The Red Squirrel 159 
really his friend, and after another attempt he would 
get inside again. “The ice once broken,” he would 
visit you regularly during your stay, accepting food 
of almost any kind. A few weeks of this, and you 
become very much attached to the mischievous little 
rascal, and after camp days are over, the recalling 
of his escapades is a pleasant memory. 
This same curiosity that endears him to the campers 
makes him a terror in the region of the trappers. 
In this connection Dr. C. Hart Merriam writes: 
“From an overhanging limb he looks on with 
unfeigned interest while the trapper arranges the 
bait for the marten or fisher; but a moment later he 
has sprung the trap, and is chippering with exulting 
derision at the result. He is often caught, it is true, 
but half a dozen others are always ready to take his 
Place, and it affords little satisfaction to the hunter, 
on his lonely rounds through the snow-clad forest, 
to find a worthless squirrel in his trap, instead of the 
valuable fur for which it was set.” 
The red squirrel has several enemies, but of these 
the most deadly are the hawk, the owl, and the weasel. 
The weasel is the most relentless of all, and by his 
sense of smell pursues the squirrel through the tree 
tops. The squirrel is by far the fleeter, but, for some 
reason not known, he apparently goes crazy when he 
