</p> - -<p>Punctuation has been made consistent.</p> - -<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication.</p> - -<p>The original publication includes a wide margin on each page for both -the side away from the binding and the bottom. Many illustrations extend -into one or both of these margins. Some illustrations wrap around the -text by extended down the wide side margin and continuing across -the bottom margin; see, for example, <a href="#Ref_19">here</a> and <a href="#Ref_71">here</a>. -This formatting is not natural in a web browser or eReader, -since these do not have fixed pages. All illustrations from the -original publication are included here, but that page-oriented illustration -formatting is not reproduced.</p></div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's More About the Squirrels, by Eleanor Tyrrell - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE ABOUT THE SQUIRRELS *** - -***** This file should be named 51031-h.htm or 51031-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/0/3/51031/ - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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