MOUNTAIN TREES 



when gathering his nuts although the 

 cones are about the stickiest things 

 imaginable. "The squirrel," says Thor- 

 eau, "has the key to this conical and 

 spiny chest of compartments. If you 

 would be convinced how differently 

 armed the squirrel is naturally for deal- 

 ing with pitch-pine cones, just try to get 

 one open with your teeth. He who ex- 

 tracts seeds from a single cone with the 

 aid of a knife will be constrained to con- 

 fess that the squirrel earns his dinner. 



"The plucking and stripping of a pine 

 cone is a business he and his family un- 

 derstand perfectly. He does not prick 

 his fingers, nor pitch his whiskers, nor 

 gnaw the solid cone any more than he 

 needs to. ... He holds in his 

 hands a solid embossed cone so hard it 

 almost rings to the touch of his teeth. 

 He knows better than to cut off the top 

 and work his way downward, or to gnaw 

 into the side for three-quarters of an 

 inch in the face of so many armed 

 [spiny] shields. He whirls it bottom 



23 



