I OUR GRAY SQUIRRELS 15 
sharp and short. Her patience was exhausted. 
Instead of tenderly coaxing the last one of the 
four, she scolded at him, driving rather than lead- 
ing the terrorized youngster along the shaky cable, 
and when it had reached the further tree, she seized 
it in her mouth, and fairly shoved it through the 
door of the new box. 
It is probable that in their wild state, before 
their forest range was restricted and men began to 
slaughter them, all the arboreal squirrels were able 
by longevity and rapid increase to more than keep 
pace with the deaths in their ranks. Their natural 
term of life probably approaches twenty years. 
We have known continuously for twelve years one 
female who was apparently an old mother when 
she came, and is yet hale and hearty. During 
this time she has regularly produced at least two 
broods a year. At such a rate squirrels would 
multiply until they overbalanced the ratio of num- 
bers assigned them by, nature. Accounts by early 
writers show that they must formerly have been 
amazingly numerous. Godman says that the gray- 
coat was a fearful scourge to colonial farmers, and 
that Pennsylvania paid 48000 in bounties for their 
scalps during 1749 alone. This meant the destruc- 
tion of 640,000 within a comparatively small district. 
In the early days of Western settlement regular 
hunts were organized by the inhabitants, who 
would range the woods in two companies from 
morning till night, vying as to which band should 
