SQUIRRELS 77 



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 a time. 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 OF 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. 



WINTERING. 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. 



BREEDING. 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, 



