Evening star., 1946-10-09
This and That
By Charles +. TrnceUell.

Several persons have asked this col
umn what to do when they find baby
squirrel fallen out of the nest?
The best thing to do is to give the
young one back to its mother.
That is just common sense.
Even If the squirrel mother Is not
visible, she Is most likely somewhere in
the vicinity, keeping an eagle-er-
squirrel eye on the proceedings.
Mother squirrels, much more than
their mates, watch over the young.
There is seldom baby falls from the
nest but the mother knows about it.
Feel sure Of that, all ye tender-hearted
people whose kindness keeps the world
going round. It isn't atomic energy,
or force Of arms, or rulings, orders or
directives. You can be pretty sure about
that, too. It is love, and no one need
feel ashamed of 1t. Today we have so
much science that at times we feel
afraid Of love.
When you find baby squirrel on the
ground, either fallen out or blown out
by wind, first look around for the nest.
This is big affair, usually 20 or 80
feet high, looking for all the world like
q huge bird nest.
Often from below it resembles q mere
mass of leaves, faded and gray, but it
probably houses squirrel family.
II this nest is seen, look then for
convenient fork in the tree, where the
baby may be placed with some pros
poets of safety.
II the creature cannot walk, as Is
often the case, the fork is essential, for
there it may lie at full length.
II you like animals and have never
held very young squirrel, this is quite
an experience The tail is about the
same length as the body. The mite
scarcely resembles the squirrel he is
going to be. He Is gray and very warm
and utterly dependent upon his mother.
Usually she Is aloft, watching every
move below. Sometimes she is so con-
cerned that she begins the barking noise
squirrels make when angry.
But when she cannot find her baby
she keens an altogether different sort
of sound, unlike anything else in ma
ture, cross between sob and wall.
This is a sad sound, one which would
be known anywhere for what 1t is, the
cry of mother for a lost child.
After looking the situation over, she
finally sees the baby.
This is the advantage Of placing it in
q crotch, where it may be seen from
above.
As soon as she sees him, the mother
runs down and fondles the little one.
- f,y11 Ct0
on limb, where she can get at him
easily, and carefully licks him all over.
This is instinct at work. She has no
conscious knowledge that the little one
must be kept warm, but does 1t because
an inner urge makes her do the right
thing at the right moment.
Then, like q mother cat with kitten,
she takes the baby by the back of the
neck and runs 1t back to the nest.
\ \
# the young squirrel is large enough
to walk, 1t probably will make Its own
way the moment its feet touch bark.
Bark is the great highway Of the
squirrel world.
The touch Of this is just the same as
concrete to the city child, turf to the
country boy.
It is the way that leads back home.
Even If thesright tree is not selected
the person on the ground may feel
pretty sure that the mother will find
the baby, and even If it wanders around
the trunk and larger branches.
She is looking for it every minute
and nature would not be on the job II
she did not find 1t.
II the baby Is still seen after four
hours, 1t may be necessary to bring II
up by hand. Modifed milk with one
third water and . bit Of sugar) Is fed
every hour with Z medicine dropper.