The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1906-06-15
Though Timid at FRS. They
Soon Become Over
Bold.
ARE FOND OF CHILDREN
Domestieation. However, Seemingly
Deprives Them of the Faculty for
Caring for Themselves When
Returned to Natural State.
From the Kansas CITY Star


pampering the famous squirrels III the
New York parks. There is one man III
particular, retired and worth lot OF
money, who makes it a part Of his reg
ular routine to go from the hotel where
he dwells. unless the weather is par
ticutarly bad. and spend some time With
his tluffy-tailed favorites every day in
the year. They haven't the slightest
fear of him. and they gather about
him in numbers sometimes. though it
is not often that more than one viii
accept favors from him at once, fer
they are a jealous race: it sometimes
seems as if they would rather fight Il
rival for human favors than eat, in
spite of their Unsuitable voracity.
The park commissioner thinks .!:tt
the care and attention given to the
squirrels by the public. especially in
Central park. is uniting them to take
care of themselves. So dependent have
they become upon the gifts of nuts
brought them each day by visitors .hat
two or three years ago, when an IN
usually heavy snowfall made the park
Inaccessible for several days, the squir-
rels were in actual danger Of starving
to death. They have buried nuts in
the summer, to be sure, but they seem
to have forgotten where.
Domestication Destroys Memory.
Even when wild. squirrels often for
get the hiding places of their food
stores, and will often dig a dozen holes
to find one nut. Amid civilized sur
roundingS they seem to have very little
memory. indeed.
Last winter the park commissioner
had liberal supplies of peanuts dis,rio
uted in boxes throughout the park, and,
at the request of the squirrels friends,
he has had houses built for them and
fastened to the trees
Though a large number of the park
squirrels are now very tame many dre
still quite nervous and timid until they
are sure no harm is intended toward
them; then they sometimes become an
noying in their holiness.
In Riverside park one day young
woman with a bag of nuts sat down
on a bench near some trees where she
knew there were several squirrels and
began to call them. Pretty soon one
of them came. He was timtd at first.
but soon became friendly and ate all
the nuts she had with her. Then she
opened a book and began to read. But
the squirrel came back. He ran along
the bench, poked his nose under her
book and gloves and into her jacket
and chartered harshly for more nuts.
Finally the girl decided to move to an
other bench and started away. The
squirrel followed her. and she moved
on. But he was not to be so easily
defeated, and he still ran after her.
When he reached her side he sprang
to her skirt, clambered to her arm. and
sat there until she took him off and
fairly ran away from him.
In the northern end of Central park
the squirrels are more numerous, Wild
er and hungrier than anywhere else in
the city. There are many large trees
there in a part not reached by many
paths. and the wildness and woodiness
of the place apparently suit the little
animals. But they are all thin, and
seem to have difficulty in finding
enough 20 eat. so they welcome their
occasional visitors with appetites that
repay them for their perseverance in
finding that part of the park.
1t is not often that the squirrels seek
people in order to get food, but here is
the story of one squirrel who used to
go several blocks a good many times
day because he found place where
there We're always nuts.
Invading Apartments for Food.
In the upper part Of Manhattan there
old trees have not all been cut. Next
to one of these lots where there were
several willoW and catalpa trees
large apartment house was put up
several years ago. The squirrels that
had been going up there from the
nearby nlVSfSlue park III search OF
food were not at all disturbed by the
big building, but continued to visit the
place as they had before it was built.
Soon the tenants noticed them, and
every morning used to throw nuts to
them under the trees.
The fire escapes of the building are all
at the back, overhanging the vacant lot.
One day a woman was watching and
feeding the squirrels from third story
dining room window, when it occurred
to her that she might be able to coax
one of them to the fence separating tue
lot from the cour of the building. SO
she chirped to him and he scrambled to
the top Of the fence. This was OIL Il
level with the window of the first floor.
Guided by her coaxing he ran along
to a stout iron bar that reached from
the brick wall of the house to the fence,
crossed over to a window sill. sprang
from this to first floor balcony of The
fire escape and waited.
The woman was now determined to
get him to the third floor so she chirpcd
and called until he started up the iron
ladder of the fire escape. She then made
tempting array of nuts on the window
sill and drew back into the room to
watch. Quite undaunted. he took nut,
returned to the ground with it. and
came back for another. This time he
ate one on the sill. chettering and shak-
ing his bushy tail as he cracked It.
That afternoon he made several trips,
and the next morning when the family
came out to breakfast he was calmly
waiting for them outside the window.
They welcomed him with the biggest
and most appetizing nut they had, and
after that he came regularly every lay.
Soon the other squirrels came, too, but
his human friends could distinguish
him by a deep notch in his left ear. He
was large and his coat was rich and
soft, but in his fluffy tail was almost
always matted burdock or bit of
bramble. 80. you see. he was of an in
quisitive and bold disposition.
Become Nuisance.
He became well acquainted with the
third floor family in very short time.
He even let the mistress of the house,
hold stroke his fur when he was eating
nuts, bit he would seldom let anyone
else touch him. He never ate his nuts
on the window sill, but stepped inside
and sat on a chair. He threw the nut
shells all over the floor and rug, and
when 1t was rainy he used to track in
mud and water. but nobody objected
and he seemed to enjoy 1t.
He became very particular. too, about
the kinds Of nuts he would eat, and
T soon refused to touch peanuts. Some
days he would take nothing but Eng