CHAPTER XXV. 



A GROrXD-SQCTKREL, A MOUSE*S XEST. HnODXG-BIBDS 



AXD THEIR TOUXG ONES. THE LOCUST-TREE, 5CRXICAX 



WOLVES AXD THEIB RETREAT. 



I WAS suddenly awakened by the report of a gun just 

 as the day was breaking. L'Encuerado showed me an 

 enormous squirrel, with a gray back and white befly a spe- 

 cies which never climbs, and is, for this reason, called by 

 Indians arnotii (ground-squirrel). This animal, which lives 

 in a burrow, has all the grace and vivacity of its kind, but 

 it can never be domesticated. It generally goes about in 

 numerous bands, and, when near cultivation, win commit in 

 a single night great destruction ; the farmers, consequently, 

 wage against it a war of extermination. 

 Just as we were setting out, I'Encuerado, whose arm was 



