The times., 1899-12-17
THE MIscHIEvoUs SQUIRREL.
Interesting characteristics of the
Lively Little Animal.
lFrom ~ London -


1t may be thought that only those animals
who are in close companionship with hu
man beings develop human traits Of char
acter, but a sport-Ioving German has just
been telling me of an adventure of his
with a wild squirrel in the forests OF
Posen. The story illustrates the monkey
like pTanksOmeuess Of the merry. mis-
chievous race that ! am watching With in
teTest and delight in the beech trees and
pines of the Alps. My acquaintance had
gone out very early with the proprietor OF
the forest on a shooting expedition. In the
early dimness, beneath the thick branches
of the fir trees, he was hit sharply by a
cone. In the half light he could not at first
see whence the missile came, though ne
peered about in very direction. Presently
another fir cone struck him smartly. and
he caught sight OF his assailant-a squir-
reIi Standing as still as he could me
watched the little creature throw cone
after cone at him with excellent aim, hold
ing them between his teeth and swinging
them back and forth before aiugiug them
down.
/ am astonished at the wantou waste
and destructiveness of the Alpine squir-
rels. They shower down any quantity OF
beechmast above and beyond what they
eat. Seeing them at their tricks. I must
perforce conclude that il is for fun that
they go spreading ruin and scattering
ban" They strip nut trees OF their ha-
zels neatly dividing some shells 10 de-
your the kernels. But they also streT
the ground with punches of ripe nuts, in
a fashion ''wanton as drunkenness The
severe utilitarian who should say that the
squirrel who flung the cones was only try
ing to see what the sportsman was made
of evidently has not watched The bright,
furry fellows at their sports C1cchina-
tion-one of the best words for laughter
OF a sort-must have been modelled on the
hilarious chucklings of squirrels. More
over, they grin tlabiallyl, and their eve
twinkles in delight as they gambol and
frisk from bough to bOugh. We have the
handsome. dark brown variety here, and
also the smaller red kind.
A tiny red fellow with a broken tail
sprang from a branch close to me the other
day. I remained perfectly still, and he
eyed me curiously from head to foot; did
rot like me after prolonged examination,
sprang upon a tree bole a little further
off. and with q flourish of his remnant Of
TAIL went down the "off side, so that /
lost sight OF him altogether. II only any
Judge could be as wise as that squirrel
locked when he summed me up and
found me dangerous We should al cry, "A
Daniel come TO judgment, yea, a Daniel"
That cone throwing German squirrel
the sportsman thinks was only bent on
getting rid OF an intruder; but I should not
wonder if he were simply playing practi-
cal joke. friendly Alpine poacher tells
me that a squirrel here viii have three,
! four, or five nests. and, not being over re-
/ fined. my pOaChing acquaintance mentions
/ the word "fleas" "a word which is not per-
[ missible in polite society in italy in con
nection with the squire 5 freq elt changes
/ of domicie He AYERS that when the pu-
4 lex irritans" absolutely swarms in one
nest the owner moves on TO another and
/ then another, until the parasitic colony in
/ the first abode has died down. Even very
poor human inhabitants of these va leys
/ have TWO or three chaiets at different ele-
| vations. but migrations are, I believe,
/ guided chiefly by agricultural considera-
! tions