CAROLINA GRAY SQUIRREL. 59 



ways of accounting for all the appearances described on these occasions. 

 Fear and surprise cause an instinctive horror, when we find ourselves 

 unexpectedly within a foot or two of a rattle-snake ; the shrill, startling, 

 noise proceeding from the rattles of its tail, as it vibrates rapidly, and its 

 hideous aspect, no doubt produce a much greater effect on birds and 

 small quadrupeds. It is said that the distant roar of the African lion 

 causes the oxen to tremble, and stand paralyzed in the fields ; and Hum- 

 boldt relates that in the forests of South America, the mingled cries of 

 monkeys and other animals resound through the whole night, but as soon 

 as the roar of the jaguar, the American tiger, is heard, terror seizes 

 on all the other animals, and their voices are suddenly hushed. Birds 

 and quadrupeds are very curious, also, and this feeling prompts them 

 to draw near to strange objects. " Tolling " wild ducks and loons, as 

 it is called, by waving a red handkerchief or a small flag, or by causing 

 a little dog to bound backward and forward on the beach, has long 

 been successfully practised by sportsmen on the Chesapeake Bay, and 

 elsewhere. 



The Indians attract the reindeer, the antelope, and other animals, until 

 they are within bow-shot, by ^vaving a stick to which a piece of red 

 cloth is attached, or by throwing themselves on their backs, and kicking 

 their heels up in the air. If any strange object is thrown into the poul- 

 try-yard, such as a stuffed specimen of a quadruped or bird, &c., all the 

 fowls will crowd near it, and scrutinize it for a long time. Every body 

 almost, may have observed at some time or other dozens of birds collected 

 around a common cat in a shrubbery, a tortoise, or particularly a snake. 

 The Squirrel is remarkable for its fondness for " sights," and will some- 

 times come down from the highest branch of a tree to within three feet 

 of the ground, to take a view of a small scarlet snake, {Rhinostoma cocci- 

 nea,) not much larger than a pipe-stem, and w^hich, having no poisonous 

 fangs, could scarcely master a grasshopper. This might be regarded by 

 believers in the fascinating powers of snakes, as a decided case in favour 

 of their theories, but they would find it somewhat difficult to explain the 

 following circumstances which happened to ourselves. After observing a 

 Squirrel come dow^n to inspect one of the beautiful little snakes w^e have 

 just been speaking of, the reptile being a rare species, w^as captured and 

 secured in our carriage box. After we had driven off, we recollected 

 that in our anxiety to secure the snake, we had left our box of botanical 

 specimens at the place where w^e had first seen the latter, and on return- 

 ing for it, we once more saw the Squirrel, darting backward and forward, 

 and skipping round the root of the tree, eyeing with equal curiosity the 

 article we had left behind, and we could not help making the reflection, 



