The Red Squirrel 157 
by hunger or some other cause, eat birds’ eggs or 
even young birds. Further, one squirrel may imi- 
tate another, and therefore in some particular local- 
ities the red squirrels may trouble nesting birds, 
while in another they do not. Hence arise the diffi- 
culties for unsuspecting readers, one eminent authority 
saying one thing, while another says exactly the 
opposite. Each may be right for his particular 
locality, but one should not judge that it is a universal 
habit of the species unless he has more knowledge 
on the subject than most men take the trouble to 
possess. 
Those who have tented in woods far removed from 
man’s influence must have observed the ungovern- 
able curiosity of the red squirrel. Within ten minutes 
after your camping outfit was landed, he was chatter- 
ing at you from the tree tops. Before you had the 
centre pole in place, he had descended to the lower 
branches. If he considered you a ‘squatter’ upon his 
territory, his language indicated it; but if he was 
pleased, his every action showed his approbation. 
You never made your camp fire so early, or replenished 
it so late at night, that the chickaree was not before 
and after you. Many a time I have been awakened 
in the early morning by the repeated calls and chuckles 
of this clown of the forest; nor was he always satisfied 
