Evening star., 1948-08-02
This and That
BIZ Charles E. TraceWeH

Maybe a scarecrow will keep squirrels away
from corn and other garden things.
Maybe!
Not our squirrels, and probably not your
squirrels.
These rodents are too smart.
They might be fooled for few days, nut
in time would sense, and very dennltely, tnat
the thing on the frame was not alive.
Reminds us of the little child who came
into a home where there were plenty OF cats
and plenty of cat images.
Striped cats, yellow CATS black cats, and
imitation cats made of iron, pottery, glass;
china and even wood
This" said the child, pointing TO yeilo"
cat lis live cat
And this" she went on, indicating one OF
iron lis a not-alive cat
In our garden, the squirrels might stay away
for few days. intimidated by scarecroW .
In another day, they would be running all
over the thing. perched on the outstretcneo
arms. eating nuts-or fresh corn-on the heao
No one should believe a squirrel has been
thwarted thad something put over on 1t, IN
the vernacular) under three or four days.
After that any good garden variety OF rooent
will solve almost any problem put before II.
We have watched these animals faced with
coconut shells filled with food, and hung IN the
center Of long arch by piece OF thlh wire.
At first, the creatures were nonplussed
They would remain at one end, looking down.
They would run along the arch, leaning over
the wire.
The watcher would think, well, they won't
know how to get that food, I'll bet
He would, of course, be wrong.
Not 10 minutes would enpse, untn one Oh
them would solve it, in his own way.
Then the next one would see now 10 acnleVe
its ends-but in its own way:
No two of them would do it the same way,
but each would finally manage to get to the
coconut shell.
One would hang over and drop.
The next would leap from the side.
Each would have his own method, to which
he would stick without deviation.
Not a one would ever adopt the others
methods. This showed very plainly why ami
mails are animals They have no way OF send
ing what they learn on to others. Equally, no
four legged creature seems to have any way
of accepting what another learns
1t is each man for himself, and the devil
take the hindmost. in animal land.
Our gray squirrel is an amusing animal
His intelligence is good He comes as close
to thinking as any animal can, not even ex-
cepting the dog.
He uses his head, as we say, to get out OF
close tangles 1t is only when he becomes really
frightened THAT he succumos to the o'o panic
fear
One such situation .is to be closed up In
house or garage.
That he gets himself into the dilemma is
nothing against him. 1t might happen TO any
one! But the squirrel, not being able 70 n1t
a latch or turn key, soon becomes panicky.
He tries to gnaw his way out That Is where
the wood work. the door frames the window
sills, suffer.
Other damage runs into the hundreds, even
thousands of dollars. as some District RESIDENTS
have found out, to their sorrow
There even have been cases Of squirrels get
ting down chimneys and into furnaces. In
such events, the creatures are fortunate II they
have such an adventure in hot weather.
We cannot expect too much OF them, but
when 1t comes to scarecrows, squirrels eventu-
ally will learn to despise them with the greatest
Of ease. -.