228 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOKNIA 



buff on the belly, with a stripe of dark gray, nearly 

 black, separating the upper and under colors ; this 

 dividing stripe, however, is not very sharply de 

 nned. He has long black whiskers, which gives 

 him a rather fierce look when observed closely, 

 strong claws, sharp as fish-hooks, and the brightest 

 of bright eyes, full of telling speculation. 



A King's River Indian told me that they call him 

 " Pillillooeet," which, rapidly pronounced with the 

 first syllable heavily accented, is not unlike the 

 lusty exclamation he utters on his way up a tree 

 when excited. Most mountaineers in California 

 call him the Pine Squirrel ; and when I asked an 

 old trapper whether he knew our little forester, he 

 replied with brightening countenance : " Oh, yes, 

 of course I know him ; everybody knows him. 

 When I 'm huntin* in the woods, I often find out 

 where the deer are by his barkin' at 'em. I call 

 'em Lightnin' Squirrels, because they ? re so mighty 

 quick and peert." 



All the true squirrels are more or less birdlike in 

 speech and movements; but the Douglas is preem 

 inently so, possessing, as he does, every attribute 

 peculiarly squirrelish enthusiastically concen 

 trated. He is the squirrel of squirrels, flashing 

 from branch to branch of his favorite evergreens 

 crisp and glossy and undiseased as a sunbeam. 

 Give him wings and he would outfly any bird in 

 the woods. His big gray cousin is a looser animal, 

 seemingly light enough to float on the wind ; yet 

 when leaping from limb to limb, or out of one tree- 

 top to another, he sometimes halts to gather 

 strength, as if making efforts concerning the up- 



