WHO DID IT ?
Who introduced the grey squirrel to Britain ? It is commonly said that the crime was perpetrated (or the benefit conferred) by Lord Lilford and the Duke of Bedford, who as an abettor of the Zoo released it in London as well as in Bedfordshire. It has been stated this week that there are records of its existence in England more than a century ago. A similar controversy has arisen in regard to the little owl. sometimes called the Spanish owl, as the squirrel is culled the Carolina squirrel. Whoever may have first introduced either or both, the multiplication of both is tolerably recent. In the case of the owl (a bird in which Lord Lilford delighted) its spread over the country was due to a very few imported pairs. A greater number of the squirrels were released, the greatest number, I think, at Woburn, where they became a nuisance, a cause of destruction to birds' nests, and were annihilated.
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