THE SQUIRREL. 



AMONG quadrupeds there is none that appears to 

 enjoy its life more heartily, and to exhibit so much 

 playful gaiety of disposition, as the squirrel. It is the 

 type of liberty and freedom, of an airy joyousness, bound 

 down neither by rule nor method, an incarnation of 

 Bohemianism, and an existence free from labour, care, and 

 restraint. The bird may have as joyous a life during the 

 summer, but in winter its lot, if it tarry in northern climes, 

 is a hard one indeed, while if it migrate south it has a 

 long, arduous, and perilous journey to undertake, a journey 

 to which countless thousands fall victims. The squirrel is 

 free from these vicissitudes. In summer he frisks and frolics 

 among the foliage of the woods, and during winter he sleeps 

 away the time, snugly ensconced in the hollow of a tree, 

 waking up only occasionally to feed upon the hoard of 

 nuts or grain that he has providently stored away in 

 anticipation of that time. 



That the squirrel, with its pretty ways, its alertness, its 

 activity, its bright eyes, soft coat, and bushy tail, has not 

 become one of man's greatest pets is due to the squirrel 

 itself. However tame and affectionate it may become and 

 it is capable of becoming both in a high degree it is given to 

 sudden alarms, and will then on an instant make its teeth 

 meet in the hand that holds it, the effect being similar to 

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