The Red Squirrel 157 



by hunger or some other cause, eat birds' eggs or 

 even young birds. Further, one squirrel may imi- 

 tate another, and therefore in some particular local- 

 ities the red squirrels may trouble nesting birds, 

 while in another they do not. Hence arise the diffi- 

 culties for unsuspecting readers, one eminent authority 

 saying one thing, while another says exactly the 

 opposite. Each may be right for his particular 

 locality, but one should not judge that it is a universal 

 habit of the species unless he has more knowledge 

 on the subject than most men take the trouble to 

 possess. 



Those who have tented in woods far removed from 

 man's influence must have observed the ungovern- 

 able curiosity of the red squirrel. Within ten minutes 

 after your camping outfit was landed, he was chatter- 

 ing at you from the tree tops. Before you had the 

 centre pole in place, he had descended to the lower 

 branches. If he considered you a * squatter ' upon his 

 territory, his language indicated it; but if he was 

 pleased, his every action showed his approbation. 

 You never made your camp fire so early, or replenished 

 it so late at night, that the chickaree was not before 

 and after you. Many a time I have been awakened 

 in the early morning by the repeated calls and chuckles 

 of this clown of the forest ; nor was he always satisfied 



