An important factor in the pursuit of this animal is the small Cur-dog trained for the purpose. He will run ahead through bush and wood, tree a Squirrel, and after barking sharply, wait for the master to put in an appearance. A Squirrel thus treed will run up the trunk a short distance, and curling himself down on a limb, will watch his canine pursuer, unmindful of the approach of the two-legged animal bearing a gun. When quite young and inexperienced, a good bag can sometimes be made without a Dog. They are very skillful in secreting themselves from view, when treed by the hunter, but the presence of the Dog seems to utterly upset all calculations of concealment, for knowing the inability of the Cur to do them harm they will sit on a limb and not attempt to hide. The cruel method of smoking out, as practiced by the farmers' sons in winter, when the Squirrels are snugly curled up in their nests will not be described in this article. Squirrels vary in size and color according to the country in which they live. In Asia there is a Squirrel no larger than a Mouse, and in Africa there is one larger than a Cat. I am a North American Squirrel, one of the "common" family, as they say. I eat all sorts of vegetables and fruits, as well as Mice, small Birds and eggs. I choose my mate in February or April, go to housekeeping like the birds, and raise a family of from three to nine little baby Squirrels. Some of my little readers have seen me, perhaps, or one of my family, frisking among the branches, or running up and down the trunks of trees. My enemy the Hawk gets after me sometimes, and then I run up the tree "like a Squirrel," and hide behind one of the large branches, going from one to another till I tire him out. Squirrels have to be "cunning as a Fox," as they say. When pursued--and oh, how often we are, by men and boys, as well as Hawks--we leap from branch to branch, or from tree to tree, altering our direction while in the air, our tails acting as rudders. At last we are driven into a solitary tree, so that we cannot leap into the branches of another. Then a boy or man climbs up, tries to shake us from the limb, and at length succeeds in knocking us to the ground. Off we run again, give them a long chase, perhaps, but at last are caught, and probably carried home to be kept in a cage like a little prisoner, or maybe in a stuffy wooden box. How can we be happy or playful under such circumstances? I think it is a great shame to put any animal, bird or otherwise, in a _little_ cage; don't you? There are men who make a business of selling Squirrels for household pets. If you want a young Squirrel--and nobody wants to buy an _old_ one--look at its teeth; if young, they will be almost white; if old, a light yellow. "Oh, mama," cried Dorothy one day, "do look at this dear little tame Squirrel the good man wants to sell. See how tame it is. It will let me stroke it, and never tries to bite."