BISMARCK, THE RED SQUIRREL 



that a gale of wind did not dislodge the pieces 

 of bread which the squirrel had stored on the 

 limbs of a hemlock-tree. I found that each 

 piece was held in place by a small twig. Scores 

 of times afterward I saw Bismarck lift up a 

 twig with his hands and then push the piece 

 of bread with his nose to the junction of twig 

 and limb. Of course the natural spring of the 

 twig held the bread in place. 



Bismarck always stored mushrooms in the 

 trees, for he knew that the blue jays did not 

 eat such food. He would drop the stem of the 

 mushroom between the prongs of a forked 

 limb, if there was cap enough left to hold the 

 same in place, otherwise he treated it just as 

 he would a piece of bread. 



How Bismarck acquired a knowledge of the 

 edible mushrooms is a mystery beyond my 

 powers. Doubtless, when he attended the 

 Chickaree College, he studied natural history 

 instead of the dead languages. He knew how 

 to harvest mushrooms. He gathered them 

 soon after they appeared above the ground. 

 Gathered thus, they would keep several days, 

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