SQUIRRELS AND OTHER 

 FUR-BEARERS 



SQUIRRELS 



WALKING through the early October woods 

 one day, I came upon a place where the ground 

 was thickly strewn with very large unopened 

 chestnut burrs. On examination I found that 

 every burr had been cut square off with about 

 an inch of the stem adhering, and not one had 

 been left on the tree. It was not accident, 

 then, but design. Whose design ? A squirrel's. 

 The fruit was the finest I had ever seen in the 

 woods, and some wise squirrel had marked it for 

 his own. The burrs were ripe, and had just 

 begun to divide. The squirrel that had taken 

 all this pains had evidently reasoned with himself 

 thus : " Now, these are extremely fine chestnuts, 

 and I want them ; if I wait till the burrs open 

 on the tree, the crows and jays will be sure to 

 carry off a great many of the nuts before they 



