SQUIRRELS, GOOD AND BAD 137 
they bore their way beneath the snow here and 
there in search of others, and so get a whole 
meal. 
These squirrels are so large and toothsome 
that they have always been reckoned among 
our game animals, and years ago were to be 
seen in every market in the land. Now this is 
less common, because they have become scarce 
in many parts of the country. No longer, then, 
are they accused by farmers of being a pest; 
but a century ago they certainly were so all 
along the frontier. That was the time when 
occasionally vast migrations descended upon 
the fields of corn in the milk, ruining the crop; 
and for years great sums in bounties were paid 
for their destruction in Pennsylvania and Ohio. 
A very full account of this matter, and of the 
gray squirrel generally, may be found in the 
first chapter of my Wild Neighbors. 
The gray squirrel of California is a separate 
species, larger and brighter than the eastern 
gray. Along the Mexican border occur several 
allied species, more or less marked with yellow 
and reddish, of which the handsomest is 
Abert’s, which has a band of chestnut along the 
