SQUIRRELS 



or not it is a grouse that excites them at the 

 time. On one occasion, one of them even helped 

 me to secure a wounded bird as cleverly as a 

 retriever could have done, although probably 

 from a different motive. I had made a snap shot 

 through the hemlocks, and heard the grouse 

 come to the ground fluttering, but on reaching 

 the spot I found only a few scattered feathers and 

 just the faintest possible track on the dry pine- 

 needles, which I lost completely after following 

 for a few rods. As I stood there looking for 

 some clue to guide me, a red squirrel began chat- 

 tering excitedly a few rods away, hurrying along 

 from tree to tree, and finally coming to a halt, still 

 scolding. Thinking it just possible that he had 

 his eye on my game, I approached, and found 

 him waltzing madly about among the lower 

 branches of a pine and glaring fiercely down 

 into the shadows of a tangled mass of fallen 

 tree-trunks and branches. I moved cautiously 

 along beside the windfall, and presently noticed 



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