74 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



such as to cause unpremeditated and ungrammatical 

 remarks. It gives me pleasure to be able to say, 

 however, that I was a moral and clean-minded boy 

 and did not use "swear" words on any occasion, 

 but I am afraid the emphasis with which I made 

 my simple statements and expressions of feeling 

 sounded to the squirrel much the same as real bad 

 "cuss" words would, because even though he 

 could not understand my language, he did under- 

 stand the meaning conveyed by the tone of my 

 voice and he seemed to enjoy my irritation. 



But this was probably imagination. Cudjo was 

 never savage or ill natured, and although he would 

 not allow me to take hold of him with my hands, 

 he would sit on my hand, wrist, or shoulder, climb 

 into my pockets in search of peanuts without the 

 slightest fear, nor would he resent it if I stroked 

 his back. In this particular he was unlike 



ROBIN THE RED SQUIRREL 



before he took to drink. Robin was caught in a 

 box trap set in a swail, where the high ferns grew 

 and the yellow moccasin flowers and baneberries 

 bloomed, on the shores of Big Tink Lake. Robin 

 proved to be a veritable savage, he was as ferocious 

 as a diminutive tiger might be. He would spring 

 at the bars of his cage and savagely bite the 

 wires whenever any one approached him. We 

 kept him for several weeks and although he ate 

 what food we gave him, we had to be constantly 



