MISCHIEF MAKERS 353 



"Why doesn't it go crooked and spin around?" 

 asked Nat ; " a kite would if it hadn't a string to hold 

 it and a long tail." 



" You must remember," said the Doctor, " that a 

 Squirrel is alive and springs in the direction he wishes 

 to go ; the skin flaps help him to remain in the air, and 

 his tail, which spreads flatly and is not thick like other 

 Squirrels', both balances and steers him. Olive, dear, 

 look in the portfolio and give me the picture of the 

 Flying Squirrel. There, now you can see at a glance 

 how he goes ! " 



" Then they can only fly down or across, but not up," 

 said Olive. 



"They can rise very slightly, but not much higher 

 than a Gray Squirrel can by leaping. Tell us what 

 else you have noticed about them. Rap." 



" The first time I ever saw them was three years ago 

 in spring. The Miller's boy said there was a hickory 

 tree with a hole in it, back of their pond, where a lot of 

 long-tailed Bats lived. He was looking for Wood- 

 peckers' eggs late one afternoon, and he saw the hole 

 but he couldn't quite reach it, so he knocked on the 

 bark to see if a bird would come out, and instead out 

 popped one of these Squirrels, but the light seemed to 

 hurt its eyes and it hurried in again. 



" A couple of weeks after, when the moon was full, 

 we went up to the woods about Bat time and climbed 

 way up in an oak tree that stood close to the hickory, 

 and waited for the long-tailed Bats to come out. 



" The Nighthawks were out, and the Whip-poor-wills 

 and a couple of kinds of Bats came along pretty soon, 

 and we saw a Skunk sneaking across to the pond, but 



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