The Life Story of a Squirrel. By T. C. Bridges.
(A. and C. Black. 6s.)—The charming autobiography of Scud' opens with his first lessons in jumping, and throughout the story we are kept in the most intimate acquaintance with the life of the young squirrel. We regard it as a singularly successful attempt to produce the atmosphere of a wood and the limited horizon of an animal. The environment of the squirrel—the trees, the weather, and the other creatures of the woodland—is touched broadly, yet missing no detail, and the sense of terror which man, to say nothing of weasels and cats, must convey to a squirrel is most skilfully suggested. With a feeling for landscape and colour and Nature generally, Mr. Bridges yet shows an understanding restraint in confining himself to such effects as may be supposed to affect a squirrel. It is a most delightful animal study with a very agreeable human element thrown in, not too much, though enough to overcome at the last the wild element of 'Scud.' No one can read this story, with its tragedies and pathos, short-lived as become the actors, without appreciating its delineations of woodland life, and regarding a squirrel with renewed interest, and perhaps understanding some of the sensations that must make the life of a squirrel as much an anxiety as a pleasure, and altogether strenuous. It is just the present to give to the better sort of boy or girl with an intelligent interest in animals.
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