244 November 1748, 



different forts of oak which grow here \ but 

 maize is what they are moft greedy of. The 

 ground in the woods is in autumn covered with 

 acorns, and all kinds of nuts which drop from 

 the numerous trees ; of thefe the fquirrels gather 

 great ftores for winter, which they lay up in holes 

 dug by them for that purpofe : they likewife 

 carry a great quantity of them into their nefts. 



As foon as winter comes, the fnow and cold 

 confines them to their holes for feveral days, 

 efpecially when the weather is very rough. Du^ 

 ring this time they confume the little ftore which 

 they have brought to their nefts : as foon there- 

 fore as the weather grows milder, they creep out, 

 and dig out part of the ftore which they have laid 

 up in the ground : of this they eat fome on the 

 fpot, and carry the reft into their nefts on the 

 trees. We frequently obferved, that, in winter, 

 at the eve of a great froft, when there had been 

 fome temperate weather, the fquirrels, a day or 

 two before the froft, ran about the woods in 

 greater numbers than common, partly in order 

 to eat their fill, and partly to ftore their nefts 

 with a new provifion for the enfuing great cold, 

 during which they did not venture to come out, 

 but lay fnug in their nefts : therefore, feeing 

 them run in the woods in greater numbers than 

 ordinary, was a fafe prognoftic of an enfuing 

 cold. 



THE hogs which are here driven into the 

 woods, whilft there is yet no fnow in them, often 

 do confiderable damage to the poor fquirrels, by 

 rooting up their ftore-holes, and robbing their 

 winter provifions. Both the Indians, and the 



European 



