The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-26
A RED SQUIRREL.

Not far from where I live a red squirrels had his winter nest in a hollow apple tree, near the edge of a wood. It was warm nest, made of soft brown bark, which the industrious little fellow had stripped from the trunks of half-a-dozen cedar trees in the fall. He used this nest for two purposes-to sleep in at night, and to hide in when he was closely pressed by an enemy. He was seldom there in the daytime, for he was as hardy as polar bear, and was abroad in almost all kinds of weather The snow was never too deep for him, nor the air too biting cold. Often. while the gray squirrels were so sound asleep in their tree-top nests that you would almost have had to pinch them to make them wake up, I followed the trail of my little red squirrel from tree to tree. and along the walls and fence rails, until I have found him perched on the top of a farm gate post, eating a hickory nut with great composure, while the wind fairly whis- tied through the long hairs of his bushy tail. which tried in vain to maintain a reasonably upright position. Some times, when there was no snow Oh the ground, the first intimation I would
 have of his presence would be an irri- table. chattering cry such as red sauir- rels are in the habit of uttering when they are displeased over anything. It might be an owl, dozing in some dark pine tree, which was the cause Of his irritability, CT it might be hawk, sail ing in broad circles overhead; but, as often as not, the simple fact of my pre- sence in that section of the woods was enough to disturb his peace of mind to such an extent that he would burst into a torrent of abusive chattering, to which he would keep time by stamping his feet and twitching his tail.
 True to his family characteristics, he was provident fellow, and during the autumn he always gathered and stored away enough nuts and seeds to last him through the longest winter he was ever likely to see. In the year of which write. he had made no exception and he had several piles of nuts hidden in stumps and under logs in the vicinity of his home. But, unfortunately for him, band of thoughtless boys, roaming the woods, accidentally came upon one of his hoards, and in noisy glee, began to 1 fill their pockets with their plunder
 The presence of these nuts in itself sug- gested there might be more in the vi- , cinity, and before dark the urchins had so thoroughly secured that corner of the woods that they had found and carried off every nut which the squir- rel had been at such pains to gather
 Poor fellow, he had very hard time oi 1 it for the next few days, trying in vain to borrow or steal from some of his brethren. But they were all to selfisf to joan or too wideawake to be robbed and drove the hungry one away with
 much abusive chatter, and he in des-
 peration, stole repeatedly from the store of woodmouse. But the latter was | too wise to allow that sort of thing te continue, and removed her provisions tc
 a hole under rock, where the squire
 could no longer get at them. After that
 he got very hungry indeed.
 | Outside of my study window, there is placed every winter a large wooden tray filled with canary seed, bread-crumbs | shredded suet and cracked nuts. ant I many hungry birds come there to ge l their meals. One morning, as I looked through the window, I saw not a single bird, but a thin red squirrel, sitting
 right in the middle of the tray and eat | ing as joekeys eat at the end of racing
 season. When I approached, he seemed alarmed, but, as I did not attempt tt
 drive him away, he soon lost allappear
 ance of fear, and continued to stuff him.
 self with the best the tray afforded. de- cided to let him stay as long as ht
 would, but when I found him there
 again the next morning, was obliged
 to put up another tray for the birds, M
 a place where the squirrel couldnr
 reach it. The four-footed pensionel
 grew bolder as the increasing rotundit,
 of his body pressed the wrinkles out o
 his skin, and he kept his seat even if
 opened the window. At last he beeam,
 almost arrogant, and scolded if I ap
 peared at the window while he wa.
 feeding. But the laws of hospitalit,
 though made of elastic may be stretched
 but not compressed, and, as he chose t stay all winter, he stayed.
 ! In the spring, the migrant bird came