I OUR GRAY SQUIRRELS 17 



and continue it steadily in one direction for hun- 

 dreds of niiles, is hard to discover. It did not 

 seem to be lack of food, for they were always fat. 

 The migration was leisurely performed, too — 

 never in too great a hurry to prevent feasting 

 upon any fields of corn or sometimes of unripe 

 grain that came in the way. Such a visitation, 

 therefore, was like a flight of devouring locusts, 

 one chronicler alleging that the sound they made 

 in the maize in stripping off the husks to get at 

 the succulent kernels was equal to that of a field 

 full of men at harvesting. There is no difficulty, 

 moreover, in judging of the effect such migrations 

 would have in restoring equilibrium in sciurine pop- 

 ulation, since, of the surplus which started, few sur- 

 vived long, and the remnant at last faded away 

 among the Alleghanies or in some other distant 

 locality without seeming to increase the number of 

 squirrels there. 



The curiosity and gayety of the gray squirrel 

 are perhaps his strongest personal characteristics. 

 Nothing unusual escapes his attention, and he is 

 never satisfied until he knows all about it. He is 

 the Paul Pry, the news-gatherer, of the woods. 



When a new building is in course of erection in 

 or near the grove, the workmen no sooner leave it 

 than half a dozen squirrels go over and under and 

 through it, examining every part. If I trim away 

 branches and lay them in a heap, or repair a 

 fence, or do anything else, Mr. Gray inspects it 



