Mammal Study 239 



May 26 He holds the bowl of the spoon with both front paws while 

 he drinks the milk. When I try to draw the spoon away, to fill it again 

 after he has emptied it, he objects and hangs on to it with all his little 

 might, and scolds as hard as ever he can. He is such a funny, unreason- 

 able baby . 



May 28 To-night I gave Furry a walnut meat. As soon as he smelled 

 it he became greatly excited; he grasped the meat in his hands and ran off 

 and hid under my elbow, growling like a kitten with its first mouse. 



May 30 Since he tasted nuts he has lost interest in milk. The nut 

 meats are too hard for his new teeth, so I mash them and soak them in 

 water and now he eats them like a little piggy-wig with no manners at all. 

 He loves to have me stroke his back while he is eating. He uses his 

 thumbs and fingers in such a human way that I always call his front paws, 

 hands. When his piece of nut is very small he holds it in one hand and 

 clasps the other hand behind the one which holds the dainty morsel, so as 

 to keep it safe. 



May 31 When he is sleepy, he scolds if I disturb him and turning over 

 on his back, bats my hand with all of his soft little paws and pretends that 

 he is going to bite. 



June 4 Furry ranges around the room now to please himself. He is a 

 little mischief; he tips over his cup of milk and has commenced gnawing 

 off the wall paper behind the book-shelf to make him a nest. The paper is 

 green and will probably make him sorry. 



June 5 This morning Furry was hidden in a roll of paper. I put my 

 hand over one end of the roll and then reached in with the other hand to 

 get him; but he got me instead, because he ran up my sleeve and was 

 much more contented to be there than I was to have him. I was glad 

 enough when he left his hiding place and climbed to the top shelf of the 

 bookcase, far beyond my reach. 



June 6 I have not seen Furry for twenty-four hours, but he is here 

 surely enough. Last night he tipped over the ink bottle and scattered 

 nut shells over the floor. He prefers pecans to any other nuts. 



June 7 I caught Furry to-day and he bit my finger so it bled. But 

 afterwards, he cuddled in my hand for a long time, and then climbed my 

 shoulder and went hunting around in my hair and wanted to stay there 

 and make a nest. When I took him away, he pulled out his two hands 

 full of my devoted tresses. I'll not employ him as a hairdresser. 



June 9 Furry sleeps nights in the top drawer of my desk; he crawls 

 in from behind. When I pull out the drawer, he pops out and scares me 

 nearly out of my wits ; but he keeps his wits about him and gets away 

 before I can catch him. 



June 20 I keep the window open so Furry can run out and in and 

 learn to take care of himself out-of-doors. 



Furry soon learned to take care of himself, though he often returned 

 for nuts, which I kept for him in a bowl. He does not come very near me 

 out-of-doors, but he often speaks to me in a friendly manner from a cer- 

 tain pitch pine tree near the house. 



There are many blank leaves in Furry's note-book. I wish that he 

 could have written on these of the things that he thought about me and 

 my performances. It would certainly have been the most interesting 

 book concerning squirrels in the world. 



