180 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
though I ran with all speedy and though the squirrel had to 
run nearly double the distance^ from the zigzag form of the 
fence, he would keep a-head of me. He is a cunning fellow 
too ; for after running from rail to rail, he will often suddenly 
crouch down on one of the projecting ends where they cross 
each other, in hope of remaining unseen : I have often lost 
them in this way. 
— 'Do you see that little grove in yonder bottom^ exactly 
between our house and the village ? There I once put the 
agility of a little rogue of a red squirrel to a pretty severe 
test. The trees are chiefly maple, cherry, and elm ; all, or 
nearly all, though of considerable height, so slender as to be 
easily shaken with my hands. My little gentleman was 
enjoying himself on one of those trees, when as his evil 
stars " would have it, I espied him. I knew that he would 
not leave the grove, and for a frolic I commenced shaking the 
tree violently, which put him at his wit's end ; he ran from 
bough to bough, and at length leaped to another tree ; this I 
instantly shook in the same manner, and so kept him flying 
from tree to tree sometimes at an astonishing distance, back- 
ward and forward through the grove, for more than half an 
hour, without a moment's cessation. He several times 
missed his hold, but always caught a bough in his fall, ex- 
cept once, when he came rather heavily on the ground from 
one of the topmost branches : he was instantly on his feet 
again, and up in the tree before I could come near him. I 
don't know whether he was tired, but / was, and was fain 
to yield him the point, and leave him in quiet possession of 
his trees. 
C. — ' Are there any squirrels found here besides the red 
and the striped ? 
F. — There are three others : the Grey ( Sciuriis Feu- 
cotis J, the Black f Scim^us Niger J, and the Flying Squirrels 
( Vteromys Voliicella ), all of them larger than these ; but 
