PEPACTON 



all this pains had evidently reasoned with him- 

 self thus: "Now, these are extremely fine chest- 

 nuts, and I want them; if I wait till the burrs open 

 on the tree, the crows and jays will be sure to carry 

 off a great many of the nuts before they fall; then, 

 after the wind has rattled out what remain, there 

 are the mice, the chipmunks, the red squirrels, the 

 raccoons, the grouse, to say nothing of the boys 

 and the pigs, to come in for their share; so I will 

 forestall events a little: I will cut off the burrs 

 when they have matured, and a few days of this 

 dry October weather will cause every one of them 

 to open on the ground; I shall be on hand in the 

 nick of time to gather up my nuts." The squirrel, 

 of course, had to take the chances of a prowler like 

 myself coming along, but he had fairly stolen a 

 march on his neighbors. As I proceeded to collect 

 and open the burrs, I was half prepared to hear an 

 audible protest from the trees about, for I constantly 

 fancied myself watched by shy but jealous eyes. It 

 is an interesting inquiry how the squirrel knew the 

 burrs would open if left to lie on the ground a few 

 days. Perhaps he did not know, but thought the 

 experiment worth trying. 



The gray squirrel is peculiarly an American pro- 

 duct, and might serve very well as a national 

 emblem. The Old World can beat us on rats and 

 mice, but we are far ahead on squirrels, having 

 five or six species to Europe's one. 

 144 



