194 RIVERBY 



that I watched him to take an observation on his 

 way both to and from his nest. It was " snatch 

 and run " with him. Something seemed to say to 

 him all the time: " Look out! look out! " " The 

 cat!" "The hawk!" "The owl!" "The boy with 

 the gun ! " 



It was a bleak December morning; the first fine 

 flakes of a cold, driving snowstorm were just begin- 

 ning to sift down, and the squirrel was eager to fin- 

 ish harvesting his nuts in time. It was quite touch- 

 ing to see how hurried and anxious and nervous he 

 was. I felt like going out and lending a hand. The 

 nuts were small, poor pig-nuts, and I thought of all 

 the gnawing he would have to do to get at the scanty 

 meat they held. My little boy once took pity on a 

 squirrel that lived in the wall near the gate, and 

 cracked the nuts for him, and put them upon a small 

 board shelf in the tree where he could sit and eat 

 them at his ease. 



The red squirrel is not so provident as the chip- 

 munk. He lays up stores irregularly, by fits and 

 starts ; he never has enough put up to carry him over 

 the winter; hence he is more or less active all the 

 season. Long before the December snow the chip- 

 munk has for days been making hourly trips to his 

 den with full pockets of nuts or corn or buckwheat, 

 till his bin holds enough to carry him through to 

 April. He need not, and I believe does not, set 

 foot out of doors during the whole winter. But the 

 red squirrel trusts more to luck. 



As alert and watchful as the red squirrel is, he is 



