Douglas squirrel
- noun
- US
:
ardilla de Douglas
- The Douglas squirrel is often seen climbing trees in search of food.
Examples
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Muir made his feelings for the Douglas squirrel clear when he wrote of how the Douglas "cheered his lonely wanderings" and of how much "humanity" he found in them.
Academic text (1994) -
For example, a hiker's perspective might be different from that of a small-game hunter because the qualities that make the Douglas squirrel a good hiking companion differ from those that make a squirrel a satisfying game animal.
Academic text (1994) -
How long the life of a Douglas squirrel may be, I don't know.
Academic text (1994) -
To answer that question, one must both read the essay and experience Douglas squirrels using Muir's techniques.
Academic text (1994) -
This notion of kinship informs his eulogy to the Douglas squirrel and provides the reader with yet another powerful lens with which to experience it.
Academic text (1994) -
To illustrate this theory in action, I analyzed Muir's essay on the Douglas squirrel (Teale, 1954).
Academic text (1994) -
While hiking in the Pacific Northwest, I spotted a Douglas squirrel gathering pine cones.
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The Douglas squirrel makes its nest high in the branches to avoid predators.
Synonyms
A small squirrel that lives in pine forests of the western United States
Surface Forms
Morphology
Douglas + squirrel
This is a straightforward noun + noun species name where the proper name 'Douglas' merely labels the type and 'squirrel' provides the core meaning; a learner who knows 'squirrel' will infer it is a kind of squirrel. Although they might not know the precise species details, the compositional pattern (X squirrel = a squirrel of type X) is common and cross-linguistically transparent.
Etymology
Douglas squirrel comes from the Scottish collector Douglas, David Douglas, who found the animal in Pacific forests in the 1800s and showed it to scientists. The word squirrel is the animal, so the name simply means 'the squirrel that Douglas found'.
