THE SQUIRREL ML SHAKE STORY 
Letter to Mrs. Holmes from the Survey Gamp 
in the Jemez Mountains, Colorado, Aug. 1887 
The monotony of camp life was broken yesterday even- 
ing, August 22, by a little episode which may be of interest 
to you. I crossed the creek to take a short stroll in the 
woods that border the valley on that side. Presently I 
noticed what I supposed to be two squirrels fighting or quarrel 
ing in a large tree some 30 or 40 feet above the ground. The 
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chattering was spasmodic and seemingly agonizing. In the top 
of the tree was a nest of leaves. Surprised at the extra- 
ordinary activity displayed I stopped to look and soon conclud- 
ed that it was not two squirrels but one squirrel fighting some 
other creature - perhaps a snake. In order to settle the 
matter I went back to camp and got my field glasses and pistol. 
With the aid of the glasses I soon discovered a large snake 
coiled up on a large branch near where it joined the trunk, 
some twenty-five feet above the ground. The squirrel was 
fighting for her young. I watched her vain attempts to dis- 
lodge the snake. She would spring from the tree trunk above 
so as to graze the reptile as she descended, turning quickly 
aside just in time to avoid the serpent f s thrust with open 
mouth sometimes falling off among the branches below and 
scrambling up again to renew the attack. Again she would 
