The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-07-29
BY Garrett p. Serviss

" HERE IL q red squirrel inhab-
itins the neighborhood where
- I live. in q suburban town be-
hind the Palisades of the Hudson,
whose tight.wire performances are
the admiration of all who have the
pleasure of seeing them. Occasion.
ally this entertaining performer dis
appears. or at least 10 not seen on
his wire, during periods Of a week
or moro, and on such occasions there
are gloomy fears that some boy with
q gun, or other sportsman" has
had the fun of killing him. But, up
to date, he has always triumphant
ly reappeared when 1t suited him to
DO so.
This four-legged acrobat's per-
forming wire is the stay wire run
ming az a support q few inches above
the telephone cable that passes my
house. 1t consists OF twisted wire
and although at a little distance 1t
looks very thin / find that II Is
about half an inch In diameter. The
cable below Is attached to II at In
tervals of say, Is to Is inches by
wire loops.
The line, supported by lofty poles.
comes up a street that Is steep
enough to take the breath Of small
autos, so that they are occasionally
stalled near the top, opposite my
house, and here the cable meets,
at pole on the corner. another
similar cable following a street run.
ming at right angles to the first and
passing In front of the house. In sew
eral places. and especially at the cor,
ner, the cables pass through the
outer branches of large trees.
The squirrels exploit consists,
primarily, in running at heaoionS
speed on the upper wire, ana con-
tinuing his seemingly wild flight,
with a double curve in his uphrteo.
waving, tail. for several hundred
feet almost without stop. he comes
up the steep line or goes down IL
with the same speed, very, very
rarely missing a foothold-although
I have seen him now and then miss
with one foot and recover himself
by dropping partly upon the cable
below, the diameter OF which may
be an inch and a half.
~
instartaneously from one line to the
other at right angles to II. and
seems hardly to lose a moment in
making this change Of direction, and
I have never seen him got into any
difficulty over II. He performs
equally we'll in a strong breeze. al
though I have seen the wind stsgger
him.
He shows not the slightest sign OF
fear or hesitation, and often stops
with surprising suddenness, ana,
with no apparent effort, remains
rnotionless on the wire. He has
been seen on such occasions to sit
on his hind quarters, as he would
DO on the fence rail.
Everybody who sees him IL I'M
pressed with the idea that he gets
AZ much enjoyment out OF his feats
as they do. When, as sometimes
happens. he jumps from the branch
OF a tree upon the wire, and In
etAntly turns to run at top speed
one way or the other, nervous on
lockers utter little cries of alarm,
but the squirrel acts NJ IL II ves
the greatest fun In the world.
Now, II IL a question that would
be worth answering II II could be
definitely solved, whether these per-
formances are regarded by the sqriir-
rel az play. What seems to be play
has been described by many close
observers of the conduct OF different
animals. but still doubt remains as
to the animals own impression con-
corning what they are doing. Vsu-
ally any habitual performances OK q