Out of Place

Squirrels, of course, spoke the common hedgerow language of all animals, though with considerably more profanity than most. But despite the gifts of discovered caches and general friendliness or indifference on the part of the rabbits, the down’s squirrels were, quite frankly, pests. They pelted the rabbits with nuts when they went out to silflay. “Yah, groundlings!” they jeered, running down the trunks to shake their tails at their victims before racing back up. “Can’t climb tree, can’t jump-fly, yah!” and off they would go, chasing through the limbs and quarreling amongst themselves all the way.

One of Hazel’s favorite things about living on Watership Down was that there were so few trees, and therefore, so few squirrels.