S52 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



ing ones seem to like the Miller's far woods best, where 

 there are oaks, hickories, and beech trees, but the Red 

 Squirrels live farther over toward our house, where the 

 trees mostly have cones and berries like spruces and 

 cedars, with choke cherries and hazel bushes growing 

 along the stone fences, and the Chipmunks live right 

 in the stone fence and under our woodshed. 



"I think tlie Flying Squirrel is the prettiest of them 

 all," continued Rap, pausing as if he did not know 

 exactly where to begin. " It has a dear little face with 

 very black eyes and a few long Avhiskers. It is a sort 

 of mousy gray on top and white underneath, and its 

 paws look like tiny bits of hands, with the tops of the 

 fingers swelled out, and it has long nails that are cov- 

 ered up by the fur." 



" Good ! " exclaimed the Doctor ; " how did you see 

 so much in the dark, which is the only time this Squir- 

 rel is out?" 



" I had one in a cage last winter ; the Miller's boy 

 gave it to me. It grcAv very tame, and I let it out in the 

 spring so it could go and find a mate and not be lonely, 

 but it came back to the house last summer and crawled 

 in my window. At first I thought it was a bat that had 

 flown in, and then I saw that it had a tail and no wings." 



''If it has no wings, how can it fly?" asked Dodo. 



"The skin of its back reaches down on its legs, the 

 same as if I put a blanket over my back and fastened it 

 to my wrists and ankles. It runs up to the top of a 

 tree, or out to the end of a branch, and gives a big jump 

 down or across to another tree. It doesn't really fly or 

 flap its arms as if they were wings, but spreads them to 

 keep from falling and catches the wind like a flat kite." 



