68 THE SNOW-WALKERS. 



wheat there ? In attempting to return, the adventur- 

 ous creature was frequently run down and caught in 

 the deep snow. 



His home is in the trunk of some old birch or ma- 

 ple, with an entrance far up amid the branches. In 

 the spring he builds himself a summer-house of small 

 leafy twigs in the top of a neighboring beech, where 

 the young are reared and much of the time passed. 

 But the safer retreat in the maple is not abandoned, 

 and both old and young resort thither in the fall, or 

 when danger threatens. Whether this temporary 

 residence amid the branches is for elegance or pleas- 

 ure, or for sanitary reasons or domestic convenience, 

 the naturalist has forgotten to mention. 



The elegant creature, so cleanly in its habits, so 

 graceful in its carriage, so nimble and daring in its 

 movements, excites feelings of admiration akin to 

 those awakened by the birds and the fairer forms of 

 nature. His passage through the trees is almost a 

 flight. Indeed, the flying-squirrel has little or no ad- 

 vantage over him, and in speed and nimbleness can- 

 not compare with him at all. If he miss his footing 

 and fall, he is sure to catch on the next branch ; if 

 the connection be broken, he leaps recklessly for the 

 nearest spray or limb, and secures his hold, even if 

 it be by the aid of his teeth. 



His career of frolic and festivity begins in the fall, 

 after the birds have left us and the holiday spirit of 

 nature has commenced to subside. How absorbing 

 the pastime of the sportsman, who goes to the woods 



