SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS LEUCOTIS. I 29 
second. The blows from their hard bills were so severe and so 
painful that the poor Squirrel had not been struck half a dozen times 
when he let go his hold and fell to the ground, but was off and up 
another tree before I could reach the spot. I witnessed a similar 
attack upon a Gray Squirrel (color- variety of the same species) last 
August, but this time the Squirrel succeeded in getting into a hollow 
limb. The time of year at which the above instances occurred 
precludes the possibility that the cause ol the difficulty arose from an 
intrusion on the nesting-ground ol the woodpeckers, for the first took 
place in midwinter, and the second after the young were fully Hedged 
and had left the nest. Neither is it at all likely that the trouble was 
due to an old grudge which might have arisen from a habit on the 
part of the Squirrel, of robbing the woodpeckers of their eggs, for 
the size of the animal is such as to prevent his ready entrance into 
the woodpecker’s hole, and should he even succeed in getting in, he 
would doubtless pay the penalty with his eyes, it not his life.’’ * At 
this time I was in ignorance of the cause of enmity between them, 
but was soon after enlightened on this point. While much the 
larger part of the beechnut crop falls to the ground after the first hard 
frosts, a few nuts remain on the trees throughout the winter. These 
the woodpeckers consider as their exclusive property, assailing and 
punishing all rivals with a valor, persistence, and severity, astonish- 
ing to behold. Now the Squirrels find it much more conve- 
nient to procure the nuts that still cling to the branches than to dig 
down through the snow in search of those that lie buried beneath. 
Therefore, it often happens that the woodpeckers, on coming to the 
grove to feed, discover that the Squirrels are there before them, 
stealing the scattered nuts. Their wrath knows no bounds, and they 
attack the intruders with such unmistakable earnestness and effi- 
ciency that the latter, unable to defend themselves, are glad of any 
haven to which they may escape. During the last five years I have 
witnessed these encounters over and over again, and am convinced 
* Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, Vol. Ill, No. 3, July, 1878, pp. 125-126. 
