58 NATURE STUDY LESSONS FOR PRIMARY GRADES 



to sleep or meditate. By lengthening the paper 

 we saved him this trouble. He had not ceased to 

 be wary, although he knew us well, for he always 

 cut out a little window in this private office of his, 

 and slept with his head in such a position that he 

 could look out of this window. 



How happy he was to get back into his clean 

 cage ! He would run up one side, throw his head 

 far back, and turn a somersault, landing on his feet 

 at the bottom of the cage. This was his favorite 

 pastime. His movements were so rapid, when he 

 was fairly started, that it was impossible to tell how 

 he moved. 



The children at school were glad to furnish food 

 to the little fellow for the pleasure of seeing him 

 eat. His mouth was hid from sight. If a grain 

 of field corn were given him, he picked it up in his 

 front paws, standing on his hind legs, exactly as 

 does a squirrel when eating a nut. He first pulled 

 off with his teeth the thin husk on the outside of 

 the grain, dropped it, and, beginning at the crown, ate 

 downward toward the heart of the kernel for some 

 distance ; then he turned it and ate toward the heart 

 from the opposite side, until one part dropped. The 

 remaining part he ate from the outside inward, nib- 



