20 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. I 
door of the Doctor’s barn, and a chipmunk (the 
striped ground-squirrel) approached it cautiously 
from one side while a rat came from the barn on 
the other. They met at the corn, whereupon, with- 
out an instant’s hesitation, the chipmunk sprang 
into the air like a cat, and alighted squarely on 
the back of the rat, which, astounded and cowed 
by this unlooked-for attack, turned tail, shook off 
his fierce little foe, and raced for shelter, leaving 
chippie to fill his cheek-pouches at leisure and go 
home in triumph. 
The only bird-enemy is the blue-jay, who seems 
to love to tease the squirrels in winter, just for mis- 
chief; and two jays, working together, can make it 
very unpleasant for Bunny. One will dash at him 
with a joyous shout, whereupon the scared and 
nimble animal will slip around to the further side 
of the tree-trunk, “talking back” the while in the 
angriest language he knows; but there the other 
jay is ready for him, and he must immediately 
dodge back again to where the first is waiting to 
dart at him a second time, striking with wings and 
beak until both birds are tired of the sport, or 
the squirrel bolts to some place of refugé. 
Robins and other thrushes are quick to drive 
away any gray squirrel that approaches the tree 
in which they are nesting, an enmity which 
seems to show that this species is guilty of despoil- 
ing birds’ nests; but there is no good evidence of 
this crime. The red squirrel, however, is well 
