278 SHARP EYES 



The red squirrel, aloft in his den, sets an example of 

 providence which his bigger gray neighbor has persist- 

 ently ignored. Every day last autumn he might have 

 been seen packing away his provender of nuts, apples, 

 etc., into secret chinks and crannies high above ground 

 against the coming snow-bound days. The gray squirrel 

 has doubtless had the benefit of much of his wisdom, 

 but it is doubtful whether he has taken his hint even to 

 the extent of a hazel-nut. These winter outings, there- 

 fore, are not primarily for pleasure, but for clire neces- 

 sity. Let us observe our squirrel carefully. There he 

 goes in graceful bounds across the snow, his sensitive 

 plumy tail in every movement expressive of its homage 

 to the line of beauty. Now he pauses and seems to 

 scent the snow-flakes, and in a moment more, evidently 

 satisfied with his bearings, he begins to burrow like a 

 woodchuck, and is soon lost to sight. Now he reap- 

 pears at the mouth of the burrow with a pine-cone in 

 his teeth, and in the tree-top near by he quickly extracts 

 its seeds while the cone scales litter the snow beneath. 



"Wonderful sagacity this! How did he spot that 

 cone so accurately through six inches or a foot of 

 snow?" So exclaims the ordinary observer. So ex- 

 claimed the present writer on more than one occasion, 

 until at last the true significance of the episode was 

 revealed. 



My squirrel on this occasion, which I can hardly con- 

 sider exceptional, had already brought one cone from 

 the hole and devoured its seeds. He then descended 

 from his tree, and procured another. But did he dis- 

 cover it through the snow, and dig as above described? 

 Not at all. He entered the burrow, and soon appeared 

 with his second cone. Were there then two cones at 



