each morniiiL^ and as we ate the squirrel proceeded to 

 fill himself with rolled oats, which we always placed 

 there for him. On one occasion he came to the middle 

 of the table and looked over our breakfast menu. Evi- 

 dently not liking the looks of our trout and flapjacks, 

 he returned to the other end of the table and disap- 

 peared in the box of oats. Within ten days he w^ould 

 come and feed from our hands. Although accused of 

 destroying the nests, eggs and young of birds, as well 

 as exterminating the gray squirrel there is consider- 

 able evidence to show that the damage done by the 

 red squirrel is over-estimated. The diet usually con- 

 sists of nuts, berries, fruits, pine seeds and fungi, al- 

 though there are occasional cases in which other ani- 

 mals are eaten. Quite frequently, blue jays and rodents 

 rob him of his winter supply of food when he is care- 

 less enough to store it in accessible places. John Bur- 

 roughs pays tribute to the cleverness which the red 

 squirrel employs in gnawing butter nuts on the side 

 where the kernel is exposed and where less labor is 

 necessary to reach it. 



The red squirrel seems to prefer coniferous 

 woods and is sometimes called the Pine Squirrel. It 

 nests in a hollow tree or under the roots. In summer 

 it builds an outside home high above the ground. This 

 nest is irregular in shape and is composed of leaves 

 and vines. It resembles an old crow's nest. In fact, the 

 red squirrel often modifies old nests and utilizes them 

 for summer nests. It^ is said that he is quite fond of 

 maple syrup and he is accused of tapping sugar trees. 



While it is somewhat of a nuisance in that it does 

 not tolerate other squirrels in its domain, it is undoubt- 

 edly the most interesting of the group. 



-*jH[ 121 ^i*- 



