SQUIRRELS, GOOD AND BAD 131 
too, he bites into many mushrooms, especially 
those which grow upon old wood; and certain 
of these he stows away in dry places for future 
reference. , 
Preparing for the winter. This squirrel is 
a hard worker at all times,—the merriest 
sprite of the woods, yet always industrious and 
thrifty ; but his busiest time is in autumn when 
the ripening nuts must be harvested. In the 
forests of the southerly portions of his range, 
butternuts, hickorynuts, and those of the 
chestnut, pecan, hazel and beech, with acorns 
and chinkapins, are most important. Their 
substance is not very nourishing, but they 
supply in abundance the fat which is so neces- 
sary for animals to accumulate in the autumn 
as a fuel to keep the fires of life burning dur- 
ing the winter. In the Southern States the 
winters are so mild that there is not the need 
to lay up the large food-supply required in the 
North, and methods vary, too. 
Instead of having a single storehouse, as do 
most other provident rodents, the red squirrels 
bury a part of their gains, one or a few nuts in 
a place, and hide the rest in a variety of nooks — 
