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in winter when the ground is covered with snow, or 

 they would be unable to obtain their food, a very 

 wise plan for them to parsue, indeed a much better 

 one than some of his superiors have. They live mostly 

 in and about the woods where they may be seen most 

 every day in warm sunny weather. When autumn 

 arrives and acorns and other nuts are ripe, there is quite 

 a stir among them, and a person can scarcely go near a 

 wooded district without seeing them running in all di- 

 rections with their cheeks pouched out, owing to the 

 big mouthful of provision which they are bearing to 

 their winter quarters. In summer squirrels have large 

 nests in the woods, which are generally placed in the 

 top of a small tree and are coarse and bulky, being 

 composed of sticks, leaves and grass. Some squirrels 

 migrate in large companies from place to place, and 

 w^hen a stream is to be crossed it is said they select 

 pieces of bark and sit upon them, thus sailing safely 

 across without getting their coats wet at all. 



Most if not all of our squirrels are suitable for food, 

 and they do not fare much better than the rabbit when 

 the time expires in which the law prohibits their de- 

 struction. There are several species of these interesting 

 little creatures — the gray, red, flying squirrel and oth- 

 ers. The gray species is the most common. He is very 

 active, and can run up or down the trunks of trees with 

 great rapidity, and also leap from one tree to another 

 where the distance is not too great. It is amusing to 

 see them go out on a limb until apparently in danger 

 of falling to the ground, and then nimbly jump to a 

 neighboring branch, running to the top and looking 

 saucily down upon you. This is the squirrel most 



