SQUIRRELS, GOOD AND BAD 131 



too, he bites into many mushrooms, especially 

 those which grow upon old wood; and certain 

 of these he stows away in dry places for future 

 reference. 



Preparing for the winter. This squirrel is 

 a hard worker at all times, the merriest 

 sprite of the woods, yet always industrious and 

 thrifty ; but his busiest time is in autumn when 

 the ripening nuts must be harvested. In the 

 forests of the southerly portions of his range, 

 butternuts, hickorynuts, and those of the 

 chestnut, pecan, hazel and beech, with acorns 

 and chinkapins, are most important. Their 

 substance is not very nourishing, but they 

 supply in abundance the fat which is so neces- 

 sary for animals to accumulate in the autumn 

 as a fuel to keep the fires of life burning dur- 

 ing the winter. In the Southern States the 

 winters are so mild that there is not the need 

 to lay up the large food-supply required in the 

 North, and methods vary, too. 



Instead of having a single storehouse, as do 

 most other provident rodents, the red squirrels 

 bury a part of their gains, one or a few nuts in 

 a place, and hide the rest in a variety of nooks 



