SMALJj FOLK WITH LIVELY FEET. 269 



his deeds with squealing disapproval, tears their home 

 asunder and eats their stores before their eyes, con- 

 temptuously scattering the beechnut shells and the 

 half-gnawed acorns over the snow under their very 

 noses. 



In the autuma I have seen him among the top- 

 most branches of a butternut shaking the nuts down 

 and nipping at the stems of the more tenacious ones. 

 One day last October I heard the continuous thump, 

 thump, thump of the dropping nuts, and stepping out 

 of my studio to see why they should fall when there 

 was not a breath of air stirring, caught him at his 

 work ; then I took a mean advantage of his industry, 

 and sent the children out to gather the nuts. He 

 surveyed their actions with the disapproval of a much- 

 abused but helpless owner, and scolded most vocifer- 

 ously. He is extraordinarily busy all through the 

 months of September and October, and the stores of 

 beechnuts, butternuts, acorns, and hazels he gathers 

 would, if they were all piled together, astonish one be- 

 yond measure. Why, when he gathers so much for 

 himself, he must needs steal from his neighbors, it is 

 dilBcult to understand. He has the keenest sense of 

 the exact locality of a nut, and I am certain that he 

 is led to attack the nest of a mouse more by his 

 nostrils than his eyes. The keenness of his scent is 

 proved by a bit of calculation which he did one win- 



