The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-07-04
SQUIRRELS AT Ann ARBOR.
MUCH PETTING HAS GREATLY
CHANGED THEIR NATURES.
So. Sure of Being Fed That They No
Longer Lay UP Stores of Food-The
Tailed Friends.

Professor and His Numerous Bushy
Tailed Friends.
The greatest sufferers in Ann Arbor
from the tremendous rain Of last week
were the gray squirrels. The frisky lit
tie fellows We're at a loss to know what
to do when the down-pour started, and
after a hurried consultation with their
best friends in the squirrel society of the
place, they scampered this way and that
to get in out of the wet Anything that
offered shelter was a godsend to them.
From half-concealed hooks they
watched the birds hopping about in the
storm with eyes in which burned most
apparent fires of envy. The gentle lit
tie animals We're to be seen in the most
outlandlsh places by those wayfarers
who We're so unfortunate as to be
caught in the storm.
s AT about two o'clock in the afternoon,
when the rain was falling in veritable
torrents, l was coming along Washte-
nav avenue. AT the crossing of WOOL
land street one of the little gray-backed
chaps poked his nose out at the end OF
an old disused culvert to the side OF
which he was clinging. Beneath his
uuivering body rushed the river of the
street but he hung on for dear life to
save his coat. He permitted me to
touch him. His eyes wavered as l
rubbed his nose, but otherwise he made
no sign of fright. He probably figured
that it was his fate either to be drowned
or killed by man, and between the two
he had no choice.
While walking through the back hall
of house up in the east end of town
later in the afternoon, my attention was
attracted to a window against the pane
of which dangled the bushy tail of
gray squirrel To get in out of the
storm the little fellow had climbed the
screen of the easement and dropped
down between it and the glass of the
window He obtained thus an unob-
structed view of the storm and at the
same time was as dry as match.
Through the glass he gazed at me with
no sign of fear. l passed my hand to
and fro across the pane but he eontin-
ued washing his face after the manner
of cat and regarded the down-pour on
the other side of the screen. as calm
and as cool as you please. His delight
when I dropped into his rainyday re-
treat the meats of half dozen English
walnuts was exceedingly great. He ate
the nuts with neatness and dispatch,
and then sat in his narrow summer
house on his launches and gazed stead
lily at me- saying thus as plainly as
though he and l both understood the
language of the squirrels that he had
finished that course and was ready for
the next.
To save his suit little bit of a gray
squirrel crawled into croquet-set box
that stood on the back porch of a Wash
tenaw avenue house Thursday after
noon, and in some way must have by his
movements disarranged the balls and
maI,ets, for the cover dropped over him.
making him prisoner Next morning, |
when the owner of the set repaired to
the back yard for his after breakfast /!
game and lifted the cover of the box to |
select his ball and mallet, the little chap |
was out and fifty feet away at a leap. |
These frisky and playful little ami |
mails are about all that makes life worth |
living here in Ann Arbor these days to |
one who is not in college or otherwise |
engaged in charging his intellect, the |
ite They abound not only on the cam |
pus, but in the strictly residence dis
tricts, and in many instances have be-
come as tame as kittens. Occasionally |
thew crow to 2 size that for SQUIRRELS is |
immense, looking more like gray cats
with tails like lamp chimney cleaners
than the normal regulation squirrel.
There is a movement on foot in GER
tain southern city to inclose the town
hall park and plant a lot of gray
SQUIRRELS therein for the benefit of the
children. The fathers
of the town ought to send a commission
up here to see just what a squirrel may
make of himself after a course of in
struction and feeding at the hands of
Ann Arbor citizens. The squirrels, like
every other living thing here, have an
air of their own that places them in a
position somewhat unique. They seem
to know more than the average squirrel !
knows or even is supposed capable of
knowing. The air of this Athenian