A HERMIT'S* WILD FRIENDS 



Bismarck dug them up, bit off the sprouts, 

 and buried them again. 



When the nut crop is a failure, the squir- 

 rels are face to face with a famine. Long 

 before the nut season approaches the squir- 

 rels know that they must depend on other 

 food for the winter's supply. During one 

 year of failure I carefully noted how Bis- 

 marck conducted himself, knowing that he 

 would teach me how the red squirrel provides 

 food when his main supply is cut off. When 

 September warned the squirrels that the sea- 

 son for providing food for winter was on, 

 Bismarck turned his attention to the corn in 

 the dooryard. Years before he had stored 

 corn, when he was obliged to compete with 

 the blue jays and chipmunks. The latter could 

 carry away from fourteen to nineteen grains, 

 while Bismarck's load was but two grains. He 

 soon evened things up by hiding corn in the 

 dooryard, or near it. When the supply was 

 exhausted, and the blue jays and chipmunks 

 had disappeared, Bismarck would dig up his 

 corn and carry it home. It was sharp prac- 

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