SQUIRRELS. 99 



are introduced. This is then fired, and the hollow trunk acting 

 as a chimney, creates a draft and the smoke is soon seen curiing 

 lazily from every hole and crevice. The poor inmates, some- 

 times to the number of six or eight, endure the torture as long as 

 Dossible, and are finally forced, singed and smoking, to seek safety 

 n flight from their wood-locked home. The yelling demons be- 

 ow, armed with guns, sticks, clubs, and all manner of destructive 

 implements, soon finish the half roasted creatures, who are so 

 confused on reaching the open air, that they do little more than 

 irop to the earth. Sometimes they remain so long in the tree, 

 that their claws are burned off and being unable to hold to any 

 thing, they fall helpless to the ground, and the horde of savages 

 pounce upon the unfortunates. The charge of shot from the old 

 Queen Ann, or flintlock musket, is saved this time for the next 

 irictim, who may not be quite so much cooked and helpless. 



The Flying Squirrel is one of the most interesting pets which 

 a child or grown person, for that matter, can have; they soon 

 become very much attached to you, and will run about the room, 

 particularly in the evening, in the most joyous manner, jump- 

 ing from one article to another, and seemingly taking a deal of 

 pleasure in diverting one's attention to them. We shall never 

 forget our boyish grief at finding one of these pets drowned one 

 morning in a pail of water, into which it had fallen while run- 

 ning and jumping about the room during the night. . He had 

 been our pet for many months, and frequently we would find 

 the little fellow in the morning snugly curled under our pillow, 

 fast asleep. The Conimissioners of Central Park, New York, 

 not long ago added very much to the attractiveness of these 

 beautiful grounds by introducing squirrels. In the spring of this 

 ^ear (1883), however, they, much to the sorrow of many, de- 

 cided to kill the little animals, on the ground that they de- 

 stroyed the nests arid eggs of birds. 



