THE DOUGLAS SQUIRREL 237 



screaming of the Clark Crow, and the rustling of 

 deer and bears among the chaparral, he is quick 

 to detect your strange footsteps, and will hasten to 

 make a good, close inspection of you as soon as 

 you are still. First, you may hear him sounding a 

 few notes of curious inquiry, but more likely the 

 first intimation of his approach will be the prickly 

 sounds of his feet as he descends the tree overhead, 

 just before he makes his savage onrush to frighten 

 you and proclaim your presence to every squirrel 

 and bird in the neighborhood. If you remain per 

 fectly motionless, he will come nearer and nearer, 

 and probably set your flesh a-tingle by frisking 

 across your body. Once, while I was seated at the 

 foot of a Hemlock Spruce in one of the most in 

 accessible of the San Joaquin yosemites engaged 

 in sketching, a reckless fellow came up behind me, 

 passed under my bended arm, and jumped on my 

 paper. And one warm afternoon, while an old friend 

 of mine was reading out in the shade of his cabin, 

 one of his Douglas neighbors jumped from the 

 gable upon his head, and then with admirable as 

 surance ran down over his shoulder and on to the 

 book he held in his hand. 



Our Douglas enjoys a large social circle; for, 

 besides his numerous relatives, Sciurus fossor, Ta- 

 mias quadrivitatus, T. Townsendii, Spermophilus 

 Beechcyi, S. Douglasii, he maintains intimate rela 

 tions with the nut-eating birds, particularly the 

 Clark Crow (Picicorvus columbianus) and the nu 

 merous woodpeckers and jays. The two spermo- 

 philes are astonishingly abundant in the lowlands 

 and lower foot-hills, but more and more sparingly 



