AUTUMN FLOWERS, SQUIRRELS. 253 



Nothing can be more graceful than their scalloped 

 lines of flight along a tree bough. 



The gray squirrel is a sociable little animal who 

 likes the company of a man with a few nuts in his 

 pocket. One can not walk across the square in Rich- 

 mond, Va., without encountering two or three tame 

 individuals who regard a man as a species of ani- 

 mated nut tree created for his especial benefit ! 



If we will watch a squirrel closely we may ob- 

 serve him tuck away two or three small nuts in his 

 cheeks and carry another in his teeth. Last summer 

 one of my friendly chipmunks made six journeys 

 within two hours from a certain corner of the house 

 to his nest beneath a fence post by the road, for the 

 purpose of transferring his summer stores. One 

 would suppose upon beholding his bulgy cheeks that 

 he was afflicted with a severe form of mumps. 



The flying squirrel (Sciuropterus volucella) is a 

 tiny, gray, silky-furred creature, often made a great 

 pet of. His eyes are round and liquid, and his 

 chubby little face is expressively intelligent. This 

 squirrel is a most remarkable trapezist ; he takes a 

 flying leap from the top of one tree to another, and 

 covers forty or fifty feet with ease. It is recorded 

 that he can leap one hundred and fifty feet ! He is 

 active mostly at sundown, and sleeps during a greater 

 part of the day. A little pet I once owned would 



