Nature's Little Store-keeper. 289 
A practice of testing their knowledge of nuts was then 
made. When cracked hickory nuts were given them, they 
at once sat down and picked out of them the meats, which 
they eagerly devoured. Cracked nuts, it would seem, were 
deemed worthless for storage. But, on the contrary, when 
whole nuts were given, they tested them, evidently by 
weight, to see if they were sound. Sound nuts were 
promptly transported to their burrow, but the poor ones 
were dropped. They were never known to be mistaken in 
their judgment, for the rejected nuts on being cracked were 
always found to be worthless. 
Although the food of the Hackee is mostly vegetal in 
character, yet, like his English relative, he is occasionally 
carnivorous in his appetite, for he has been detected in the 
cruel act of robbing birds’ nests and devouring their callow 
young. 
Some Squirrels are remarkable for their extreme agility in 
climbing trees, and in making extraordinary leaps from one 
bough to another or from some elevated spot to the earth. 
The Ground Squirrels, however, are intended to abide on 
the earth, and are seldom known to ascend trees to any 
great height. As they possess cheek-pouches, they are 
placed in a separate genus under the the name of Tamias, 
which is a Greek word, signifying a store-keeper, and are 
distinct from the others in being furnished with these append- 
ages. Zamuas striatus is the appellation by which the sub- 
ject of our sketch is known to the books. 
