Few animals are more interesting to watch than is this small 

 rodent, and he is also a sociable fellow, with an alert but fear- 

 less manner, often seeming to welcome a human companion in 

 the woodland and usually ready to show himself off to advantage. 

 He is always busy and while not enough, concerned about property 

 rights to respect even the winter supplies of a neighbor, to say 

 nothing of robbing birds' nests, hunters' traps and farmers' corn 

 bins, he still has to work hard for a living. He prefers two homes, 

 one high up in a tree and here he does not scruple to occupy a de- 

 serted crow's or hawk's nest, and another underground. In these 

 hiding places he stows away all sorts of goodies ; pine cones, nuts, 

 acorns and apples, to add to his winter enjoyment. The garnering 

 of these keeps him running to and fro throughout the long summer 

 days and until late fall we see him scurrying back and forth laying 

 up his provisions. Almost every winter day he may be found in the 

 hemlock trees, whose cones hold their seeds all winter, adding these 



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