of 



las and Fremont squirrels are beneficial to 

 forest-extension. 



Commonly the cones are stored in the same 

 place year after year. In dining, also, the squir- 

 rel uses a log, limb, or stump year after year. 

 Thus bushels of the slowly decaying scales and 

 cobs accumulate in one place. It is not uncom- 

 mon for these accumulations to cover a square 

 rod to the depth of two feet. 



I know of a few instances in which squirrels 

 stowed cones in the edge of a brook beneath the 

 water. One of these places being near my cabin, 

 I kept track of it until the cones were used, which 

 was in the spring. In early autumn the cones 

 were frozen in, and there they remained, un vis- 

 ited I think, until the break-up of the ice in 

 April. Then a squirrel appeared, to drag them 

 from their cold storage. He carried each by 

 to his regular dining-place. Clasping the cone 

 vertically, base up, in his fore paws, he snipped 

 off the scales and ate the seeds beneath in regu- 

 lar order, turning the cone as he proceeded as 

 though it were an ear of corn and he were eating 

 the kernels. 



328 



