BISMARCK, THE RED SQUIRREL 



was risking my life, for he claimed that squir- 

 rels could eat poisonous varieties that might 

 kill human beings. I thought that the profes- 

 sor knew more about mushrooms than he did 

 about squirrels, so his warning was wasted on 

 me. Up to date I have found the squirrels all 

 right, and I feel no fear when eating what 

 they eat. 



For years I attended a squirrels' school, and 

 Bismarck was the schoolmaster. He taught 

 me many things relating to squirrel life. 

 Much of the knowledge acquired was wholly 

 unknown to me before. 



When Bismarck first introduced himself to 

 me I think he was an old bachelor or a 

 widower. Three years later he excavated a 

 storehouse in a bank, beneath a boulder, and 

 made a sleeping-nest in a pine-tree, both in 

 the dooryard. The storehouse was used but 

 little after the first winter. The next spring 

 he took to himself a mate, but did not intro- 

 duce her to the dooryard. Some distance 

 from the cabin, in a swamp, Bismarck's mate 

 made a neat little nest in a hemlock-tree. 

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