I had thought that my dossier of the crimes of
the grey squirrel, so rashly " enlarged " in England, was complete. The case is proven against it in the questions of the destruction of eggs and young animals, of fruit, even in greenhouses, and of field crops including wheat. It is roundly asserted—though the details are a little too unlikely to believe readily—that it maims and emasculates the red squirrel. The new charge is that it deliberately and for no known purpose, barks trees, especially if they are precious. In the garden of an acquaintance it has recently begun to peel a deodar by pulling over long vertical strips. I have seen a jackdaw (in the gardens of New College, Oxford) peel a lime in this way, but the peel was used for nesting. I should much doubt whether the dreys of the squirrel are adorned by bark. The destruction is done, it seems, purely for wantonness."
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