OF SQUIRRELS, ROOKS, AND NUTHATCHES E . C . GREEN RED SQUIRRELS, from the neighbouring pine plantation, hav'e been regulär visitors to the garden and hazel copse for many years. Within five miles of the centre of Ipswich, this Valley remains quite unspoiled. The quiet and seclusion of trees, copse, and meadowland support a high and varied wild-life population.
From their dreys in the pine trees the red squirrels pass down the far side of the rough meadow keeping to the middle levels of the oak and ash trees. At the tall poplar by the brook they change direction. Presently they are seen approaching the hawthorn hedge through the tops of the elm saplings. There is a commotion in the long herbaceous border, a pause for reconnaisance, then a scamper across the lawn over the last lap to the hazels. From September onwards, until the Coming of the frosts, many a nut cache is made beneath the hazels, in the flowerbeds, and even on the lawns, where they do not appear to bury more than one nut in any given spot. As winter sets in you can often watch them, during open weather, digging for the liidden nuts. The indications are that this is done by sense of smell rather than by any exercise of memory. Much of the stored treasure is missed altogether, and removal of the hazel seedlings from every conceivable part of the small estate is a regulär spring task. The notion of winter hibernation is, of course, a fallacy. Birdtables are fixed beneath the kitchen window, and to the trunk of an old pear tree on the lawn. With the onset of cold weather these are replenished daily with breadcrusts and birdfood, and with a ration of hazelnuts collected during the autumn for this purpose. As time goes on the squirrels become bolder, and in the case of certain individuals, remarkably tarne. You can move about your business in the kitchen, with a squirrel on the tray just outside the window, only a few feet away, and he will carry on attending to his nuts provided no sudden movement is made. The trays are never occupied by more than one individual at a time. Often there are several about, in the surrounding trees, but they do not hunt in couples—each takes his turn. Our windows are seldom shut, and provided all is quiet, exploration to the kitchen table, and even further, is not uncommon. Toby, the dog, however, classes all rodents together and acts according to his lights. Happily, his desires outstrip his agility, and the squirrels remain unharmed. Sometimes, after a good meal, the visitor will sit up in conventional attitude, with his tail over his back, tapping with his forepaws at the window pane. The nature of glass remains a mystery to wild creatures, and it seems
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likely that he is attracted by his own reflection. Robins will behave in much the same way, fluttering at the windowpane, and thereby giving rise to many a Suffolk superstition. Our red squirrels are silent at all times except when chasing each other round the tree trunks. Then, by reason of mating, or territorial aspirations, a pair will pursue each other at incredible speed, spiralling up and down the trunks and taking unbelievable leaps from one tree to another. All this activity is to the accompaniment of much scolding and chattering, but never appears to lead to actual battle. T h e y never miss a foothold. T h e young are distinguished from their eiders and betters by lighter coats and skimpy undeveloped tails and eartufts. Hazelnuts are opened by an incredibly rapid movement of the incisors in a matter of four to six seconds, and those taken by red squirrels are readily distinguished from those opened, very much more slowly, but our resident nuthatches. These birds have nested in an old tree, in the vegetable garden, for eight successive years, always using the same hole and plastering with fresh mud every April until a uniform entrance diameter of 27 m m . is achieved. This admits the nuthatches, but not the intrusive starlings and sparrows who would otherwise evict them. For some reason titmice do not compete. T h e nest hole faces east, only 5 feet from ground level, overtopped by convenient boughs which provide an excellent approach route. Every year a Single brood of four to five young is reared. These are ready to fly by early June. As soon as they are clear of the nest they are taken by the parent birds to an adjacent thicket, where they remain, unseen, for a week or so, before appearing independently or with the parents in the trees around the cottage. Then, it would appear, some mysterious agreement is reached as to who shall go and who shall stay. By early spring only one pair of nuthatches remains, to continue the breeding cycle for another year. Certain clearly defined horizontal boughs are regularly used to wedge and open the hazelnuts. Nuthatches frequently leave the trees to feed upon adjacent newly dug ground. In open weather, during the winter, when nuts are put out for the squirrels, these are taken in the bill and carried to the soft ground for further attention. There follows a rain of blows with the bill, whereupon the nut gradually disappears beneath the surface. At this, a disconcerted, sadder, but not much wiser nuthatch abandons the unequal struggle and returns hopefully to the tray for further supplies. Not many days ago, just as the nuts were ripe and rattling down on to the carpet of last year's dead leaves, the Situation underwent a change. Our attention had been drawn to an unusual commotion in the tops of the hazels, and investigation revealed the
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presence of a large and very active grey squirrel. It was the first we had seen in the Valley. Our hearts sank. These most unwelcome pests may have arrived in the pine plantation earlier in the year, for we had lately fancied that our red squirrels were fewer and less frequent in their visits to the copse. Now, presumably, there will be a contest for territory and all experience indicates that the grey invaders will win. If the red squirrel now disappears it will not be easy to connect cause and effect. Within recent years a colony of rooks has established itself nearby, not, as one would expect, in tall elms, but in the squirrel's pine plantation, where nests and dreys are to be seen in the same group of trees. T h e birds have prospered and multiplied until, now, there are probably at least a hundred individuals in the rookery. Eventually the attention of the farming Community was attracted, and a sporting occasion arranged. The guns met one evening and made for the plantation, where they adopted the widespread but questionable practice of firing upward through the nests. The parent birds rose in a cloud and circled overhead, cawing loudly, but after several bursts of fire they moved off to safety. Meantime, to the nestlings killed outright, must be added the scores of others merely wounded and left to die a lingering death. It is not within the bounds of probability that any distinction was made between nests and dreys and it is greatly to be feared that the new generation of squirrels suffered with the rooks. After an hour or more of this entertainment, the sportsmen made their way homeward to supper and bed, and, no doubt, to quite untroubled slumbers. There remained for us sombre reflection upon the fate of the wounded nestlings, and of the occupants of the squirrel dreys. E. C. Green, Meadow Cottage, Playford, near Ipswich.