XI z November 1748. 



holes for feveral days, efpecially when the 

 weather is very rough. During this time 

 they confume the little ftore, which they 

 have brought to their nefts : as foon there- 

 fore as the weather grows milder, they 

 creep out, and dig out part of the ftore 

 which they have laid up in the ground : of 

 this they eat fome on the fpot, and carry 

 the reft into their nefts on the trees. We 

 frequently obferved that in winter, at the 

 eve of a great froft, when there had been 

 fome temperate weather, the fquirrels, a 

 /day or two before the froft, ran about the 

 woods in greater numbers than common, 

 partly in order tojeat their fill, and partly 

 to ftore their nefts with a new provifion for 

 the enfuing great cold, during which they 

 (did not venture to come out, but lay fnug 

 in their nefts : therefore feeing them run in 

 the woods in greater numbers than ordina- 

 ry, was a fafe prognoftic of an enfuing cold. 

 The /jogs which are here droven into the 

 woods, whilft there is yet no fnow in them, 

 often do confiderable damage to the poor 

 fquirrels, by rooting up their ftore-holes, 

 and robbing their winter provifions. Both 

 the Indians, and the European Americans, 

 take great pains to find out thefe ftore- 

 holes, whether in trees or in the ground, 

 as all the nuts they contain are choice, and 



not 



