SQUIRRELS AND SQUIRREL HUNTING. 215 



mon red squirrel of the East is not found here, and 

 I am glad of it; for they and the grays do not often 

 agree, and the red fellows drive their big gray brothers 

 out, and I like the gray squirrels better. The red 

 squirrel snickers and chirrups, whence doubtless his 

 name, the chickaree; the gray squirrel barks and 

 chuckles, and I like him for it. The red squirrel is a 

 ubiquitous scold, and ought to be gagged or put on 

 ,the ducking stool. I have sometimes killed big fox 

 squirrels whose fur had almost a tinge of black, thus 

 suggesting that possibly they were a cross between a 

 fox and the black variety of the gray, but I have never 

 seen a genuine black squirrel in the woods, though they 

 are found at times farther up in the State. The South- 

 ern fox squirrels have, however, frequently a darker 

 coat than our more rusty fellows, and it is possible 

 that one of them may have strayed up North. 



The ground squirrel, or chipmunk (its Indian 

 name), is a curious little fellow. He gives a sharp 

 chirp, something like a cricket's, but more intense, 

 whence one of his names, the hackee. He is valueless 

 for food, being so little, though his flesh is not bad 

 to the taste. I have had him sit perched at one end 

 of a log while I was seated at the other, and so long 

 as I was motionless he would observe me with apparent 

 indifference, but just as soon as I made the slightest 

 motion his sharp squeak would strike my ear, and 

 whisk! away he would flit under the log. This was 

 the first kind of squirrel that I ever saw, when but a 

 little child, and I can well remember the thrill that 

 went through my being when I realized that I had 

 actually seen a real wild creature of the forest playing 



