AN ACCOUNT WITH NATURE 121 



mention a cowbird, which I wish they had devoured 

 have also hatched and flown away from nests that 

 these squirrels might easily have rifled. 



It is not often that one comes upon even the red 

 squirrel in the very act of robbing a nest. But the 

 black snake, the glittering fiend! and the dear 

 house cats ! If I run across a dozen black snakes in 

 the early summer, it is safe to say that six of them 

 are discovered to me by the cries of the birds that 

 they are robbing. So is it with the cats. No creature 

 larger than a June-bug, however, is often distressed 

 by a chipmunk. In a recent letter to me Mr. Bur- 

 roughs says : 



"No, I never knew the chipmunk to suck or de- 

 stroy eggs of any kind, and I have never heard of 

 any well-authenticated instance of his doing so. 

 The red squirrel is the sinner in this respect, and 

 probably the gray squirrel also." 



It will be difficult to find a true bill against him. 

 Were the evidence all in, I believe that instead of a 

 culprit we should find Chipmunk a useful citizen. 

 Does not that pile of June-bug bodies on the flat 

 stone leave me still in debt to him ? He may err 

 occasionally, and may, on occasion, make a nuisance 

 of himself but so do my four small boys, bless 

 them ! And, well, who doesn't? When a family 

 of chipmunks, which you have fed all summer on 

 the veranda, take up their winter quarters inside the 

 closed cabin, and chew up your quilts, hammocks, 



