Carnivorous Squirrels
A certain rough motor shed set up at the edge of a park has for some reason attracted a ntunber of rats, which have honey. combed the place with holes. The owner, coming to get out his car, saw a grey squirrel disappear into one of the holes, which are of no small size, and presently reappearwith a half- grown rat in its mouth, which it killed and ate. A little later the doe rat returned, gave one sniff at the hole and turned away. She had obviously smelt not a rat but the recent intruder. This bit of ocular evidence adds to the long list of the grey squirrel's dietary. It is difficult to think of any- thing edible that it will not eat ; and it is rare for any animal that delights in vegetable food—and this squirrel indulges, for example, in corn, nuts and peaches—to resort to car- nivorous food. Would it face a full-grown rat ?
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