SQUIRRELS rx 
the moment he got through with the first. They peel off 
the scales in succession, and nibble out the seeds with great 
rapidity. They leave their stock lying about under the tree, 
and only carry off one or two cones at atime. A little drying 
causes the scales to gape, and so facilitates the opening 
process. 
In the northern regions referred to, in addition to spruce 
seeds, the Chickaree appears to feed a good deal on certain 
brownish, mushroom-shaped fungi. These they seem to 
prefer in a partially dried or decomposed condition, for they 
carry them up and leave them for a time on the flat, spread- 
ing branches on the sunny sides of spruce or other fir trees. 
I have sometimes seen one of them making off with a fungus 
nearly as large as his own body. 
Constancy or CHarActeR.—No matter where you meet the 
Chickaree in the north country, he has precisely the same 
peculiarities of habit as elsewhere. In the depths of a dark 
spruce forest, which offers no temptations for a visit from 
even the few human inhabitants of these regions, and which 
it is pretty certain have never before been trodden by the 
foot of man, should you come suddenly upon a Chickaree, 
he greets you with the same saucy familiarity as he would if 
you disturbed him in a black- walnut tree on the borders of 
Lake Erie. After scolding the intruder, with his head 
peeping round the trunk of a tree, should you throw a stick 
at him, or make a feint to run to the side he is on, he will 
merely dodge you to the other side and get up a little higher 
before reconnoitring you again. 
Wintertnc.—In the northern regions under consideration 
the Chickaree appears to pass the coldest part of the winter 
in nests in hollows under stumps, or in fallen trees, and the 
Indians say that they come out and run about on fine days 
in any month. They make nests—sometimes as large out- 
side as a bushel measure—of moss, leaves, and a few small 
sticks, in the branches of trees in thickets, at moderate 
heights above the ground. These they appear to inhabit 
principally in the autumn and spring. 
Breepinc.—The Indians have sometimes told me that the 
squirrels have their young in the nests just referred to, but 
I have not verified this statement myself. Their season of 
heat is said to be the early spring, just when the snow 
begins to melt. They rear but one family each year. 
