es laying flat upon the water, and
its splendid white flowers, just raising their heads above the surface;
the flowering-rush, which bears a bunch of beautiful pink blossoms on a
high tapering stem; and the buckbean, which, though at a distance it
does not look so grand as the other two, has such an exquisitely
beautiful fringe on its pinky-white flowers, that the most skilful
painter has never yet been able to produce even a tolerable imitation
of it.

Many other lovely plants there were growing round the pond, and in
other parts of this delightful little valley: plants which exceeded in
beauty many of those we cultivate with so much care in our gardens and
hot-houses. But when I began this little history I meant to write about
"Squirrels and other Animals," and not to give a description of plants.
We must therefore return to our friends in the oak-tree.

CHAPTER III.

After the departure of their children the squirrels felt, as you may
suppose, rather dull and lonely at first, but they very wisely made use
of a remedy for low spirits, which I would strongly recommend to you,
whenever you find yourself melancholy or uncomfortable in your mind
from any cause. And particularly when you are so, _without_ any
apparent cause; for we sometimes see people very dismal and melancholy,
when they have every good thing they can wish, and _ought_ to be
cheerful and happy. This wonderful and never failing remedy for low
spirits is _employment_! Try it, my dear melancholy young reader, and
whether you have a good reason for your sadness or not, you will at
least have met with something worth remembering in this history.

Our squirrels, then, instead of sitting moping side by side on a bough,
and grumbling out to each other, "What miserable creatures we are!"
instead of thus giving way to their melancholy thoughts, they
immediately began to make use of the _remedy_ I have mentioned. The
first thing they did was carefully to examine the nest, to see what
repairs it stood in need of. It would at any rate require a fresh
lining of moss and leaves; so all the old bedding, which I must confess
was rather dusty and untidy, was taken off, and kicked out of the hole,
together with a quantity of nut-shells and other rubbish, which had
been collecting there for some months. When this work was finished, it
was found that the under part, or groundwork of the nest, which
consisted of small twigs and fibres curiously interlaced, was ver