CHAPTEE YIL 



THE FLYING-SQUIRREL. 



ABOUT sunset, or even later, after nightfall, out there 

 comes from some hidden hollow in the trees, with a joy- 

 ous bound, our merry-hearted pet the flying-squirrel 

 and, hastening to the outermost branch of his home-tree, 

 he literally spreads his wings and sails through the air 

 from tree to tree, on and on, through the depths of the 

 woods. 



But not alone is he when thus on his nightly travels. 

 Another and another of his kin come from the same hol- 

 low in the tree, and young and old traverse in like man- 

 ner some well-known tree-top route in search of their 

 daily food. Often they do not return until morning, un- 

 less it is very dark, and then they soon return by the 

 same route, chattering like school-girls as they pass with 

 marvelous expedition from tree to tree. It must not, 

 however, be supposed that they promptly retire for the re- 

 mainder of the night, even when they happen to come 

 home early. Very far from it. Their jaunt seems only 

 to have stretched their limbs and given them a taste for 

 the frolic among the upper branches of the trees, and is 

 really indescribable. It would be hard enough to give the 

 details of these movements even if plainly seen in broad 

 day. Such a chance, however, seldom or never occurs, 

 and the little I have seen of them has been by stray 

 glimpses caught during clear moonlit nights. Unsatis- 



