SQUIRRELS AND SQUIRREL HUNTING. 205 



How the squirrels twine in wild grace among the 

 limbs, frisking their tails and chuckling, or perhaps 

 giving a sudden start and bursting out into a regular 

 landslide of barks and all sorts of queer, drawling 

 innuendoes and exultations! One will sometimes hug 

 a branch and become almost a part of it, so that at a 

 distance he will not look much bigger than a knot, 

 although at the right view the branch can be seen to 

 swell out a little where the squirrel is. One will, if 

 hard pressed, after taking refuge, put out his head 

 comically on one side of the limb, and there take his 

 bearings. I remember one fellow's hiding from me 

 in the crotch of a tree. He was totally concealed, and 

 would have remained safe, except that in congratulat- 

 ing himself at his escape he would every now and then 

 quirk up his tail with a little jerk, and it would wag 

 and wave in an indubitable revelation of his where- 

 abouts. Like the ostrich, he failed to realize he had 

 other than his head to hide. Sometimes one will lie 

 for hours stretched on the top of a limb of his size, 

 the only indication of his presence being his tail hang- 

 ing and swaying with each breath of wind. 



Mulberries are a very substantial part of the squir- 

 rels' food in summer, but I have not seen them eat the 

 wild black cherries in the autumn, though deer will 

 browse upon the cherry sprays and pick up the fallen 

 fruit with the greatest relish. I have killed squirrels 

 also while munching the seeds of the black gum-tree 

 and winding among its masses of berries. But in our 

 Northern country their main dependence is the various 

 nuts, and they apparently enjoy the buckeyes as well, 

 some buckeye-trees being a regular rendezvous for 



