Evening star., 1949-07-10
Qbe 9unio1' &tar
lust Between
Ourselves
BY Philip H. Love

pie, are Just naturally superior.
Buster is such squirrel.
What Buster has that his fel-
low squirrels haven't, don't pre-
tend to know. But it is obvious
that he Is the leader of the squir-
rels that use my back yard as q
sort of picnic ground.
I wouldn't know That Buster is
Buster if his qualities of leader
ship had not caught my atten-
ton. At first, he looked exactly
like most of the other squirrels
that visit my yard. All are Of
about the same size and have
the same brownlsh gray fur. Only
two are easily distinguiShaple. one
by what appears to be cataract
on his right eye, the other by a
tail that looks as if it had lost an
argument with a lawnmower.
Nothing so obvious distinguishes
Buster.
Across my yard. few feet from
the house, is a terrace on which
the Little Squirrels and Birds
Marching and Flying Society
holds its daily outings. A huge
stump at one end of the terrace
serves as a picnic table. At least
twice day, my wife and daughter
scatter bread over the stump and
along the terrace. Sometimes.
nuts, birdseed and pulled cereal
are added.
At first. feeding time was also
wartime. Squirrels and birds
would fight at the drop OF q
crumb-not only squirrels against
birds. but squirrels against squir-
rels and birds against birds.
But Buster has brought peace
and prosperity-and even a meas
ure Of security-to squirrels and
birds alike. He Is, I believe. the
greatest squirrel statesman Of his
generation.
Whenever two squirrels fought.
Buster would chase them both of
the picnic ground. If a squirrel
snapped at bird or a bird locked
at squirrel, Buster would exile
the trouble maker to the woods.
When fighting became general.
as it sometimes did. Buster would
clear the yard. I got the impress
sion that he would not let the bad
squirrels and birds return until
they promised to mend their wsys.
1t was on one of these occasions
that I discovered Busters dis
tinctive feature. 1t is the way
he walks: he is as spraddle-l legged
as any Of the other squirrels. but
he moves with the confident air
of the born leader.
For a while crows were a prob
lem. Cawing loudly. two of them
would land in the yard. frighten
away the squirrels and the smaller
birds, and gobble up all the food.
1 chased them several times. but
they always returned the moment
I went back into the house. It
remained for Buster to teach
them some manners.
One day. instead of fleeing INTO
the woods, Buster stood his
ground. One of the crows lunged
at him. With leap too swift for
my eye to follow, Buster landed
on the crows back and all but
chewed his head off. The other
crow joined the fray. only to and
Buster giving him the same treat
ment. Both crows left.
They returned the next day.
however, with four other crows.
This time, Buster and his follow
ers scurried up a tree. and for .
while, at least. it looked as If the
crows had captured the picnic
ground.
But Buster was using strategy.
He waited until one of the crows
waddled under the limb on which
he was lying; then he dropped to
the invaders back and began
gnawing his head. The other
crows rushed at Buster, and as
each one came under the tree, a
squirrel landed on his back and
started biting. Such wild cav
caws I never heard before.
In a few moments, the crows
were gone, and Buster and his
friends-including cardinal ard
several other birds that I can't
identify-had the picnic ground
to themselves.
Now the crows must pass my
house on the other side Of the
street, for I never see them. And
in the back yard all is peaceful.
prosperous and as secure as any,
thing can be these days, thanks
to Buster the Great.
Oregon is derived from the In
dian word meaning place Of