It is the same America as in the Borrowers movie, which has skunks and porcupines. Not hedgehogs, porcupines. I was quite cross.

I imagine the porcupines were a bit skeeved too, to discover they hadn't managed to shake the skunks in the journey.

England had skunks in the live-action 101 Dalmatians, as well.

I reserve my Mary Poppins- ire for the American robin that shows up singing at one point. Clearly this is some England in an alternate dimension, perhaps where it's a few miles offshore of Massachusetts.

Wow. So how do you know it's spring, without the red red robins a-bob-bob-bobbing along?

But those British robins are wicked cute. In fact, robin seems too plain a name for them. And if a UK immigrant named the American bird, it must have been before the widespread introduction of eyeglasses.

And if a UK immigrant named the American bird, it must have been before the widespread introduction of eyeglasses.

Heh. But, hey - York and New York - pretty gosh darned dissimilar. It's that whole so-bloody-homesick thing, I think.

Speaking of fauna in exotic countries, does the UK have squirrels? I see British-sounding tourists oohing and aahing over the tree rats in NY sometimes. But maybe they're not really British.

And compared to the Japanese tourists in Harvard Yard, who would go into high-pitched rhapsodies of cuteness overload over the tree rats, they were pretty sedate. But I'm still wondering.

Now I want a British robin. Sulk.

[link]

But we all know how well importing sparrows worked out. And starlings.

does the UK have squirrels?

Oh, you know not what a sore point this is. Yes, we have red squirrels native to these isles, as immortalised by Beatrix Potter in some of her children's books, and we have the bastard immigrant hardier-than hardy American grey squirrels who have pretty much eaten them out of house and home.

I've never ever seen a red squirrel. Grey squirrels are all over the place, but we do go "Oooh! Squirrels!" just the same as we go "Oooh! Urban foxes!" We're easily impressed.

American killer squirrels. Sheesh. Do you have the black mutation over there? They sometimes appear in grey litters and are really pretty. They're found in a lot of places in the eastern seaboard and every town that has them seems to think it's the only one that does. The mutation's common in NYC but there aren't any in Boston.

Then there's the famous white squirrels, most of whom seem to have dark eyes and aren't albinos. "Not one, but five towns use albino squirrels as their claims to fame, and none is particularly happy about the others." Naturally. BTW, Roadside America is a great site for an affectionate journey through the freaky side of America. I guess right here is the other great site.

You're welcome to go "Oooh! Squirrels!" but then you're supposed to use the squirrel gun.

I saw a bunch of black squirrels when I was camping in Ontario this summer.

And suddenly I'm flashing on the episode of Blackadder the third which featured Miranda Richardson as a highwaywoman. There was a squirrel-shooting sequence that had me giggling like a maniac.