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The Little Nut-Cracker
seeds, nuts, and the young shoots of trees. | exclusive of the tail, which is a beautiful For a change of diet, however, he has been brush, more than sixinches in length, and known to plunder the nests of birds, and generally carried over his back. In color he is a brownish red above, grayish white The Squirrel is very easily tamed, and underneath. In cold weather his whole makes an amusing and interesting pet. fur assumes a somewhat grayish tint.
You little bright-eyed darling! stay We would not do you harm; We love to watch your pretty ways, So banish all alarm.
The Squirrel makes a beautiful nest of moss, twigs, dried leaves, all curiously interlaced together, generally placed in the fork of some tree, at some distance from the ground. Here, in midsummer, the baby Squirrels may be seen, three or four of them in a nest, peeping out of the little home, and surveying the green trees all around them. They remain with their parents till the following spring, when they begin life for themselves. All Squirrels lay up hoards of food as a winter supply. These hoards (consisting of nuts, grain, and especially the seeds of fir cones) are to be found in holes in the ground; sometimes one pair of Squirrels will have several hoards in various places.
The gray Squirrel of Hudson's Bay and North America is a much larger animal, its whole length, tail included, being nearly two feet. Their habits, however, are similar to the common red Squirrel of our woods, but their fur is thicker and more valuable.
Oh, Willie, look! his tiny paws Have got a nut between; Such a dear little thief as this I'm sure was never seen.
The Mountain and the Squirrel.
T HE mountain and the squirrel Had a quarrel, And the former called the latter "Little Prig;» Bun replied- "You are doubtless very big; But all sorts of things and weather Must be taken in together To make up a year, And a sphere; And I think it no disgrace To occupy my place.
If I'm not so large as you, You are not so small as I, And not half so spry; I'll not deny you make A very pretty Squirrel track.
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put; If I cannot carry forests on my back.
Neither can you crack a nut."
