A HERMIT'S WILD FRIENDS 



farmers of that town never complained of 

 them, so far as I know. When we farmers 

 compared notes on bird destroyers we invari- 

 ably agreed upon crows, snakes, and weasels. 

 I have before me a book on nature, which 

 contains an account of the red squirrel. The 

 author tells in a delightful way about 

 the wild things, but some of his statements 

 are based on imagination instead of obser- 

 vation. He bitterly assails the red squirrel 

 as a nest-robber, but some things in his story 

 lead me to think he has culled the library for 

 his statements. This story may fit a chip- 

 munk : " that the squirrel brought six chest- 

 nuts to his store, which he emptied from his 

 * cheek pockets.' " I venture to say, that no 

 man living ever saw a red squirrel carry six 

 nuts at one mouthful. This squirrel has no 

 cheek pouches like the chipmunk, and usually 

 carries one nut, seldom two at a time. The 

 author has his very bad squirrel come to a bad 

 end. He was killed by five or six robins while 

 he was carrying off one of their fledgelings. 

 It is an excellent representation of swift ret- 

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