2 NOVEMBER 1945, Page 15

The Return of the Natives Signs multiply that the English

red squirrel, which has suffered com- plete eclipse in some places and partial in others, is returning. They have just appeared in a garden in the very suburbs of a small township not twenty miles from London, though the garden was already frequented by grey squirrels. Almost all the mammals have periodic ups and downs, due, it is thought, to recurrent maladies ; but with these squirrels the downs for a long period seemed to be followed by no ups. Close to this same garden were bred one year a family that were so completely tamed by the gardener that they would race round the shoulders of the guests at meal-times and show a particular fondness for the top of the host's head.