130 STATEN IsLAND INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES | 
ever that are laden with these large galls do not have them re- 
moved by the squirrels; they probably escape their attention dur- 
ing the early summer. ‘The gallfly hatches by about the middle 
of June while the gall is still on the tree, so the squirrel has not 
a very long season in which to operate with the certainty of se- 
curing full grown plump larvae. On Nov. 17, 1907, in the woods 
near Baldwin, Long Island, we found a meat bone that a gray 
squirrel had placed in its nest about twenty feet from the ground. 
It had been gnawed on both outer edges, top and bottom. In 
the woods of Staten Island on Dec. 19, 1909, another squirrel- 
gnawed meat bone was found. Squirrels sometimes visit refuse 
heaps. It is not always the expectation of getting some nutri- 
ment out of an object that prompts a squirrel to gnaw it, for we 
have seen one gnawing a fence picket most industriously. 
A certain amount of trustfulness has done much to ingratiate 
the gray squirrel with man, and while many have lost their lives 
by being too trustful, yet the trait has undoubtedly contributed to 
the preservation of the species in the midst of human environment. 
Then too their inquisitiveness is so amusing that it has saved some 
of them from being shot, especially in these days of a greater 
appreciation of our animal neighbors. 
One day while I sat on a fence in the woods I felt it shake 
slightly, and looking about saw a fine gray squirrel sitting only 
one rail’s length away. Its tail was vibrating rapidly and it was 
evidently much displeased that I should be sitting on the 
“squirrel’s highway.” After some time it ran up a dogwood tree 
and sat on a branch waiting for me to go on, but tiring of this it 
ran back along the fence. On Sep. 11, 1897, while leaning against 
a rail fence in the woods, I felt it shake and recognized that a 
squirrel must be near. Upon looking up I observed a gray 
squirrel a few posts away. The squirrel regarded me for some 
time, then left the fence and climbed a hickory tree, threw down 
one nut, and in his mouth brought down another which he buried. 
He got on the fence again and regarded me once more, sprawled 
out on the top of a post with his legs and tail hanging over, very 
