XXXV.—Squirrels.details

There are few readers that are not as well acquainted with the figure of a squirrel as that of the rabbit; but supposing it unknown to any, we might give them some idea of its form, by comparing it to a rabbit, with shorter ears, and a longer tail. The tail indeed, is alone sufficient to distinguish it from all otherss, as it is extremely long, beautiful, and busy, spreading like a fan, and which, when thrown up behind, covers the whole body. This serves the little animal for a double purpose; when erected, it serves, like an umbrella, as a secure protection from the injuries of the heat and cold; and when extended, it is very instrumental in promoting those vast leaps that the squirrel takes from tree to tree; nay, some assert that it answers still a third purpose, and when the squirrel takes the water, which is sometimes does upon a piece of back, that its tail serves it instead of a sail. (p. 431)