The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-02

can robins, who had caught him stealing
their eggs, and when an Individual is in
discreet enough to attempt the nests of
larger birds, such as jays or crows, his
life often pays the penalty. A pair of
magpes have been seen to work together
very cleverly in furnishing such a pirate
His chief means of escaping their attack
is by lodging round to the opposite side
OF the tree trunk, maneuver with which
all squirrel hunters are most familiar Aft
er the birds had missed one or two united
swoops, they withdrew and took brief
council. Then they separated, one re-
naming poised where he was, and the
other sweeping round to the opposite side
of the tree and again attacking bunny
flercely and with much noise. This he
lodged as before, with a chuckle at his
own agility and the easiness OF the trick,
which was just what the other bird was
expecting, and swoop she came like
feathered thunderbolt on his unsuspecUng
head, knocking him from his perch to the
ground, and half stunning him.
After this had been repeated three or
four times and the squirrel, who never
seemed to understand why the trick
wouldn't work. was half dead the we'll
meaning human observer interfered think
ing bunny had been punished enough He
ought to have looked to see whether II
was eggs or young birds before disturbing
the judicial proceedings of nature How
ever the CulpIJL was uf0DdDlV cured of
egg-sucking-for several weeks.
Indeed, l grleve to say that the saucy
little red squirrel, or chickaree (much the
same animal as our European squirrel
minus the tufted ears, in spite OF his en-
gaging appearance and merry seedlings
with tail waving over his head is about
as near an approach to that rara avis
among animals, "a thoroughly bad lot,'
as any one / know Under his air Of in
fantile innocence and bonhommie he is
treacherous, thevish and cowardly The
birds all loathe him, for he sucks their
eggs. kills their nestlings, and when he
finds neither tears the nest 10 ntecas ot,f
Of pure cussedness," besides taking pos
session of the larger ones for his own
quarters whenever he dares. His larger
brother-squirrels hate him cordially for
he lies awake at night devising elaborate
burglaries upon the stores of nuts, har-
ries their nests On their absence, and is
even said TO kill their young ones If ne
can catch them unguarded. Old hunt
ers have assured me that he has a most
un-Christlan habit, and singularly
senseiess one for an animal, OF sneaking
up behind the big fox or gray or black
squirrels. four or five times his size as
they lie asleep, and biting them most vic
iously Before they can get their wits to-
gether he Is in the next tree-top but one
where they can no more catch him than a
hawk can swallow. His smaller breth-
rem Of the ground and the hollow stump
the chipmunks, have no more affection for
him, as he does not even pay them the
compliment OF taking their boards by
stealth, but watches till he thinks they
have laboriously made pile" worth taxi
ing, and then calmly descends upon it,
pitches the rightful owners out of doors,
and carries off every kernel. Those who
know him best assert that he would rather
go nalf a mile to steal nut than climb the
next tree to pick 1t. And, of course, the
farmer hates him on the score of his corn
fields and cherry orchards. Like even the
alleged criminal born" he has his re-
deeming qualities, but he is almost as
much of a nuisance In the animal COM
munity as man can be when he tries
The liberation of our flying squirrel sur
vlvors, like other virtues-even If tardy-