LITTLE BEASTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 



latter is followed by a sudden thaw, with thick 

 white fog-banks lurking under the evergreens, 

 while the snow sinks beneath the slopping rain 

 and everything is nasty and uncomfortable, the 

 indomitable red squirrels are pretty certain to be 

 out everywhere, not only in the woods but along 

 every roadside fence and stone wall, especially 

 where certain neglected apple trees still hold out 

 an inducement in the shape of frozen apples 

 softened again for the first time in months. 



The red squirrel is decidedly a northern 

 species, hardly to be considered native south of 

 the latitude of New York, but ranging towards 

 the pole as far as the woods extend. Unlike the 

 European squirrel, however, which it so closely 

 resembles in many ways, its fur, even in the most 

 northern latitudes, though thick, soft, and of 

 very presentable length, never appears to attain 

 that peculiar and indescribable quality demanded 

 by furriers, a circumstance for which the red 

 squirrel should be duly thankful. 



226 



