OUR COUNTRY HOME 



cion cost him his life, he was caught in a trap, and we truly 

 mourned him. 



The chipmunk is so much more active than the squirrel that 

 the latter, despite his greater strength, has little chance in the 

 race for food. Fortunately there was always enough for all. I 

 wonder that we do not have peanut patches all over our lawn, 

 for the care with which the squirrel pats down his nuts would, I 

 should think, effectively prevent his ever finding them. That we 

 have not, shows he must dig them up again during the winter. 

 I have never known gray squirrels to molest the eggs or young of 

 birds, and as for their driving birds away, look at Central Park in 

 New York, or the Park at Richmond, and parks in many a smaller 

 place. It is direct proof to the contrary. 



I studied for some time to find out how I could provide a feed- 

 ing place for the birds which the squirrels could not reach. One 

 snowy morning I hung a basket filled with chopped nuts and suet 

 by a long string from a slender branch of the maple tree. The 

 chickadees discovered it at once, and the nut-hatches flew down 

 in delight. Up from the snow sheet below stretched Mark the 

 squirrel. No ; it was too high to get at in that way. Like a flash 

 he climbed the tree, balanced just above the basket and sniffed 

 eagerly at the tempting food. The string was too small for him 

 to clasp. Suspended by his toes he still failed to make the dis- 

 tance. A perplexed thoughtfulness possessed him as he sat there 



on guard, until his tail began to quiver a bit as if in anger, though 



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