(_Sciurus vulgaris_)
Of all the smaller animals inhabiting the forests of Great Britain and
the Continent, none is better known, more graceful in its actions,
or more charming in its appearance than the squirrel, the typical
representative of a vast family of rodents, second in number only to
the members of the mouse tribe, and having an almost cosmopolitan
distribution, although unknown in Australia. The European species, like
the great majority of its immediate relatives, is completely arboreal
in its habits, and frequents for choice dry and shady forests where
there is abundance of tall trees. Its range includes practically the
whole of Europe and a considerable portion of northern Asia; but, as
might be expected, there is considerable local variation in the matter
of colour in different parts of this extensive area, and the British
squirrel differs markedly from the typical Swedish representative of
the species. There are, moreover, especially in the British race,
seasonal changes of colour, which render its appearance very different.
During the winter months the British squirrel (_Sciurus vulgaris
leucurus_) is a foxy coloured rodent, with long tufts of hair to the
summits of the ears and the tail practically the same colour as the
body. In the spring the long winter coat of the head and body is
exchanged for a shorter summer dress and the ears lose their tufts; but
the hairs of the tail are not changed, and consequently become dirty
white, owing to the bleaching effect of light on their colour. This
dirty white or cream-coloured tint of the tail in summer is absolutely
characteristic of the British squirrel; and it may be added that even
in winter this appendage is much less red than in many continental
squirrels, being in fact reddish brown.
In the typical squirrel (_S. v. typicus_), of southern Norway and
Sweden, the body in summer has a brownish red coat very similar to that
of the British race; but the tail is red, and does not bleach when the
hairs are old and worn. In winter the body-coat is soft greyish brown
in colour, with traces of the summer tint along the middle line of the
back and on the limbs. We now come to the subject of our illustration,
which shows the German race of the squirrel (_S. v. rutilans_) in its
winter coat. In this variety the colour is bright red at all seasons,
although there is a tinge of light smoky grey along the flanks in
winter; the tail being at all seasons bright rufous, often rather
darker than the body. There is, however, a brown phase of this race;
and all continental squirrels exhibit a more or less marked tendency
towards individual melanism.
[Illustration]
Omitting mention of several other red or reddish races of the species
met with in various parts of the Continent, reference may be made to
the Grecian squirrel (_S. v. lilæus_), in which the tendency to
blackness is general if not universal; the general colour being brown,
passing into blackish on the hind half of the back and the outer sides
of the limbs. This, however, by no means exhausts the colour range of
this extremely variable species, for in northern Russia and Siberia we
find squirrels (_S. v. argenteus_ and _S. v. sibiricus_) in which the
general colour of the winter coat is light French grey, with the long
ear-tufts black. It is these grey squirrels which are used in such
numbers to form the linings of ladies’ cheap cloaks; but perfect skins,
to say nothing of the living animal, are scarcely ever seen in England.
For the reception of their young, squirrels build a well-constructed
nest, or “drey,” which is oval in shape, and made of fibres and leaves
with a lining of moss; its usual position being the fork of a large
tree or a hole in the trunk. The fibres are neatly and intricately
interwoven; and when the nest is placed in a fork, the entrance is
usually made to open near to one of the branches, with the colour of
which it agrees very closely. In this comfortable home the female
brings forth three or four young, usually in June, which are tended by
both parents, with whom they remain till the following year.
Although squirrels are stated to make an occasional meal of birds’
eggs, they are in the main strict vegetarians, feeding chiefly upon
pine-cones, nuts, beech-mast, bark, buds, and young shoots. Where they
are unusually numerous, as in certain parts of Scotland, they are
stated to inflict considerable damage on young larch-plantations. When
feeding, squirrels sit up and grasp the food in their fore-paws, with
which they hold nuts while these are pierced by the chisel-like front
teeth. Long flying leaps from tree to tree are frequently taken by
these active rodents.