21 JUNE 1930, Page 20

Theanonymous author of Miss Tiverton Goes Out has, produced in

Memorial to George (Jiarrolds, 7s. 6d.) a Squirrel Saga that will rouse mixed feelings in the minds of sensitive readers. It is pleasant to read of George, his children and spouses, and of the happy life he enjoyed in .a large cage that was filled with nearly life-sized trees and was as good a place for adventures as anywhere except. the woods. But the picture that the author" draws of. other. squirrels who are imported wholesale from abroad stock the London markets is really heart-rending. They are crowded together in cages-- "clinging, huddled, palpitating Mit otherwise motionless, to the wire wall of the prison." Each one is " a tremulous embodiment of fear and resentment." As we read of this traffic in squirrels we feel, thankful. that the owner of George has rescued him and so many of his kind from the horrors of the London cages. The book takes the form partly of a diary kept by George himself and partly as a treatise on squirrel, keeping. The latter will be invaluable to those who feel inspired to imitate the author's rescue work, for in it she explains that squirrel-instinct is not a thing to be relied on, and that no " fledglings " should be given nuts till these are in season. She tells of the habits of squirrels, their engaging tricks, their maladies and their life-history;

* * • * *