“I thought you children would leave me nothing to find out; but I see something which you have missed. Here, Frank, take the glasses and see if you can find it. Look at the fork of the tree just below where the squirrels are.” “I see something like a nest,” said Frank. “I noticed that before, but I thought it was a rook’s nest.” “Nay,” said his uncle, “it is a squirrel’s nest. Rooks build on the very top branches of trees, and you never see one rook’s nest without a lot of others near it. Besides, the rook’s nest is a rough flat nest, while this is a round one with a roof on it, and a hole in the side to let the squirrels out and in.” “Then that other squirrel must have come out of the nest,” said Frank. “Just so,” said Uncle George. “That is Mrs Squirrel. She has come out to get some food, and her little husband will look after the family while she is away hunting for nuts and buds and soft green bark. “If we could get up to that nest, we should find it to be built of twigs and moss cleverly woven together. “The inside is lined with soft warm moss and dry leaves. We should, most likely, find four or more tiny squirrels cuddled up together inside. Blind, naked, helpless things they are at first. But they soon grow up, and their long bare tails become bushy. Then the little mother teaches them to climb and find food for themselves. Should one of them fall, she springs down and carries it up to the nest in her mouth, just as a cat carries her kittens. “By autumn these young squirrels will be quite as clever as their parents. Autumn is the squirrel’s busy time. He has to prepare for the long winter, for no nuts are to be found then. So the squirrel gathers in his harvest of nuts. These he hides in secret places buried in the ground. He usually has more than one storing-place. In fact, he sometimes has so many that he forgets about some of them.” “We never see squirrels in winter,” said Tom. “No, because the squirrel sleeps the whole winter through. After he has gathered his harvest, he looks for a snug hole deep under an old tree-stump. This he lines with dry leaves and pieces of bark. When the weather becomes very cold he seeks his winter nest, coils his body up so that his great tail is folded almost right round him, and falls fast asleep. Cold makes him drowsy, but warmth wakes him up. On a mild winter’s day he wakes up, crawls out of his hole, and visits his store of nuts. After he has made a good meal of them, he goes back to his bed again, and sleeps on until hunger and mild weather wake him up. “During autumn the squirrel’s coat is very pretty. It is of a deep, rich brown colour, and very thick. His tail is then very large and bushy, and he is quite fat and sleek. “When he comes out of his sleeping quarters in spring he is thin and hungry. His coat is then a very pale brown.” “What does he do for food in spring?” asked Tom. “There are no nuts to be found then.”