DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



CHAPTER I. 



JANUARY. 



BECAUSE our Indians happened to call January Anixi 

 gisclmch, or the Squirrel Moon, I do not expect to find 

 these animals at all abundant, even if it is mild at New 

 Year's, or later when we have the thaw said to be charac- 

 teristic of the month. Why the Indians associated the 

 month with squirrels can not be determined, but, as this 

 people's language far antedates their coming to the Dela- 

 ware Valley, it had to do, doubtless, with the squirrels of 

 some other region. Certainly, those of the home hill-side 

 have no predilection for the middle of winter, and if it be 

 very cold are as soundly asleep as any typically hibernating 

 mammal. They appear to sleep for much more protracted 

 periods than do the flying squirrels. And now a word 

 about an indoor outing when flying squirrels figured 

 prominently. As the weather was intolerably bad, I com- 

 promised matters by spending a half-day in the garret ; 

 and this, by the way, is a part of every country house that, 

 even if but a century old, is a hunting-ground not to be 

 despised. Particularly is it true when the house has re- 

 mained from generation to generation in the same family. 

 But it is only with reference to a single zoological aspect 

 that I refer to the garret at home, although its fauna is 



