2G6 FAMILIAR LIF3 m FIELD AND FOREST. 



Inhabiting the same wood with the varying hare, 

 but far more active than he is in every motion of the 

 body, the sauciest scamp in the forest glade, and a 

 notorious little villain for stealing a march on birds' 

 nests, the red squirrel, or chickaree {Sciurus hudsoni- 

 cHs hudsonicus, Scitirus hudsoniios of Allen), is per- 

 haps the most familiar phase of wild life in the forest 

 or on the highway. But some of his tricks and man- 

 ners are not thoroughly well known. 



He is a perfect nuisance to the trapper, as he 

 continually springs the traps set for martens and 

 minks, and quite often gets caught him- 

 self. But his hide is not 

 worth a cent, so the trap- 

 per is disgusted. As for his 

 habit of robbing birds' 

 nests, that is fairly 

 well known by every 

 one who lives in the 

 country in June. Last 

 spring a pair of robins 

 built their nest close to my cottage in a butternut 

 tree, around the trunk of which I had built a rustic 

 arbor, and all went on without disturbance until the 

 young birds were hatched, when, late one afternoon, a 

 red squirrel appeared, and in a very unconcerned way 

 began to ascend the tree ostensibly to see how the 



The Red Squirrel. 



