Shooting 107 



changed the taste as it did that of a walnut. 

 He was uncertain as to whether the squirrels 

 buried them with intent to make them better 

 eating, or whether they had some instinctive 

 knowledge of forestry, and meant thus to help 

 in assuring the perpetuation of the oaks. 



Anyway, in winter they were good house- 

 keepers, never eating in the nest if the 

 weather was open, but running ofF with their 

 nut ration to some convenient higher sunny 

 crotch, whence they might drop the hull with- 

 out betraying the nest. And if bad weather 

 kept them inside, making them eat and huddle 

 there for maybe a week, as soon as it cleared, 

 they fetched out the accumulated shells, and 

 instead of dropping them just outside, ran 

 all about with them — to the ends of the 

 longest branches upon the home tree, or even 

 across the whole breadth of a neighboring 

 one. 



If they did not make visits,- they were social 

 — often half a dozen of them played together, 

 chasing each other up and about the highest 

 sunny boughs. Sometimes the play was hide- 

 and-seek. One squirrel popped under or 

 around a big limb, out of sight of the rest, and 

 clung motionless there while they seemed to 

 search for him everywhere. 



Joe loved to watch them going to drink at 

 the creek. They will not drink muddy water 



