SQUIRRELS, GOOD AND BAD 133 



"The squirrel knows exactly how to get the seed 

 with the least labor. A squirrel wishing to eat a 

 cone, sits up on his hind feet, standing the cone up 

 before him on its small end. Then he cuts off the 

 upper scale at the butt of the cone. These scales do 

 not run in straight lines, but are arranged spirally, 

 with a seed under each scale. The seeds in a white 

 pine-cone are about the size and shape of a small 

 apple-seed ; those of a spruce, about as large as seeds 

 of turnip or mustard. Both kinds have a wing which 

 serves to carry the seed often to long distances, when 

 it falls naturally from the cone. The squirrel eats 

 the first seed, then gives the cone a slight turn and 

 cuts the next scale, and so keeps turning and eating 

 until the central pith is in his way, when he cuts it 

 off and continues eating until near the end of the 

 cone, which he always leaves, as he knows that the 

 seeds there are too small and poor to be of use to 

 him." 



Gray squirrels and fox-squirrels. The red 

 squirrel has been given so much space because 

 his life is typical of that of the tribe, and be- 

 cause he is not accurately known although so 

 widespread and numerous. 



More familiar to most readers are the large 

 "gray" and "fox" squirrels, both of which are 

 very variable. Thus the northern gray squir- 

 rels are at their best a clear silvery tint, while 



