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sweet, milk-white meat. They did little 

 damage, for their beaks were not strong 

 enough to twist off the nuts and carry 

 them away, but the Graycoats felt that 

 these were poachers and drove them off. 

 Of course it was easy for the birds to keep 

 out of reach, but they hovered about, 

 stealing — yes, that was what the Squir- 

 rels thought about it — stealing the hick- 

 ory harvest when they could. 



Then came other poachers, the Red- 

 squirrel with his mate, cheeky, brazen- 

 fronted, aggressive as usual; they would 

 come quietly, when the Graycoats were 

 asleep or elsewhere, and proceed to cut 

 the nut bunches. Many times the only 

 notice of their presence was the sudden 

 "thump, thump" of the nut bunch strik- 

 ing the ground after the Red One had cut 

 it loose. His intention had been to go 

 down quietly after it, split the husks, and 

 carry off the luscious, half-ripe nuts to 



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