LITTLE BEASTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 



black band along the side. I should not have put 

 much credence in his tale if his description had 

 not applied so closely to the northern variety, 

 which it was hard to imagine that he could ever 

 have heard of. 



It is now several years since I have seen a live 

 flying squirrel, though there is no reason to sup- 

 pose that they are any less abundant than formerly. 

 I have rapped on hollow trees and pried into de- 

 caying logs and stumps on every occasion without 

 discovering the sleepy little chaps I was in search 

 of But this sort of thing goes largely by chance 

 after all, and to-morrow I may happen on them 

 where I least expect it. I remember once climb- 

 ing to a crow's nest in a tall pine while the old 

 birds wheeled and scolded overhead. When rather 

 more than half-way to the top, I reached the place 

 that I had seen from the ground, but was disap- 

 pointed to find only a last year's nest heaped up 

 with dry leaves and pine-needles in such a way 

 as to show that it had already been appropriated 



260 



