rare occasions, are a definite nuisance when they come in large numbers
and cut down nuts before they are ripe. They do this to hickory nuts,
and apparently are very fond of the half-ripened nuts. I have seen
squirrels chew hickory buds and young sprouts of hickory grafts and I
had to trap several before I stopped them from doing this to certain
ornamental trees in our garden. In fact, when one has a large nut
orchard, squirrels will be attracted in number that preclude the
possibility of harvesting a crop unless measures are taken to banish
them. They are very active early in the morning and my experiences
indicate that two or three people should hunt them together, as they are
very clever at dodging a single hunter. I also have built galvanized
metal guards around isolated trees which prevent squirrels from climbing
them.

In speaking of mice, we have two important species commonly known as the
meadow mouse and the other species known as the white-footed mouse. The
meadow mouse is the one that does so much damage to the orchard trees
and young nursery stock if unprotected, and the white-footed mouse may
be responsible for some of this when present in great numbers, but of
the white-footed mouse this much good can be said:

[Illustration: Drwg. by Wm. Kuehn. _Squirrel guards._]

Much of its diet, especially of the mother mouse during the time that
she is nursing her young ones, is made up of insects. A personal
experience accentuates this. Since these are such pretty little
creatures, having such cunning ways, it was my ambition to catch a
complete family of mother and young ones which sometimes numbered as
high as ten. My ambition was finally gratified and I was able to get a
mother of eight and her tiny mouslings, which have a habit of fastening