but the wise fellow knew better than to enter a hole from which he would come forth no more. The weasel might stop to look in the holes. But the latter had no such thought. He gained on the squirrel a few feet, then the squirrel made the leap of his life and landed safe. The weasel leaped and fell-fell down a few feet and landed on another limb that ran toward the body of the tree. He was closer to the squirrel by a few feet more. I could see the squirrel's body quiver. From the top of the tree he leaped off. It seemed hopeless, but he had managed it wisely, for he just touched the tip of the next one enough to hold. He would not be so foolish this time, so he quickly crawled over the top toward another tree.

The weasel tried the leap but fell short a few feet and went tumbling into the top of another tree. And out from a branch of this latter ran another screaming red squirrel. Such a time! Could it be that these two squirrels were enemies? The first had led directly toward the latter, and both were old fellows, for their coats showed the color age in the July sun.

The weasel was tired, but the advent of the second squirrel seemed to revive him. Now new tactics were used. He traveled a little slower than the squirrel. In making a leap. the squirrel overreached, lost his head and came tumbling to the ground. This was the chance the weasel had been watching for. He was down quick and before the squirrel could spring up to climb another tree the weasel had him. The fight was short, and as I thought the little fellow had earned his dinner I did not interfere with it.

THE RED SQUIRREL.

My notebook for August 18, 1901, contains the following: This morning I observed two red squirrels dance. The male came down a rail fence, on the top rail, with a wheat head in his mouth. He stopped when he saw me, dropped the head, and in a few seconds began a song by scraping his forepaws on the rail. Then he began chirping and swinging his body from side to side keeping time with his music; but his voice broke and part of the time it was full of laughter. Then as if by some ventriloquial power he made a low humming sound accompanied by a shrill harsh one.

And his jig abounded with action. Now he appeared to break down, as if tired out; again he would give a squeal and faster than ever would he dance, his tail, cocked in every conceivable shape, keeping time with his dancing.

Down the fence from the opposite direction came a female squirrel. A pole was lying on the fence upon which she mounted and began a performance similar to that the other squirrel had done. But she actually danced. She stood up straight, folded her paws across her breast, cocked her tail across her back, and danced up and down on the pole, sideways and in every way you could imagine, to the music made by the two. Never had I seen such dancing. She must have been the greatest dancer of the wild animals. I call the red squirrels the clog dancers of the woodland. But the performance I had witnessed was the greatest I had

ever seen.

My notebook for January 7, 1902, tells of a game of hide and seek between two squirrels on a large oak tree. One went to the top of the tree and began a chirping which sounded like "Chipper-te-zzz-k-tranch." The other also climbed toward the top, and when the first one saw him, down he came on the opposite side of the trunk of the tree. Number two heard number one coming down and around the trunk he went after him. They raced to the ground, up among the limbs again, to the top of the tree, then back to the ground, where they disappeared beneath a large woodpile.

It was not alone the hunter that drove the black, grey and fox squirrels from their former homes. Their habits were largely responsible for their destruction. The red squirrel is now complete master of the situation. He is running the fox squirrel from the woods as the fox squirrel drove out the gray squirrel and the gray squirrel drove out the black squirrel before him.

My notebook contains the following for September 25, 1910: Watched a red squirrel perform. The squirrels certainly give the most graceful dances of any creatures in the woodland. They love corn, and how they like to sit on the stalk and feast on the golden kernels. Filling his mouth this fellow would climb the old Virginia rail fence, and of all the performances he would give! The red squirrel's dance is in many ways suggestive of our own.

He is an inquisitive fellow, is the red squirrel, and this is often the cause of his undoing. He likes to chatter and scold. When he is gay he breathes the spirit of the woods. His moods are changeful, but he is generally full of good cheer, and believes in having as much fun out of life as possible. All wild animals have in some measure this element of cheer and exuberance of spirit in their eventful lives.

Again I make reference to my notebook, of March 8, 1912: The red squirrels are mating, and such a time as they are having! Chirping and dancing seems to be their courtship attraction. In the first days of May, when the babies come, the mother will have to hide them away or the father will kill them. There are from four to eight young at a time. The nest is made generally in a hollow limb, where it is cleverly hidden away, and is composed of dry grass, fine stripped pieces of bark, and fur from the mother's body.

Another note of July 6, 1902: This afternoon I saw a young red squirrel suck the blood from a young turtle dove. I chased him away from the nest and as I had no rifle with me he escaped with his life. I climbed the tree to the nest and looked in. One dove was quite dead, the other had not been hurt. A small puncture on the side of the head of the dead bird was all I found. So the red squirrel has the mink and weasel habit.

He destroys annually many thousands of nests and eggs. The Baltimore Oriole, by building its nest on the end of a slender branch, like a suspended purse, enjoys immunity from this robber.

THE FOX SQUIRREL.

This sly fellow knows where he is secure, and keeps close to the remaining big timber. There are times when he loses his head and scolds and chirps like the red squirrel, but his song is very different and sounds like "Dub-dub-dubb," resembling somewhat distant drum beats. It has also a slight ventriloquial effect, from being produced deep in the throat.

About daylight you will find them astir and they will come bounding out from their snug quarters and down the trees as if they were in a hurry to find their breakfasts. They are always on the lookout for danger and are quick and nervous. When they elimb a tree they will always keep on the opposite side from