NATURAL HISTORY. 



303 



the gray has slackened his pace or not — 

 before he is going on again, now unfitted 

 for propagation. The evidence lies on the 

 leaves, fresh covered with blood. 



Another scene in the same woods. We 

 are hunting to-day and as we go over the 

 same ridge, a large hawk jumps from a 

 clump of bushes and darts away. We part 

 the bushes and see a full grown ruffed 

 grouse, with an ugly wound in its head, 

 from which blood is still dripping. 



I saw these scenes in a little piece of 

 woods near our village. 



I do not believe hawks generally catch 

 full grown grouse, but if they catch chick- 

 ens, why wouldn't they catch young grouse? 



I am thankful, brother Brownell, that 

 snakes are not plentiful here, but when I 

 see one kill it, on general principles. Don't 

 you know they rob birds' nests? 



E. S. Billings, Syracuse, N. Y. 



It seems the detestable red squirrel has 

 the same habits in Smyrna, N. Y., he has 

 here. From my window, one morning last 

 spring, I watched a red squirrel enter a 

 robin's nest, take a young fledgling in his 

 mouth, run down the tree and into a 

 stone wall. In a few minutes he returned 

 and carried away another young bird. I 

 marked the place where he entered the 

 wall and going there, found the birds, not 

 2 feet apart. He had bitten them through 

 the neck, at the base of the skull. I left 

 them, being anxious to find out if he was 

 carnivorous; but though I watched from 

 day to day until they spoiled, he never dis- 

 turbed them. On inquiry among reputable 

 observers I found it was an old trick of his; 

 and one person, a well known ornitholo- 

 gist, told me of an island off the coast of 

 Maine where the red squirrels had driven 

 off or exterminated the greater part of the 

 robins. I have seen the reds chasing gray 

 squirrels; but whether they prevented them 

 from returning I know only on hearsay. 

 The hearsay comes from men I have the 

 utmost confidence in. In your squib you 

 refer to the pine squirrel, while the articles 

 on pages 53 January and 315 April Recrea- 

 tion refer to the red. 

 A. M. Hinkley, No. Middleboro, Mass. 



You ask for evidence against red squir- 

 rels. Here is mine: I saw one, last sum- 

 mer, dump the eggs out of half a dozen 

 sparrow nests in about 5 minutes. The 

 nests were in a box intended for martins, 

 on the side of a store. My nephew called 

 to me to come quick if I wanted to see 

 a small thrashing machine. The compari- 

 son was good, because there was a con- 

 tinuous stream of straw, feathers, and 

 birds' eggs coming to the ground, until 

 every nest was empty. Then the squirrel 

 ran down to the ground and away. 



I supposed every hunter knew the red 

 squirrel was a terror to the gray squirrel. 



I have seen the reds chasing grays times 

 too often to mention. On 2 occasions I 

 saw a gray jump out of the top of a tree 

 into the river, to get away from its red 

 pursuer. One of these jumps was from 

 a tall pine tree, at least 50 feet from the 

 water. 



Paul Scheuring, West De Pere, Wis. 



I note your question regarding the red 

 squirrel. I don't know as the little fellow 

 robs birds' nests of eggs, but I have seen 

 him carry off a half-grown fledgling from 

 a robin's nest, and have no doubt he has 

 a fondness for young birds as an article 

 of food. 



When a boy, I used to endeavor to tame 

 red squirrels, but never succeeded in con- 

 verting them to any satisfactory degree of 

 docility. Unlike him, however, his cous- 

 ins, the gray squirrel and the ground squir- 

 rel, are easily domesticated. 



I have not written this to aid in the con- 

 demnation of the red squirrel, because I 

 rather like him for his pert and saucy 

 ways, but as a reply to your query. 



Bur Shaw, Augusta, Me. 



Yes: a red squirrel will and does rob 

 birds' nests. While going through an orch- 

 ard last summer I was attracted by the cry 

 of a pair of robins. On investigation 

 I found a red squirrel making off with an 

 egg. He did not go far, and I opened fire 

 with a target revolver. My bad shooting 

 did not disturb him. By the time I had 

 finished my ammunition he had done as 

 much with his third egg. 



I ran to the house and brought out the 

 Parker, with which I put an end to the 

 feast. I have noticed a case of this kind 

 once before. I have also seen them drive 

 both the gray and fox squirrel in the woods. 

 K. S. Johnston, Detroit, Mich. 



The red squirrel is a nuisance. There 

 used to be a nut grove near here where one 

 could bag from 6 to 10 grays in 2 hours' 

 shooting. One year the crop of nuts fell 

 short and the grays starved or migrated. 

 The reds managed to survive, and from then 

 on kept the grays from returning until a 

 companion and I began to kill the red ras- 

 cals off. Then it was astonishing how 

 quickly the grays increased. 



I think the L. A. S. is a step toward the 

 preservation of our game. If every reader 

 of Recreation would give it a boost we 

 should soon see game on the increase. 



Comet, Newton, N. J. 



We have in this country, some seasons, 

 an abundance of red squirrels. They are 

 pests to everything in the bird line, espe- 

 cially the smaller kinds, as well as to the 

 gray and black squirrels. They will try, 

 at least, to get into any nest, and destroy 

 the eggs, which they seem to enjoy eating. 



