MORE SQUIRRELS 



habits these squirrels would fall frequent victims 

 to the different kinds of owls, although I cannot 

 recall ever having found any evidence of this hav- 

 ing been the case, either about the nests or in 

 the stomachs of such owls as I have examined. 

 But in all probability they are frequently 

 snapped up by them, as well as by foxes, weasels, 

 and the like, just as they are occasionally by 

 domestic cats. 



Oddly enough, one rather frequent cause of 

 their destruction is the barbed-wire fence, the 

 sharp points of which catch the loose skin of 

 their parachute as they sail along. In their 

 struggles to free themselves, the unfortunate 

 squirrels simply twist themselves up tighter and 

 tighter, and in all probability die from suffocation. 

 I have found four or five of these unhappy vic- 

 tims suspended in this way, and I have no doubt 

 from their positions that that they perished in 

 the manner described. I have also seen a fox, 

 a skunk, and several cats caught on wire fences 

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