32 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



until they struck another tree 150 or 200 feet 

 away. I ran upstairs and got a landing net from 

 my fishing tackle outfit and attempted to capture 

 the beautiful little animal, but soon discovered that 

 I was giving it a fatal notoriety, for, like magic, 

 small boys appeared and with sticks and stones and 

 baseball bats engaged in the chase. As soon as 

 I realized the increasing danger I put up my land- 

 ing net and calling the boys over to the house 

 distracted their attention by showing them certain 

 other things of interest to boys. In the meantime 

 the flying squirrels disappeared in the shadows of 

 the tree top. A night or two afterwards a man 

 living several blocks away set traps in an old oak 

 tree, a very old oak tree, the only survivor of the 

 group which shaded the Quaker Fox when he 

 preached on Long Island. The next morning 

 the man found the albino squirrel in his 

 trap and taking it down to Manhattan sold it 

 to the former editor of Recreation. The animal 

 was placed in an ordinary squirrel cage near by 

 one occupied by an albino fox squirrel. The win- 

 dows of the editorial room were left open as the 

 weather was warm and in the morning the flying 

 squirrel had made its escape. What was the final 

 fate of the beautiful little creature, I do not know, 

 but it was probably killed by some prowling city 

 cat. 



