Osage Valley banner., 1881-04-14
Tho squirrel ! Bold LcaDsr.

l are 50 DOlO Ttuu It~hiCo9 ~ sN"F's,'-
through the trees is that II they miss
their hold the fall will not hurt them
Every spe cies OF tree-squirrel seems To
| be capable of sort Of rudimeMary
/ living lat lcast of making itself into a
parachute, so as to ease 0r break q fall
or leap from o great height The
/ so called flying-squirrel does this the
most perfectly. IL opens its furry vest
ments. leaps into the air, aud sails down
the steep incline from the top Of one
tree to the foot of the next as lightly as
bird. But other squirrels know the
same trick, only their coat-skirts are
not so broad One day my dog freed u
red squirrel in tan hickory that stood
in n meadow on tho side of n steep hill.
70 see what the squirrel would do when
closely pressed. / climbed the tree.
AS | drew near he took refuge in the
topmost branch. and then. as | came on,
he boldly leaped into the air, spread
himself out upon il, aud. with quick,
trcmulous motion of his tail and legs,
descended quite slowly and landed
upon the ground thirty feet below me,
apparently none the worse for the leap,
for he ran with great speed and escaped
the dog in another tree.
A receat Amerlcan traveller IN MvSieC
gf,ts'a still more striking instance Of
this power of squirrels partially to ncu-
tralize the force OF gravity when leap
ing or falling through the air. Some
boys had caught Mexican black squir-
rol nearly as large as a cat. ID had
escaped from them once, and, when
pursued had taken leap of sixty feet
from the top of pine tree down upon
the roof of house without injury. This
feat had led the grandmother OF one of
the boys TO declare that the squirrel
was bewitched, and the BOYS proposed
TO put the matter TO further test by
throwing the squirrel down q precipice
six hundred feet high. Our traveller in-
teriercd, to see that the squirrel had
fair play. The prisoner was conveyed
in a Fellowship to the edge of the clilf
and the slip opened, so that he might
have HIS choice whether TO remain n
captive or to take the leap. He looked
down the awful abyss and then back
and sidewise his eyes glistening, his
form crouching. Seeing no escape in
any other direction, he took a living
leap into space and lluttered rather
than fell into the abyss below His
legs began 10 work ike those Of q swim
ming poodle-dog, but quicker and
quicker, while his tail, slightly elevat-
cd, spread out like a feather fan. a
rabbit OF the same weight would have
made the trip in about Twelve seconds;
the squirrel protracted it for more than
half a minute. and landed on ledge
OF limestone, where we could see him
plainly squat on his hind legs and
smooth his ruilled piumage, after which
he made for the creek with flourish of
his tail, took good drink and scam
pered away into the willow IN cket"
The story at first blush seems incred-
ible, but have no doubt our red s1uir-
rel would have made the leap safely,
then why not the great black squirrel,
since its parachute would be proper
tionately large?
The tails Of the squirrels are broad
and long and fiat not short and small
ike those OF gophers, chipmunks, wea-
sells, and other ground rodents, and
when they leap or fail through the air
the tail is arched and rapidly vibrates.
A Asqulrfers tail, therefore, is something
more than ornament, something more
thana Ilag; ii not only aids him in ily-
ing, but it serves as a cloak, which he
wraps about him when lie Sleeps. Thus
some animals put their tails to various
uses, while others seem TO have no use
for them whatever. What use for tail
has wood-ehuck, or a weasel. or Il
mousea Has not the mouse yet learned
that it could get in its hole sooner if it
had no tail? The mole and the mead
ow-mouse have very short tails. Rats, /
no doubt, put their tails to various uses.
The rabbit has no use for tail-it
would be in its way; while Its manner
OF sleeping is such that ii does not need
a tail 70 tuck itself up with, as do the
coon and the fox The dog talks with
his tail; the tail of the 'possum is pre-
hensilei the porGupne uses his tail in
climbing and for defense, the beaver as
a tool or trowel; while the tail of the
skunk serves as screen behind which
it masks its terrible battery John Bur
foaghs, iH Scribner' ). ~ a