136 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
Peculiarities of these larger squirrels. In 
one or two respects the gray and the fox-squir- 
rels differ decidedly from their smaller rela- 
tives. Instead of retiring to holes under- 
ground, they dwell in. winter in holes in trees, 
coming out nearly every day to hunt and gambol 
about. They make great summer nests of leafy 
twigs in which the mother and young reside 
while the male squirrels lead a bachelor ex- 
istence, often with far wanderings. Their 
food is substantially the same as that of the 
reds, but they rarely rob the nests of birds, 
or are thievish of meat; and their only method 
of storing food is by burying it, one nut or 
acorn in a place. That months later, when 
wind-blown leaves and perhaps deep snow cover 
the ground, they can recover these treasures 
is truly remarkable; but they seem to know pre- 
cisely where each nut is buried, and go directly 
to it, then dive down through the snow and 
presently reappear with the morsel in their 
teeth. It would seem improbable that this is 
an effort of memory, and more likely that a cer- 
tain amount of memory is aided by the faculty 
of smell. Often after finding one buried nut 
