SCIIRUS liUnSOXIUS. 211 



impudent and wholly uncalled-for manner, but takes care to keep 

 iust out of reach. This daring' fearlessness is clearly the result of the 

 fact tliat he is not worth the powder necessary for his destruction, 

 and he is therefore tolerated, though an acknowledged nuisance. 

 But there are times when his conduct becomes so scandalous that the 

 shot-^'-un is brought out for his suppression. He is soon deeply im- 

 pressed with the range and effect of this weapon, and, though many 

 of his brothers may have perished before the warning was heeded, 

 he now becomes, in this particular localit)-, the most circumspect of 

 brutes. He scorns the thought of running away, but grows so 

 vigilant, sly, and crafty that the farmer is put to his wit's end to 

 devise means for his riddance. 



His curiosity is almost as striking as his impudence, and more 

 than once when I have been standing or sitting motionless in the 

 forest he has approached nearer and nearer, eycnng me inquisitively, 

 chippering, and shaking his tail, till finally he has jumped upon my 

 person, to be off again in a trice. When sleeping on the ground in 

 July, 1878, I was awakened, just at daybreak, by a noisy and excited 

 chippering close at hand, but before my eyes were fairly open one 

 of these mischievous imps alighted in my face. The surprise was 

 common, and 1 must have started rather unceremoniously, tor he 

 sprang so suddenly to the nearest tree that the prints of his claws 

 were visible for sometime after upon m)- forehead and nose. 



Of all the annoyances that beset the trapper in this region, none 

 compare with the Red Squirrel. Not only is he the most vexatious 

 of all the animals that roam the Adirondack wilds, but he often 

 proves a source of disaster to the fur dealer. From an overhanging 

 liml^ he looks on with unfeigned interest while the trapper arranges 

 the bait for the niartin or fisher ; but a nioment later he has sprung the 

 trap and is chippering with exulting derision at the result. He is 

 often cauo-ht, it is true, but half a do/en others are always ready to 

 take his place, and it affords little satisfaction to the hunter, on his 

 lonely rounds through the snow-clad forest, to find a worthless 



