Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-08-02
SQUIRRELS. RED AND GRAY
Housekeeping and House Haunting
Habits of These Active Rodents.

QGQt not unllke tHe ancient tSi6Hioh-
ia! of blood brotherhood. 1t was early
MAY and 1 had at last found way
to climb to the top OF the highest pine
| in all the woodland. Great lower
limbs gave me practical stairway
| for some distance. But some way up
was ? large gap, where | was baf-
| fed The distance was too great for
| me to reach the next limb, even stand
| ing tiptOe on the one below. The
girth Of the hundredfoot monster
was far too great to allow me to
clasp the trunk and shin" AS we'll
| try to DO ii to the side of house.
But one day I ventured out on that
last available limb till l could reach
swing along il to the trunk and go on.
Up 70 the one which dropped above.
Twenty feet higher up / found that l
was not the only tree-elimber on this
monarch of the forest -Four half
grown gray squirrels were playing
along the trunk, running most mirac-
ulously head down, skittering round 1t,
and bounding up again as if IT were
stairway instead of a smooth per-
pendicular Three quarters of the way
up was curious, fanshaped limb that
Rugged the trunk with a multiplicity
of twigs In the heart of this stunted
| growth was the nest in which they
were born, a mass of interlaced
| twigs, whose centre was hollow
| globe. lined with the softest shredding
from the bark of red cedars. To this
/ they preceded me and vanished
| When | came to IL | saw how The
door 70 the nest was self-ciosing
| one, a hole through the tangle of ce-
dar bark whose elasticity opened to
| let them through and then filled the
aperture behind them.
| In at the same entrance / thrust
my hand. grasped a warm furry mass.
and drew 1t out with a handsome
| Young squirrel elutched firmly in IT.
| II was then that the ceremonial of
| blood brotherhood began. The squir-
rel took the tieshy part of my hand.
| between the thumb and foretinger, in
| his wide jaws and bit till his long
| teeth met ! fancy We We're equally
obstinate in disposition; certainly we
were both of the same mind as TO
| holding on for We went down the
| tree together without either relaxing
his grip. all three of us. tree and all,
more or less smeared with the red
/ drops that followed the bite. The
| ceremonial was not really complete.
| according to the ancient rites, for
furnished all the smear but we were
| all TOO much interested in results 10
stand on ceremony.
| l took my first prize home, put him
/ in a cage and went after a second,
| this time with a bag. but the remain
/ ing young SQUIRRELS had learned their
| lesson in one application. Ihey now
| realized that the nest was no longer
a safe refuge and l could not awe
| them into it. They kept to their an
| cestral tree, however. ana hhaiiy
/ caught another by reckless gran
/ as he skittered by me on the trunk.
| l had learned my lesson, TOO, put 1
| failed to apply it. | knew that the
way to catch a squirrel without get
| ting messed up with brotherhood rites
was to clasp the thumb ana Tore
| finger so deity about his neck as To
| be able TO hold without hurting MIN
| But there was no time Tor that IN the
| wild dive that took him, so got an
other bite alongside the hrst one ne
| remaining squirrels took thelr secoiu
lesson from this second capture ana
applied it by taking to the Wooos'
| These two were excellent types or
our Northern gray squirrel prisat
eyed and slender, with their long 'ais
mot vet fully pushed out anu WIN Tue
| execution of teeth and claws. as SUI
and warm to the touch as their GA
ouisite, short gray fur was 10 the eS
| Even in summer the gray SUM ie's
herea bouts are decidedly gray. IN inc
adults the color warns up a niue a.
| that season. taking on feuuiSh 'ii.e
| that in some individuals Is quite ue
cided but the half-groWn youhs aie
ant TO be of the same clear, shNeiy
| gray that the fur of their eiueIs 'ahes
on in winter. My two hiuliappeu
blood brothers soon became
| TONED TO their cage ana were iiiehuis
and fearless. They ate what was SCI
| before them and grew 1at, put aiii
| hound TO say were not especlaiy III
| terestins in a cage. Ihey CAME ou.
| of concealment in the nest winch l
had made for them In the upper stoly
tn eat and drink ana now anu ,iieii
m take a whirl in the Wheei "hlch
was attached, being most actiVe early
in the morning and again toward sun
down. But there was little run ior
me or them in that sort OF thlhs, ana
began to teach them to come out OF
the cage. feed on my shoulder and ride
tbera until I shooed them back TO
| prison.
| This omen door policy commended it.
self 70 us all and soon they had the
I freedom of the place, still regarding
| the cage as a place of refuge and
dormitory, as their nest in the pine
had been. This lasted through the
summer but their range steadily
widened, and one day in autumn, when
the nuts were about ripe. they found
| their way to the woods and stayed
| there. After all the pleasantest part
| of our intercourse, in spite of the
meeting of incisors, was our meeting