396 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



I was in the edge of some woods, and, seeing a squirrel, I 

 stood motionless. The squirrel came to me and actually 

 climbed up me; I made no movement until it began to 

 nibble at my elbow, biting through my flannel shirt. 

 When I moved, it of course jumped off, but it did not 

 seem much frightened and lingered for some minutes in 

 view, about thirty yards away. I have never understood 

 the incident. 



Among the small mammals at Sagamore Hill the 

 chipmunks are the most familiar and the most in evi- 

 dence; for they readily become tame and confiding. For 

 three or four years a chipmunk I suppose the same chip- 

 munk has lived near the tennis court; and it has devel- 

 oped the rather puzzling custom of sometimes scamper- 

 ing across the court while we are in the middle of a game. 

 This has happened two or three times every year, and is 

 rather difficult to explain, for the chipmunk could just 

 as well go round the court, and there seems no possible 

 reason why he should suddenly run out on it while the 

 game is in full swing. If we see him, we all stop to 

 watch him, and then he may himself stop and look about; 

 but we may not see him until just as he is finishing a 

 frantic scurry across, in imminent danger of being 

 stepped on. 



The most attractive and sociable pet among wild 

 creatures of its size I have found to be a coon. One 

 which when I was a boy I brought up from the time it 

 was very young, was as playful and affectionate as any 

 little dog, and used its little black paws just as if they 

 were hands. Coons, by the way, sometimes appear in 



