A TREE-TOP AERONAUT 175 



his natural history books. His idea was to 

 catch one, keep it a while, win its confidence, 

 study it, and then give it back its freedom 

 before it had time to forget how to take 

 care of itself among the perils of freedom. 

 That very afternoon, therefore, he had re- 

 turned to the " squirr'l tree," carrying a 

 spacious trap cage of strong wire a cage of 

 two chambers, in which he had already kept 

 with success both red-squirrels and ground- 

 squirrels. The second or inner chamber was 

 the regulation revolving wire cylinder, de- 

 signed to give the little captive such strenu- 

 ous exercise as it might crave, and to divert 

 its thoughts from its captivity. The door 

 was a wide trap, opening upwards and out- 

 wards, and shutting with a powerful spring 

 at the least touch upon the trigger within. 

 Beyond the trigger the boy had fixed a varied 

 bait, cunningly calculated to the vagaries 

 of the squirrel appetite. There were sweet 

 nut-kernels securely tied down, a fragrant 

 piece of apple, a bit of green corn-ear, and a 

 crisp morsel of bacon rind. 



The boy had no means of knowing whether 

 the flying-squirrel was like his red cousin or 

 not, in the matter of a taste for meat. But 

 he felt sure that some one or another of these 

 scented dainties would prove too much for 



