THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS. 339 



and yet his intelligence, his untiring perseverance, and genuine industry, the 

 cunning cleverness displayed in many of his actions and the irresistible humor 

 with which he does everything, command for him a certain degree of admiration. 

 He is arrogant, impetuous, and conceited to an extreme degree, his confidence in 

 his own superior capabilities not infrequently costing him his life. In fact, these 

 contradictions in character and idiosyncrasies in disposition render him a 

 psychological problem of no easy solution." 



As mentioned above, he is found in all parts of the Adirondacks and at all 

 times. From the earliest morning till sunset he is always abroad and busy, and 

 even after dark, especially on moonlight nights, he may sometimes be seen, 

 stealing through the trees, and much more quietly than during the day. Then, 

 too, cold has no effect on him, for even when the mercury is at its lowest and 

 the snow is many feet deep, he is abroad, often tunneling through it, apparently 

 merely for the pleasure of the thing. When, however, the wind blows in the heavy 

 storms he makes for his nest, to reappear when it becomes calmer. He is not 

 very particular about his choice for a nest, but makes it in a hollow tree or 

 branch, or sometimes in a log or in the ground. Outside of the colder regions 

 of the Adirondacks he usually builds outside nests. Generally this is in the top of an 

 evergreen, though sometimes in other trees, and is a round mass composed 

 of the bark of the red cedar or other soft material. In this or in the other nest, 

 four to six young are born in the spring. In summer, while these are still to be 

 cared for, the industrious squirrel is already beginning to. prepare for the coming 

 of the cold weather and is busily engaged in biting off the young and green 

 cones of the spruce and sweet balsam. In fact, even in the latter part of June, 

 the writer found the ground in parts of the woods near Old Forge covered with the 

 green cones, some of which the squirrel had apparently been sampling. Later, when 

 the white pine and other cones are formed, he bites those off, often doing considerable 

 damage in this way. All these he buries, usually a few at a time, under the leaves or 

 pine needle3 in the earth, or in the hollows of trees or limbs, and often carries 

 large quantities to his burrow. Later still, when the beechnuts, which form his 

 staple food, are ripe, he collects immense quantities of them, often, too impatient 

 to wait for their ripening, biting off the yet green nuts, so that they fall to the 

 ground, wheie he afterwards collects them in heaps and then stores them away, 

 as he does his cones. Being thus dependent upon the supply of beechnuts, his 

 numbers vary with their abundance. It seems to be a more or less regular rule 

 that, in the Adirondacks, the beechnut crop is larger every alternate year and the 

 number of squirrels is greatest when the mast is plentiful. Alternate years they 

 are much less common, and from the fact that they sometimes increase or decrease 



