SQUIRRELS' AMAZING INTELLIGENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 75

SQUIRRELS' AMAZING INTELLIGENCE.

"While living within a stone's throw of Central Park comparatively few persons know anything about the squiriels there and the wonderful tricks they perform. They will eat on your hand or shoulder, go into your pockets and help themselves, take nuts from your mouth, jump the rope, jump through a hoop, turn somersaults, (play ball, beg for their food, take food on a fork, eat with spoons, say'their prayers, play the mouth harmonica, smoke a pipe, and buy nuts from you at extravagant prices, paying for them with coins taken by them from your pocket, and perform various other wonderful feats. Ihe pairing time of the squirrel is from February to April, and' after a period of gestation of about 50 days it brings forth from three to nine young. A. most interesting sight and one> seldom vouchsafed to visitors at the Park is to see a mother moving her family of young ones from one nest to another. She trill take one of tht-m in her mouth, holding it by the back of the neck just as a cat holds her kittens, and climb slowly down the tree backward. When she reaches the ground she stands up and looks around carefully to see that the coast is clear and no danger threatens. Then, proceeding as rapidly as possible to the rew location, the tiny mite is deposited in the nest that has been prepared for its reception. She then returns for the others, and the trip is repeated until all have been safely carried to their new home. Many people fail to find 1 the squirrels because they do not know how to call them. They are there, but not always '"at home" to visitors. The first thing to do is to take two nuts, not peanuts, but hard nuts of some kind, such as walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, or hard-sh.ell almonds, and knock them together as hard as you can. If there is. a squirrel within hearing distance it will sit up and look toward the place whence the familiar sound proceeds, and if the sound ontinues the squirrel will gradually saunter up toward you, coming m the double quick sometimes if particularly hungry. When it gets almost up to you it will stop and carefully inspect you and your party in order to see whether you can be trusted or not. Now, having brought it within hailing distance, make a motion with your hand as though you were going to throw a nut to it, but do not throw anything, simply make the motion. If this has not the desired) effect, toss the nut into the air so that the squirrel can see it, but catch it again, and repeat the performance as often as may be necessary. The sound of a nut on the stones is frequently the "last straw on the camel's back." Few squirrels are able to resist that noise. If you iet a nut fall on the path once in n, while it will help to coax them nearer. Do not leave the nut on tii- ground for the squirrels to get, but pick it up and! hold it out to them, and) they will come and take it from your hand. After they find that you do not molest them or trVi to annoy them in any way, they will COSQS to you readily. ■ — Some Simple Tricks. — There are quite a number of entertaining trices that you can teach the squirrels^ such as jumping from the ground to you!} hand or from a bench, to your shoulder.}

I climbing up to your pockets to help them - ' selves, taking nuts from your mouth, turn ing a somersault, jumping through yom hands, jumping through a hoop, playiru ball, rstc, most of which tricks are easih leain-eci. Some of them, however, art not so easy — for instance, playing bal seems to be one of the most difficult, ,111 c only accomplished after long and persis-tent effort. Th..' food of squirrels consists of nuts. j acorns, buds, bark, seeds, young shoots of trees, grain, fruit, etc., in addition tc which they like small birds' eggs and mice Sometimes thej' Tary their diet with tht larvae of insects. They hold their fooj in their paws and 1 gnaw it with the incisors, each pair having four fingers with curved claws andi a thumb. Many of oui Park squirrels take their food on a fork, holding on to it with their paws, and seeming to enjoy eating in this manner better than any other. They are fully as proficient in this acoompli»hm.?nt as the monkeys, and mak» a muck prettier picture. Some of th«m, howtrer, prefer eating with speons, «s tLey can get more than by using a fork. The ingenuity displayed in concealing their buritd treasures from the depredations of those inclined to steal is highly amusing at times. Knowing that it ha* to throw oM the scent any robber that might happen by accident to stiiks the trail, it first goes only a short distance, then stops to dig a bole, that the scent of its paws there may deceive thos« that may try to follow the trail. This act is repeated several times. Then it digs a regular hole and puts the nut in for a moment, only to take it out again when the ground has sufficiently absorbed the scent of the mrt. Any robber following the trail will stop at that hole, thinking a nut has been buri»d theie, taken up again and eatna. Th« squirrel then con tirraes on it 3 way until it reaches the right spot to its reckoning, when ths nut is buried for good and the ground patted down so that one would never know it had be?* disturbed). The squirrel is an exceedingly active little animal, bemg able to leap great distances, and althougk no true squirrel has a flying membrane, yet, by spreading its limbs and tail out perfectly flat, and inflating its lungs, it in some measure sup- ■ plies the ntd, and is «ble to leap from the highest trees to tha ground without injury. A cat seeing a squirrel one day gave chase to it. The squirrel bounded off for the nearest tree, closely pursued by the cat. It took refuge in the extreme top, but as the cat followed a*d the sqiurrel could not leap to the branches of another tree, it leaped to th-a ground, flattened itself out like a flounder, with legs spread out to their fullest extent, and tail as flat and stiff as it could be made. It landed almost at my f.eet, and was up and off like a- flash. If you care to see how far «a squirrel can jump, get one of them on a fence or bench and hold out a nut to him, some distance off. He will jump across the path for it frith perfect eas.e. Squirrels are exceedingly quarrelsome and very jealous, not cariog to share th» attention of their adaiirers with other squirrels. A word of warning may not be amiss at this point, especially to those who care for their faces and hands. Many of them will sit on your shoulder and take nuts from your mouth. Do not allow them near your face if there is more than one squirrel aronnd, as they are. liable to fight with each other and scratch your face and hands badly. As long as there is only one around there is little danger. It is very difficult to get two squirrels on your hands or shoulders at a time, and when they are there it requires a good deal of tact to keep them from fighting. I have kept five in order for quite a long time, one on my hat, one on each shoulder, one on my knee, and another on my foot. I had to keep my hands free in order to supply the nuts as rapidly as required, cr there would have been trouble galore. They do not seem to get badly maimed t in their fights with each other, though ! they frequently do in fighting with birds; I especially -with sparrows, robins, and blackbirds, while trying to steal their eggs rr the young birds ouW of the nest. In these encounters the birds often peck the squirrel's ej-es out. Blind Tom is an instance of that kind, having been unfortunate enough to strike a blackbird's nest, when the bird inflicted severe punishment by attacking his eyes. When two blackbird's get after a- squirrel they generally kill him, or at least destroy his sight. They are not in the least afraid of the most vicious squirrel, and wil 1 frequently go to the assistance of smaller birds whose nests are being robbed of their young. In their wild state squhrels seem to respect individual rights, seldom stealing from each other. Thieving seems to m.°rit and receive swift punishment, for no sooner is it discovered than the culprit is followed by scent and punished by five or six others jumping on him at the same time. The Park squirrels, however, will steal from their best friends ; in fact, some of them prefer to follow a trail and pilfer a nut rather than take one from your hand if only within a few feet of you. This trait makes a squirrel exceedingly cautious »n burying nuts, taxing its ingenuity to the utmost to devise ways and' means for throwing robbers off the scent. There seems to be as much difference in the intelligence of squirrels as there is in men, some of them being remarkably bright, while others are absolutely stupid. Many of them will take a stone which has first been rubbed with pieces of nuts and bury it without discovering that it was not a nut. — Curious Trick. — A new variety of the "shell" game as practised in squirreldom was operated one day for my special benefit, earning for the operator tfie sobriquet of Colonel Shell, called the Colonel for short. It occurred in connection with an amusing incident ■which happened while the Colonel was sitting on nry shoulder. I kad taken a

- i handful of cracked nuts from my pocket - ' to feed him, and airong the pieces theie r happened to be a whole one It as a, ■ [ hazel nut, of course; the squiirel saw .' * it immediately, and straightway appiopri- ? ;itcd it ; but, contrary to my expectations, I j ipstead of jumping down and running off I v. ith it, he deliberately put it in my ear, . giving it quite a hard pat, then went on I eating. When he had finished all the , | cracked ruits, he picked the nut out of my s . ear and, jumping .demn, started to bury it. ) He had only gone a bhort distance, howI I'Yor, when he saw another squirrel watch- ; ing him; he stopped (hen aud there, and [ gnawing tho nut until he had extracted . the kernel, he took the shell and buried i it. His task accomplished he came back, and, resuming his scat on my shoulder, watched the squirrel go directly to the [ spot where the shell had been buried. When the victim commenced to dig for it. the Colonel became quite excited, as I ■ could tell by the quick, jerky motion of . his tail, his excitement reaching its . climax -«hen the shell was dug up and . dropped. Then the Colonel sat up on his haunches and ate the hazel nut, making as much fuss as possible, and trying all the while to attract the other's attention, as though he wanted him to know that he had tooled him. While mad enough to fight, as indicated by his tail, the victim of the shell game would not oome close enough to let the Colonel exult over him, but sneaked quietly away. I laughed so immoderately ihat the Colonel stood up on his hind legs and looked down my throat in ordei to see where the laugh came in. He seemed to appreciate mj mirth and was fully as delighted as I was. He had a big fea^t after that epivjde in payment for my hearty laugh. The places to find the nicest squirrels in Central Park are at Sixty-sixth, Seventysecond.. Eighty-first, and Ninety-third t,tieets on the west side; Fifty-ninth, Sixty-sixth, Seventy-second, and Seventyninth streets on the east side; the Mall, Umbrella Hill, the Horseshoe, Peacock Lawn, and th© Ramble. The only introduction necessary is «i nut, and if you do not wear a squirrel wrap or a squirrel lined overcoat they will be only too glad to number 3'ou amonotheir friends. °