of 



haste to be off, but usually some one is overtaken 

 and knocked sprawling with an accompanying 

 rapid fire of denunciation. 



One day I watched a single harvester who was 

 busily, happily working. He cut off a number of 

 cones before descending to gather them. These 

 scattered widely like children playing hide-and- 

 seek. One hid behind a log; another bounced 

 into some brush and stuck two feet above the 

 ground, while two others scampered far from the 

 tree. The squirrel went to each in turn without 

 the least hesitation or search and as though he 

 had been to each spot a dozen times before. 



A squirrel often displays oddities both in the 

 place selected for storing the cones and the man- 

 ner of their arrangement. Usually the cones are 

 wisely hoarded both for curing and for preserva- 

 tion, by being stored a few in a place. This may 

 be beneath a living tree or in an open space, 

 placed one layer deep in the loose forest litter 

 scarcely below the general level of the surface. 

 They are also stowed both in and upon old logs 

 and stumps. Sometimes they are placed in little 

 nests with a half-dozen or so cones each ; often 



326 



