NOTES FROM THE PRAIRIE 97 



nsually are ? One of my neighbors got a young 

 squirrel, so young tliat it required milk; so 

 they got a small nursing-bottle for it. Until 

 that squirrel was over a year old, whenever he 

 got hungry, he would get his bottle and sit and 

 hold it up as if he thought that quite the 

 proper way for a squirrel to obtain his nourish- 

 ment. It was utterly comical to see him. We 

 have no black squirrels; a few red ones and a 

 great many gray ones of different kinds." 



I was much interested in her pet squirrel, 

 and made frequent inquiries about it. A year 

 later she writes: "My squirrel still lives and 

 rules the house. She has an enemy that causes 

 her much trouble, — a rat that comes into the 

 wood- shed. I had rioticed that whenever she 

 went out there, she investigated the dark cor- 

 ners with care before she ventured to play, but 

 did not understand it till I chanced to be sit- 

 ting in the kichen door once, as she was dig- 

 ging up a nut she had buried. Just as she got 

 it up, a great rat sprung on her back; there 

 ensued a trial of agility and strength to see 

 which should have that nut. Neither seemed 

 to be angry, for they did not attempt to bite, 

 but raced around the shed, cuffing each other 

 at every opportunity ; sometimes one had the 

 nut, sometimes the other. I regret to say my 

 squirrel, whenever she grew tired, took a base 

 advantage of the rat by coming and sitting at 

 my feet, gnawing the nut, and plainly showing 

 by her motions her exultation over her foe. 

 Finally the rat became so exasperated that ha 



