The other day, while going through a small copse of
hazel, thorn and holly, my attention was drawn to a nest from which protruded a wisp of a tail. It looked like the tail of a vole. It could have been the tail of a weasel. The tree was not a very high one or one difficult to climb or I should not have attempted to hoist my bulk into it. I did so after a slight struggle and managed to reach the nest. The protruding tail was that of a red squirrel. The nest contained the lower half of the squirrel's body. The upper part seemed to have been devoured com- pletely. As the nest was an old one I concluded that some predatory bird, perhaps a tawny owl, had carried the squirrel there to make a meal of it. I suppose such birds catch the grey squirrel or its young, but I am sure that the grey squirrel keeps his end up when it comes to murder. As far as I know, red squirrels are harmless and there are far too few of them. Fir woods are cut down faster than woods of deciduous trees, and the grey squirrel has spread in green woods in spite of the war waged against him. The red squirrel is not so common as it was by a long way and I fear that we shall have the tree-rat when the red squirrel is a very rare animal, which will be a great pity.
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