NOVEMBER 239 



tures he seems to me the most riotously 

 mirthful and good-natured. It is true he 

 is a teasing, harrying sprite, but he does not 

 seem at all ill-natured. And when he takes 

 to playing he does it with the utmost 

 abandon. Tag is his game, by preference, 

 and surely when two red squirrels get well 

 interested in their sport, they are more en- 

 grossed in it than anything else but college 

 boys engaged in foot-ball — and the squirrels 

 need neither referee nor surgeon. When 

 it comes to leaping from one tree to the 

 next, or, if hard pressed, from the top of the 

 tree to the ground, the red squirrel spreads 

 his legs out wide. The loose flaps of skin 

 running from front to hind legs, and the 

 broad vibrant tail, give him a big surface to 

 resist the wind, and he fairly sails down. 

 Of course he cannot rival his cousin, the fly- 

 ing squirrel, in this feat, but he compensates 

 for this by being a far more active runner. 

 A wonderfully effective tool is that pair 

 of upper front teeth of the squirrel. They 

 are long and curved, and his split upper lip 

 allows him to expose them fully for their 



