Nature's Little Store-keeper. 289 



A practice of testing their knowledge of nuts was then 

 made. When cracked hickory nuts were given them, they 

 at once sat down and picked out of them the meats, which 

 they eagerly devoured. Cracked nuts, it would seem, were 

 deemed worthless for storage. But, on the contrary, when 

 whole nuts were given, they tested them, evidently by 

 weight, to see if they were sound. Sound nuts were 

 promptly transported to their burrow, but the poor ones 

 were dropped. They were never known to be mistaken in 

 their judgment, for the rejected nuts on being cracked were 

 always found to be worthless. 



Although the food of the Hackee is mostly vegetal in 

 character, yet, like his English relative, he is occasionally 

 carnivorous in his appetite, for he has been detected in the 

 cruel act of robbing birds' nests and devouring their callow 

 young. 



Some Squirrels are remarkable for their extreme agility in 

 climbing trees, and in making extraordinary leaps from one 

 bough to another or from some elevated spot to the earth. 

 The Ground Squirrels, however, are intended to abide on 

 the earth, and are seldom known to ascend trees to any 

 great height. As they possess cheek-pouches, they are 

 placed in a separate genus under the the name of Tamias, 

 which is a Greek word, signifying a store-keeper, and are 

 distinct from the others in being furnished with these append- 

 ages. Tamias striatus is the appellation by which the sub- 

 ject of our sketch is known to the books. 



