THE DOUGLAS SQUIBKEL 241 



imagine. A year or two after this High Sierra 

 concert, I was sitting one fine day on a hill in the 

 Coast Bange where the common Ground Squirrels 

 were abundant. They were very shy on account of 

 being hunted so much ; but after I had been silent 

 and motionless for half an hour or so they began to 

 venture out of their holes and to feed on the seeds 

 of the grasses and thistles around me as if I were 

 no more to be feared than a tree-stump. Then it 

 occurred to me that this was a good opportunity to 

 find out whether they also disliked "Old Hun 

 dredth." Therefore I began to whistle as nearly as 

 I could remember the same familiar airs that had 

 pleased the mountaineers of the Sierra. They at 

 once stopped eating, stood erect, and listened pa 

 tiently until I came to "Old Hundredth," when 

 with ludicrous haste every one of them rushed to 

 their holes and bolted in, their feet twinkling in 

 the air for a moment as they vanished. 



No one who makes the acquaintance of our for 

 ester will fail to admire him ; but he is far too self- 

 reliant and warlike ever to be taken for a darling. 



How long the life of a Douglas Squirrel may be, 

 I don't know. The young seem to sprout from 

 knot-holes, perfect from the first, and as enduring 

 as their own trees. It is difficult, indeed, to realize 

 that so condensed a piece of sun-fire should ever 

 become dim or die at all. He is seldom killed by 

 hunters, for he is too small to encourage much of 

 their attention, and when pursued in settled regions 

 becomes excessively shy, and keeps close in the 

 furrows of the highest trunks, many of which are of 

 the same color as himself. Indian boys, however, 



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