UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



to his liking that my bushy walls afforded. He did 

 not try to pack the leaves in his cheek pouches, but 

 crammed four or five into his mouth and then made 

 off to his den. He was furnishing his house. Many 

 mouthfuls of dry leaves and fine grass doubtless 

 went to the furnishing, though I chanced to witness 

 only this one. His bedroom is his granary; his 

 winter stores are packed all around and under his 

 nest. Some of his neighbors have been carrying in 

 their supplies since July, just what I could not find 

 out; probably wild seeds of some kind. As there are 

 no beech-nuts this season, and no buckwheat or oat- 

 fields near by, I am wondering what mj^ little neigh- 

 bor is counting on to carry him over the winter. He 

 may have some source of supply that I know not of. 

 I gave him cherry-pits and plum-pits from time to 

 time before his den was finished, and he seemed to 

 have some place to store them. I hope he is not 

 counting too confidently upon the continuance of 

 this bounty. 



In my walks I have many times come across chip- 

 munk-holes with a pile of earth before them, and a 

 general look of carelessness and disorder all about, 

 and I have said, "That squirrel is a bungler; he is 

 hot equal to his task." The present season I have 

 seen three such holes while walking less than a mile 

 along the highway. They appeared to have been 

 abandoned. Now I know they were only begin- 

 nings, and that had the owners finished their man- 



36 



