Their sense of hearing is very acute. Their ears stick out from their heads similar to some species of monkeys. Their eyes are extremely large, and innocence seems to shine from them. One day in early April, on a tramp through the woods, I came upon a rotten snag that had bent over. I pulled on the snag and it gave way and fell a few feet to a large limb. From the top of it a flying squirrel poked her head. Her large eyes seemed to ask what was the matter. Then her two babies came out and began to descend. I left them and a few days afterward returned and examined the nest. It was made of stripped pieces of bark and fur from the mother's body. The flying squirrel is nocturnal and feeds after night. I believe that he eats a good many insects, wild flower bulbs, berries and nuts. But his birdlike calls in early spring time excel, in my estimation, rodent music, because of their clearness and soft tones, which resemble the notes of the wood thrush in their variety of trills. But their music is not that of the wood thrush. Their home is many times in a deserted woodpecker hole on a dead snag, and it is interesting to watch them perform along a tree trunk when on cloudy days they come forth for a game of chase. THE CHIPMUNK. The chipmunk is the droll actor of the woods, but his antics do not compare with those of the red squirrel, for he is a little old fashioned. He believes in being a good provider for the winter, and many are the pouches of corn and nuts that he carries to his underground storehouse. He is lazy, and sleeps for days in his tunnels beneath the woods fence along a side hill. These tunnels are very intricate. One day I dug after one and got into his storehouse, and there was about half a peck of corn, a few dicentra bulbs and some beechnuts, acorns and hickory nuts. He will sit for many minutes on a stump as motionless as a statue, then run rapidly along the rails of the fence. What he will do for a retreat when these old rail fences are gone is a mystery, for, like the rabbit, he has so many enemies. |