TALKS WITH YOUNG OBSERVERS 307 



broadened and flattened, the tail stiffened and slightly 

 curved, and a curious tremulous motion runs through 

 all. It is very obvious that a deliberate attempt 

 is made to present the broadest surface possible to 

 the air, and I think a red squirrel might leap from 

 almost any height to the ground without serious 

 injury. Our flying squirrel is in no proper sense 

 a flyer. On the ground he is more helpless than a 

 chipmunk, because less agile. He can only sail or 

 slide down a steep incline from the top of one tree 

 to the foot of another. The flying squirrel is active 

 only at night ; hence its large, soft eyes, its soft fur, 

 and its gentle, shrinking ways. It is the gentlest 

 and most harmless of our rodents. A pair of them 

 for two or three successive years had their nest 

 behind the blinds of an upper window of a large, un- 

 occupied country house near me. You could stand 

 in the room inside and observe the happy family 

 through the window pane against which their nest 

 pressed. There on the window sill lay a pile of 

 large, shining chestnuts, which they were evidently 

 holding against a time of scarcity, as the pile did 

 not diminish while I observed them. The nest was 

 composed of cotton and wool which they filched from 

 a bed in one of the chambers, and it was always a 

 mystery how they got into the room to obtain it. 

 There seemed to be no other avenue but the chimney 

 flue. 



There are always gradations in nature, or in nat- 

 ural life ; no very abrupt departures. If you find 

 any marked trait or gift in a species you will find 



