A Skirmish witb Squirrels 323 



was good form to pursue, yelling to excite your 

 friend, and, as the tree was neared, to slow up that 

 he might out-foot you a trifle. Of course the squir- 

 rel went up the far side of the tree, and your com- 

 rade, proud of having outrun you, promptly chased 

 around the tree to get a shot, whereupon the 

 squirrel, being unable to count, at once shifted 

 around to your side and offered an easy enough 

 mark. When certain that a squirrel was hidden in 

 the upper foliage, or upon some limb, and all pound- 

 ing and shouting had failed to move him, the last 

 resort was to fire one barrel into the densest part of 

 the tree, and then stop the frightened game with the 

 second. Unless the squirrel had holed, this seldom 

 failed to start him. 



For some unknown reason the supply of black 

 squirrels varied curiously. One season they would 

 be found in great numbers I once drove seven up 

 an isolated tree in a corn-field and a year later 

 none could be found in a day's search. The coun- 

 try folk had a saying that squirrels were plentiful 

 every seven years. I will not vouch for the correct- 

 ness of this, but I know that after the army of squir- 

 rels had disappeared, they were not again numerous 

 until some years had elapsed. It was not a case of 

 thinning out and breeding up, but a more or less 

 regular movement across the country. I never 

 rightly understood their migrations, but I have 

 seen large numbers of them moving through the 

 woods as though bound upon some well-under- 

 stood mission. I have killed plenty in one bit 

 of woods and a few days later found not one upon 

 that ground, while the next bit of woods in the 



