136 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



Peculiarities of these larger squirrels. In 

 one or two respects the gray and the fox-squir- 

 rels differ decidedly from their smaller rela- 

 tives. Instead of retiring to holes under- 

 ground, they dwell in winter in holes in trees, 

 coming out nearly every day to hunt and gambol 

 about. They make great summer nests of leafy 

 twigs in which the mother and young reside 

 while the male squirrels lead a bachelor ex- 

 istence, often with far wanderings. Their 

 food is substantially the same as that of the 

 reds, but they rarely rob the nests of birds, 

 or are thievish of meat ; and their only method 

 of storing food is by burying it, one nut or 

 acorn in a place. That months later, when 

 wind-blown leaves and perhaps deep snow cover 

 the ground, they can recover these treasures 

 is truly remarkable ; but they seem to know pre- 

 cisely where each nut is buried, and go directly 

 to it, then dive down through the snow and 

 presently reappear with the morsel in their 

 teeth. It would seem improbable that this is 

 an effort of memory, and more likely that a cer- 

 tain amount of memory is aided by the faculty 

 of smell. Often after finding one buried nut 



