I OUR GRAY SQUIRRELS 15 



sharp and short. Her patience was exhausted. 

 Instead of tenderly coaxing the last one of the 

 four, she scolded at him, driving rather than lead- 

 ing the terrorized youngster along the shaky cable, 

 and when it had reached the further tree, she seized 

 it in her mouth, and fairly shoved it through the 

 door of the new box. 



It is probable that in their wild state, before' 

 their forest range was restricted and men began to 

 slaughter them, all the arboreal squirrels were able 

 by longevity and rapid increase to more than keep 

 pace with the deaths in their ranks. Their natural 

 term of life probably approaches twenty years. 

 We have known continuously for twelve years one 

 female who was apparently an old mother when 

 she came, and is yet hale and hearty. During 

 this time she has regularly produced at least two 

 broods a year. At such a rate squirrels would 

 multiply until they overbalanced the ratio of num- 

 bers assigned them by nature. Accounts by early 

 writers show that they must formerly have been 

 amazingly numerous. Godman says that the gray- 

 coat was a fearful scourge to colonial farmers, and 

 that Pennsylvania paid j^Sooo in bounties for their 

 scalps during 1 749 alone. This meant the destruc- 

 tion of 640,000 within a comparatively small district. 

 In the early days of Western settlement regular 

 hunts were organized by the inhabitants, who 

 would range the woods in two companies from 

 morning till night, vying as to which band should 



