288 
RURAL HOURS. 
There is another larger gray squirrel not so common, called the 
fox squirrel, measuring two and a half feet in length. 
The black squirrel is small, onlj' a foot long ; its fur is of a 
glossy jet black. We saw one this summer, but at a distance 
from our lake. They are nowhere very common, and are rather 
a northern variet}'^, not seen south of Pennsylvania. There is a 
deadly feud between these and the gray squirrels, and as their 
enemies are the largest and the most numerous, they are mvariably 
driven off the nuttino:-a:rounds when both meet. The two kinds 
are said never to remain long together in the same neighborhood. 
These, w'ith the flying squirrel, make up all the members of 
their family found in our State. The pretty little flying squirrels 
are quite small, about nine inches long. They are found here and 
there through this State, and indeed over the Union, and in Mex- 
ico also. They live in hollow trees, but we have never had the 
good luck to meet one in our rambles. They are seldom seen, 
however, in the daytime, dozing away until twilight. 
Monday, 1 1 th. — Church-yards are much less common in this 
country than one might suppose, and to judge from the turn 
things are taking now, it seems probable this pious, simple cus- 
tom of burying about oui- chuixhes, will soon become obsolete. 
As it is, the good people of many rural neighborhoods must make 
a day’s journey before they can find a country church-yard in 
Avhich to read Gray’s Elegy. A great proportion of the places 
of worship one sees here have no graves near them. In the vil- 
lages they make part of the crowd of buildings with little space 
about them ; nor does it follow that in the ojjen country, where 
land is cheaper, the case is altered ; you pass meeting-houses 
