THE OPEN WINDOW 



one of them deliberately curled himself up in the small 

 tin food-cup on top of the corn and peanuts, where he 

 remained without even stretching himself until after 

 eight at night, when I put the cage out on the porch. 

 Then such yawnings and friskings, such eating 

 and drinking, such gay whirls in the festive wheel! I 

 did not stay to see how late they kept up their antics, 

 but I heard that only the dawn quieted them. The 

 next day Arthur, as we named the least aggressive 

 one, who had spent his daylight hours the day before 

 curled up in a round ball on the shelf, with his tail 

 carefully spread before his eyes, after poking his com- 

 panion a bit, managed to crawl also into the tin cup, 

 and there the two stayed all day. It was certainly not 

 for warmth that they did this, as the room was heated. 

 Only the gentle regular pulsation of their backs indi- 

 cated that they were alive. 



When we went to town for the winter, these flying 



squirrels had become such pets that they were taken 



down to the cottage, where their funny antics amused 



the family. They were permitted the freedom of the 



9 129 



