MORE SQUIRRELS 



hours that they habitually choose to spend in 

 hunting correspond exactly with the squirrel's 

 working hours, from seven to ten o'clock in the 

 morning and from three o'clock in the afternoon 

 until near sunset. They watch cat-like for an 

 opportunity to take some unhappy squirrel un- 

 awares, or, circling above the tree tops, their keen 

 eyes penetrate the foliage from constantly vary- 

 ing positions, searching branch and bole and the 

 carpet of fallen leaves beneath, till, perceiving the 

 flicker of a bushy tail, the long wings close, of a 

 sudden, fan-like, and the hunter goes down with 

 a rush to match his quickness against the quick- 

 ness of a squirrel. Or the still more treacherous 

 goshawk and cooper's hawk, with their shorter 

 wings and slender yacht-Hke build, shoot along 

 with baffling swiftness through the undergrowth 

 just in order to surprise the busy harvesters at 

 their work. 



When the nuts are all gathered or fallen, the 

 gray squirrel spends most of his time indoors, 



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