THE OOLOGIST 



25 



when after twenty minutes he came 

 out and I got him. 



Farther on a fine jet-black fellow 

 started off on the ground from behind 

 some logs but he was in range and I 

 got him on the run. Not long after- 

 wards I heard a racket in the dry. 

 leaves and coming my way. Standing 

 still I saw a black squirrel coming in 

 a great hurry. As there seemed to be 

 nothing pursuing him I took him along 

 with me. 



After going a long ways I saw off 

 to one side a black squirrel going up 

 a pine tree. Going over I sat down 

 a while and soon got him. Shortly 

 after I saw another go up a large oak, 

 but although I sat there for some time 

 this one failed to appear again. While 

 watching these two last places I saw 

 a few birds. Red-bellied Nuthatches 

 were fairly common, also Jays, Chick- 

 adees, a few Juncos and now and then 

 a Hairy or a Downy Woodpecker. But 

 it was rather late for many migrants. 



By this time it was quite warm so 

 selecting a place I sat down a while. 

 Red or pine squirrels were abundant 

 all day and quite noisy and active. 1 

 had been sitting on an old log when 

 I heard a racket among the fallen 

 leaves on the ground below me and 

 very soon on a large stub I saw a 

 black squirrel going at full speed and 

 close at his heels was a red squirrel. 

 1 was just raising my gun when right 

 down past me came a large noiseless 

 object that turned out to be a Barred 

 Owl. Straight at the two squirrels he 

 plunged. The black was the sharpest 

 of the two and went down under the 

 stub and into a hole that was handy. 

 But the Red sprang to a tree where 

 by a sudden upward swoop of the Owl 

 he was quickly picked off. The Owl 

 evidently didn't like my presence for 

 he kept right on going with his vic- 

 tim. As squirrels were quite plentiful 

 I let this black one go and going on 



further I sat down at another likely 

 look place. 



At this place there was a big dead 

 hemlock which the Pileated Wood- 

 peckers were working on and I had 

 not been there long until along came 

 a Pileated and began business on the 

 dead tree. A great deal of the bark 

 had been hammered off and the ground 

 was littered by it. I watched the 

 Pileated working and the red squirrel 

 chasing around until a black squirrel 

 came along then I took Mr. Black 

 along with me. 



I was now getting into rougher 

 woods and near the first of my traps, 

 when I glimpsed what looked to be a 

 fine gray squirrel running off on the 

 ground. I raced it away and concluded 

 it had gone up a big stub among some 

 hemlocks so I sat down for a while 

 and got a very large and finely marked 

 gray squirrel. It was fine fur and had 

 considerable rusty color, also a black 

 throat and breast so I kept it in good 

 shape and mounted it for my col- 

 lection. I saw several more squirrels 

 afterwards but as this made six I was 

 done with squirrels for that day. I 

 looked at a couple of traps but with 

 no results, but saw a very large flock 

 of Crows flying over and a belated 

 Red-shouldered Hawk circling about. 

 Then I came to a water set and found 

 my first catch — a skunk. He was 

 drowned all right but was a sweet 

 smelling object nevertheless. As it 

 was a skunk I was after I left him in 

 the water to rinse off so I could get 

 my traps off the next trip. 



As I drew near a water set in a 

 little spring run, I saw a red fox hard 

 and fast. It was an old dog and in 

 as handsome fur as any I ever saw 

 in midwinter. It sure was a beauty. 

 At a trap set in the edge of a slash- 

 ing but in the heavy timber I had a 

 good large porcupine. This trap was 

 set for wildcat so I used the "porky" 



