26 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 
been bred in the cage from babyhood, and thus 
‘must have acted purely under the impulse of in- 
herited tendency or habit; moreover, this captive 
chose out of a large assortment only the acorns 
and hazel-nuts that grew wild in that locality, 
never attempting to bury peanuts, pecans, and 
other foreign fruits, although it ate them readily 
enough. Darwin, in his book on Earthworms, 
alludes to this practice, and uses it as an illustra- 
tion of his doctrine that “the instincts of even the 
higher animals are often followed in a senseless or 
purposeless manner.” 
Our squirrels do not limit themselves to nuts, 
however. They are fond of buds, especially in 
the spring, devouring the maple and elm buds 
in particular; and in summer they feed largely on 
fungi and berries.. Raspberries and strawberries 
please them especially well, and they are accused 
of choosing the biggest and ripest ones —a very 
sensible proceeding. They will eat dry kernels of 
Indian corn, if they are hungry, but delight in it 
when it is soft and milky, and in the early days 
of farming in the Western States, where the animals 
were very numerous, they committed depredations 
so serious that boys were set to patrol the field 
and drive them away. I am convinced that they 
also eat insects. 
The ripening of the mast in the fall is the squir- 
rel’s gala-day, and the beginning of his work-day, 
too. He does not wait for the nuts to get ripe, 
Ns 
