SQUIRRELS, GOOD AND BAD = 133 
‘‘The squirrel knows exactly how to get the seed 
with the least labor. A squirrel wishing to eat a 
cone, sits up on his hind feet, standing the cone up 
before him on its small end. Then he cuts off the 
upper scale at the butt of the cone. These scales do 
not run in straight lines, but are arranged spirally, 
with a seed under each scale. The seeds in a white 
pine-cone are about the size and shape of a small 
apple-seed ; those of a spruce, about as large as seeds 
of turnip or mustard. Both kinds have a wing which 
serves to carry the seed often to long distances, when 
it falls naturally from the cone. The squirrel eats 
the first seed, then gives the cone a slight turn and 
cuts the next scale, and so keeps turning and eating 
until the central pith is in his way, when he cuts it 
off and continues eating until near the end of the 
cone, which he always leaves, as he knows that the 
seeds there are too small and poor to be of use to 
him.”’ 
Gray squirrels and fox-squirrels. The red 
squirrel has been given so much space because 
his life is typical of that of the tribe, and be- 
cause he is not accurately known alhough so 
widespread and numerous. 
More familiar to most readers are the large 
‘‘oray’? and ‘‘fox’’ squirrels, both of which are 
very variable. Thus the northern gray squir- 
rels are at their best a clear silvery tint, while 
