116 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



decayed organic matter. How did so many of them 

 succeed in getting hold of so very sprightly and irri- 

 table a creature, who lives mostly high up in the 

 trees, and does not lie about on the ground ? Can 

 it be that fleas those proper to the squirrel swarm 

 on the ground in the woods, and that without feeding 

 on mammalian blood they are able to propagate and 

 keep up their numbers ? These questions have yet 

 to be answered. 



It struck me at last that these sprightly parasites 

 might have been the cause of the squirrel's coming 

 to grief; that, driven to desperation by their persecu- 

 tions, he had cast himself down from some topmost 

 branch, and so put an end to the worry with his 

 life. 



Squirrels abound in these woods, and but for para- 

 sites and their own evil tempers they might be happy 

 all the time. But they are explosive and tyrannical 

 to an almost insane degree ; and this may be an effect 

 of the deleterious substances they are fond of eating. 

 They will feast on scarlet and orange agarics lovely 

 things to look at, but deadly to creatures that are 

 not immune. A prettier spectacle than two squirrels 

 fighting is not to be seen among the oaks. So swift 

 are they, so amazingly quick in their doublings, in 

 feints, attack, flight, and chase ; moving not as though 

 running on trees and ground, but as if flying and 

 gliding ; and so rarely do they come within touching 

 distance of one another, that the delighted looker-on 



