314 THE NORTH AMERICAN GREY SQUIRREL. 



of the hard shell untouched. Not satisfied with this kind of 

 food, it commits great depredations on the green corn and 

 young wheat, thus rendering itself obnoxious to the farmer. 

 In Pennsylvania a law existed, offering three-pence for every 

 squirrel destroyed 3 and in the year 1749 the sum of eight 

 thousand pounds was paid out of the treasury, in premiums 

 for their destruction. The inhabitants of several of the northern 

 and western states assemble together on an appointed day to 

 have a squirrel-hunt : arraying themselves in two opposite 

 parties, each under a leader, they range the forest in every 

 direction, and, before evening, these gunners bag an almost 

 incredible number of squirrels. At the evening rendezvous, 

 the party who produces the less number bears the expense 

 of a bountiful supper, a penalty which stimulates the gunners 

 to the greatest activity in destroying them. 



Occasionally these squirrels leave their native haunts, and 

 seek for adventures or for food in some distant and, to them, 

 unexplored portion of America. These migrations appear to 

 have been more frequent formerly than at present. The farmers 

 in the western wilds regard them with as much anxiety as do 

 the eastern nations when they apprehend the visit of the 

 devouring locust. At such periods, usually in autumn, the 

 squirrels congregate in different districts of the far north-west, 

 and, in irregular troops, bend their way in an eastern direction. 

 Mountains and cleared fields, the head waters of lakes and 

 broad rivers, present no impediments. Onward they come, 

 devouring on their way everything suited to their taste, laying 

 waste the corn and wheat fields j and as their numbers are 

 thinned by the gun, the club, and the dog, others are ready 

 to follow in the rear and fill up the ranks, till they occasion 

 infinite mischief, and call forth determined revenge. It is often 

 inquired how these little creatures, that generally have a dread 

 of water, manage to cross broad and rapid rivers, like the Ohio 

 and Hudson 5 and it is usually asserted, and believed by many, 

 that each carries to the shore a suitable piece of bark, and 

 availing itself of a favourable breeze, sits upon this sub- 



