Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-20
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

to psychological temptations was the
necessary mental attitude of the tight
rope walker. Next to this came the
powers Of equilibrium. in which the
graceful balancing Of the umbrella
played an essential part.
=
The squirrel uses its fluffy tail on q
wire as it does in the trees, to enable
it to keep its balance in tight situa-
tionS.
The rodent is not hampered. OF
course, by any strictly human idea OF
possible failure.
When 1t looks down, II it does look
down. it does not imagine 1t is going
to fall.
It just walks, that is all.
Even then 1t encounters much diff
Guilty in making its way safely along
a wire across q street.
1t never falls, apparently. We have
seen squirrels doing this fine balancing
trick scores Of times, now, without 8
failure.
for the fellows when they slipped and
slid, but we no longer are worried fol
them.
That big tail does it.
One fat squirrel slipped and slid his
way along the electric light cable for
an entire block the other morning
making better speed than a pedestrian
could on the sidewalk.
A squirrel slips in this proceeding
about every two feet, but immediately
catches himself with the aid of his
very fine and capable claws and che
equilibrium derived from the proper
use Of his great tail.
X 49,
1t Is difficult for the average observer
to realize that squirrels live in an ele-
ment almost their own.
They share the air only with the
birds.
The earth is, with them, only q
petually being repleniShed and impov-
erished by their own industry and
their own hunger.
Like all animals, they are always eat.
ing, since satisfying hunger Is one OF
the greatest duties of Ghe creatures
here below.
We do not know enough about SOUR.
relS to know how they manage to fine
their caches again, but our guess i.
that 1t is by instinct and not by smell
If our hypothesis Is so. 1t means that
each squirrel knows to the fraction Of
an inch where 1t has buried its Win.
ter'S stores, and, what Is equally i'm.
portant, that no other squirrel knows
If it were odor, rather than instinct
a squirrel would labor only to find hi.
hoard rifled by lazy rodents which
neither gathered nor stored, yet livec
on the fat Of the oak trees.
X
The bright eyes of the squirrels anc
their rapid movements, their darts anc
swirls, their leaping around in thu
trees, combine to give the observer thu
feeling that they enjoy life more thar
most animals.
In the suburban neighborhood, where
they have the run Of the trees, they
dart along fence rails and run up tree!
just ahead of human beings in sucl
way as to give the impression tina
they are in mock terror.
Practically safe from dogs and cats
the squirrels live their lives in tn,
air, touching bottom for food only
Their real life Is aloft. And II any on,
thinks this is misStatement he doe
not know squirrels. Their ability Il
leap from tiny branch to equally small
branches many feet away is nothins
less than a species of flying. Thu
squirrels are as much at home in the
air as the birds, and if they had wing.
mot membranes, such as the so-callec
flying squirrel possesses no doubt
would equal, II not excel, the birds al
their own game.