SQUIRRELS, GOOD AND BAD 137 



they bore their way beneath the snow here and 

 there in search of others, and so get a whole 

 nieal. 



These squirrels are so large and toothsome 

 that they have always been reckoned among 

 our game animals, and years ago were to be 

 seen in every market in the land. Now this is 

 less common, because they have become scarce 

 in many parts of the country. No longer, then, 

 are they accused by farmers of being a pest; 

 but a century ago they certainly were so all 

 along the frontier. That was the time when 

 occasionally vast migrations descended upon 

 the fields of corn in the milk, ruining the crop ; 

 and for years great sums in bounties were paid 

 for their destruction in Pennsylvania and Ohio. 

 A very full account of this matter, and of the 

 gray squirrel generally, may be found in the 

 first chapter of my Wild Neighbors. 



The gray squirrel of California is a separate 

 species, larger and brighter than the eastern 

 gray. Along the Mexican border occur several 

 allied species, more or less marked with yellow 

 and reddish, of which the handsomest is 

 Abert's, which has a band of chestnut along the 



