NATURE'S CALENDAR 



thus early to the holes they have bcLii 

 digging, or to the crannies they have been 

 making warm with a thick bedding of dry 

 grass, where they will sleep out the larger 

 part of the cold season to follow. 



Now, too, as the corn develops into the 

 soft, milky stage, when it is at its sweet- 

 est, the 'coons, old and young, come to 

 feed on the juicy kernels — stealing from 

 the woods by moonlight, watching for 

 dogs and men, dodging among the shad- 

 ows, racing across the lights, and eagerly 

 stripping the husks from the coveted ears. 

 These handsome animals are undergoing 

 their semi-annual molt, and the hair 

 coming of? in patches, to be replaced pres- 

 ently by the darker, closer winter coat, 

 gives them a very ragged appearance. 



The milky cornstalks are climbed by 

 the squirrels, too; but they come by day- 

 light. On Western frontier farms it used 

 to be needful to watch the fields and drive 

 the gray squirrels away, if enough of the 

 crop was to be saved to repay the planter. 

 This task fell to the boys. Squirrel fam- 

 ilies are divided at this season, the moth- 

 ers and young keeping house together in 

 their summer homes of leaves, and the 

 fathers and 'elder brothers ranging the 

 country by themselves ; all feed largely 

 upon various mushrooms. 



This separation of the sexes in late 

 summer is characteristic of all, or nearly 

 all, the wild quadrupeds. The deer of 

 various sorts are good examples of it, the 



