The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1906-01-16
HABITS OF SQUIRRELS.
How These Little Animals of the For
est Survive Winter

How These Little Animals of the For
est Survive Winter.
While certain members of the squir-
Frs tribe store their winters supply of
food in hollow trees, | think most Of
them hide it on the ground, under old
roots, brush piles and even beneath
heaps of dead leaves. Their tracks in
the winter woods seem to bear this out.
While 1t may be that this frequency
of the tracks indicates a scarcity of
food and the travelling about a desire
to find supply, I believe in the main
that these outings of the squirrels have
q definite destination, because when
you see them skip across the snow,
stop short and scratch hole down to
the ground, bringing up a supply Of
nuts or cones placed there in the month
of plenty, you are apt to attribute their
luck more to a good memory than to
any haphazard speculation.
OF the squirrel family the most prom
inent in winter Is the black. He
seems to be flowing over all the time
with pent-up energy, which keeps him
in constant motion, and you sometimes
feel that you would like him to be able
to talk and tell you how pleasant it is
to have the joy which flows from a
glad heart. Now watch him jump from
limb to limb, rush headlong down the
trunk and course across the snow in
long, graceful bounds, with no appar-
ent purpose but to exhibit the happi-
ness within him.
His red cousin once in awhile may
be seen at the entrance to his home in
the heights of some tree, but in him no
sign of exultation. He looks around
for spring to come and clear away the
snow, and no amount of coaxing will
cause him to utter note of scolding
or alarm. Not all the red squirrels,
however, keep to the trees. Many Of
them through want of food have to
take to the earth, and their track in
the deep snow is heavy foundering Of
labored bounds as they go from tree to
tree in search of the scanty provisions
hidden beneath the surface. Here and
there we find the gummy scales Of the
pine cones, the shells of the acorn, the
seed cones of the birch and cedar, scat
tered about on the snow, showing the
food on which they subsist In greater
contrast to the delicacies just named,
often one will find during long and Sc
we're winters that the squirrels have at
tackled the hemlock trees by stripping
them of their bitter seeds. When one
finds this it is evidence of great want,
and a merciful act would be to bring
suage the pangs of hunger which these
little fellows are NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
Betting ON a Sure Thing.
A certain captain in Colombo was
an inveterate gambler. He had had
such bad luck he determined to go
home to his friends in Europe. The
night before he was to sail he stayed
at friends house and the next morn
ing at breakfast remarked apropos of
nothing, What high table this isp'
us it," said his host carelessly.
'Why, it cannot be less than-yes, /
Rhould say it was quite thirty inches.
Bet you what you like it's thirty
mches.'
81 thought you had given up bet
ting"
This is my last bet in Ceylon.
Shan't have another chance"
''As you like"
A measure was brought and the
height ascertained. 1t was found to
be twenty-nine inches exactly.
Give lost" said the captain ruefully
''yet l would have sworn it was
thirty inches"
II know you would. Shall l tell you
why? When l was shaving this morn.
ing my bedroom door was open. | saw
your reflection in the glass. You were
measuring the height, and, knowing
what was to follow, took the precau.
ton while you were out for a stroll OF
having an inch sawed off the legsp