Finally, his body or skeleton did appear, in a sudden and unexpected manner. It was immediately below the box of my flying-squirrels. These squirrels had been in the aviary for a long time. They were beautiful little creatures with soft, silky fur and very large eyes. I had got them with the intention of taming them but, unfortunately, they only came out of their box at night. I often went in and looked long and earnestly at them as they ran and jumped about searching for food, but I did not attempt to play with them as I would have disturbed my sleeping birds.Their favorite haunt was, of course, the roof-veranda, but I soon found out that they could not sail horizontally, but only downward. A favorite sport with them is to run to the top, of a tree, flying down to the near-by branches of a lower one, run to the top of this, and then fly down to another. Jumping or springing squirrels would really be a better name for them.They were very quiet in their movements, and I do not think the birds minded them any more than they did the few mice that I could not keep out of the aviary. The mice were really very amusing, as they crept quietly from place to place, searching for the scraps of food the birds had left. They werenot afraid of me, and I often smiled as I held up my lantern and saw them climbing over tree trunks and branches, as naturally as if they too were birds, and occasionally stopping short, and peering at me with their beady eyes.I guessed that the cutthroat had been exploring, and in searching for a new place for a nest had been led by his curiosity to enter the squirrels’ open doorway. Resenting the intrusion, they had probably jumped at him and killed him. I knew that red squirrels would kill birds, and being now suspicious of these gray gymnasts, I had a carpenter come and fasten their box outside instead of inside the netting. Naturally, they did not stay in it, and I hope ran either to the gardens or the park, where they would find numbers of red squirrels to play with them.
Finally, his body or skeleton did appear, in a sudden and unexpected manner. It was immediately below the box of my flying-squirrels. These squirrels had been in the aviary for a long time. They were beautiful little creatures with soft, silky fur and very large eyes. I had got them with the intention of taming them but, unfortunately, they only came out of their box at night. I often went in and looked long and earnestly at them as they ran and jumped about searching for food, but I did not attempt to play with them as I would have disturbed my sleeping birds.
Their favorite haunt was, of course, the roof-veranda, but I soon found out that they could not sail horizontally, but only downward. A favorite sport with them is to run to the top, of a tree, flying down to the near-by branches of a lower one, run to the top of this, and then fly down to another. Jumping or springing squirrels would really be a better name for them.
They were very quiet in their movements, and I do not think the birds minded them any more than they did the few mice that I could not keep out of the aviary. The mice were really very amusing, as they crept quietly from place to place, searching for the scraps of food the birds had left. They werenot afraid of me, and I often smiled as I held up my lantern and saw them climbing over tree trunks and branches, as naturally as if they too were birds, and occasionally stopping short, and peering at me with their beady eyes.
I guessed that the cutthroat had been exploring, and in searching for a new place for a nest had been led by his curiosity to enter the squirrels’ open doorway. Resenting the intrusion, they had probably jumped at him and killed him. I knew that red squirrels would kill birds, and being now suspicious of these gray gymnasts, I had a carpenter come and fasten their box outside instead of inside the netting. Naturally, they did not stay in it, and I hope ran either to the gardens or the park, where they would find numbers of red squirrels to play with them.