MAY. 179 



then poking out his head to take a sly peep at you ; then 

 gone again. His note is a single chuck, uttered at intervals 

 like the cluck of a hen : he is commonly known here by the 

 name of the chipmunk. 



C. The red squirrel is a very fantastic little gentleman : 

 he plays as many tricks as a monkey, and were it not that 

 he is so fond of grain, and has such very loose ideas on the 

 subject of meum and tuum, he would be a universal fa- 

 vourite. 



F. As it is, however, he is sorely persecuted with pow- 

 der and shot, and even periodical hunts are made up, as a 

 kind of frolic, in which men and boys eagerly join ; any old 

 rusty musket being a sufficient qualification. Two leaders 

 choose sides, each alternately taking a man, till the whole 

 are engaged, just as in cricket, &c. : then they sally forth, 

 and the party that brings in most squirrels is the victor ; the 

 whole then adjourn to some tavern, and have a dinner, to be 

 paid for by the vanquished party. Notwithstanding all this, 

 and the numbers that are shot about the barns in winter by 

 vindictive farmers, they are not a whit less impudent or fa- 

 miliar, nor do they seem diminished in numbers. His jerks 

 and motions are very amusing ; if you go under a tree where 

 one is sitting, he sets himself firmly on the branch, flourishes 

 his tail over his back, and looks fiercely at you, making a 

 most angry chattering all the time, or rather a reiterated 

 chirping ; every now and then giving a start as if he had a 

 mind to fly at you, jerking his tail too with a convulsive sort 

 of motion. If you are pretty close to him, you may hear at 

 every chirp, and simultaneous with it, a sort of low under- 

 tone of a mournful sound, something like the coo of a pigeon, 

 but much shorter. 



C. How very nimble they are ! they leap to a great dis- 

 tance, and run very swiftly : I have often chased them along 

 the rails of the fence, I running on the road beside it ; but 



