MISCHIEF MAKERS 359 



I think it would be easier to remember where a nut was 

 buried than to smell it through several inches of snow 

 and frozen ground." 



" Oil dear ! " sighed Dodo, " if he has such a smeller 

 as that, how he must choke when he lives in a wood 

 where there are Skunks." 



" One thing more about this popular Squirrel, who 

 with us, as you see, wears a light gray winter coat tinged 

 with brown. Further north he sometimes appears with- 

 out rhyme or reason in a fine black coat, just as the 

 Screech Owl is sometimes gray and sometimes red — a 

 Dichromatic Phase is what the Wise Men call this. 



"If the Gray Squirrel changes his hue according to 

 where he lives, his cousin the great Fox Squirrel out- 

 does even the Varying Hare. I will show you some 

 colored pictures of him in my Audubon and Bachman's 

 Quadrupeds, that I sent for to town last week. 



" See, one is black with white nose and ears, one is 

 gray with yellowish legs, and a third is yellowish brown 

 with white ears, nose, and a dark face. The commonest 

 coat worn, and the one most often seen, is dappled gray, 

 with the nose, ears, feet, and under-parts whitish. One 

 thing you can be sure of, no matter Avhat this Squirrel's 

 coloring may be, he is A'^ery large (less than two inches 

 shorter than a Woodchuck), has a long tail, and white 

 ears and nose. He is found in some one of his many 

 coats in most parts of the United States, where he can 

 find high ground and tall pine trees. He likes cones and 

 has his home nest and nursery in a tree hole, though he 

 usually makes an outdoor nest which he uses as a summer 

 house. If you happen to be near where the Fox Squir- 

 rels live, you will surely see or hear them, for they come 



