The Tragedy of the Flying Squirrels 



indeed be welcome to occupy an apart- 

 ment that we had always in offer for 

 furred and feathered folk in a scraggy 

 burr oak tree that stands not twenty 

 feet from my bedroom window. 



I fancy that the original architects 

 of this apartment, which had been 

 beautifully worked out, were some of 

 the woodpecker people. It was there 

 when we acquired the place, and is 

 there yet, and it has had many tenants 

 in its time. The flickers, yellow ham- 

 mers or golden woodpeckers, by which- 

 ever term you may please to call them, 

 hatch out a noisy brood there every 

 spring. However, when the first heavy 

 frosts set the acorns clattering to the 

 ground, Hansel and Gretel came along, 

 looked over this vacant flat, and liked 

 it. At any rate, they took it, and 

 moved in, although not without 

 strenuous opposition from a somewhat 

 surprising and, I apprehend, quite 

 unexpected quarter. It was by the 

 merest chance that I happened to wit- 

 [los] 



