The busy season has opened for the Douglas Squirrel for there is an abundant crop of Douglas Fir cones at this time and these cones are the chief item of diet for these interesting denizens of the forest. The cones are maturing very early this year and already the harvest is on.

There are few animals that exhibit more industry than the Douglas Squirrel in harvest time. At all times a bundle of animation, he seems never to tire as he works cutting the cones from the branches and then gathering them up from the ground to carry them, often quite a distance, to some well hidden heard.

The Douglas Squirrels seem to divide up the territory in which they live and they guard most zealously any poaching on their preserves. Loud chattering and daily encounters are noted when one squirrel oversteps his boundaries. Two in particular seemed to assert claims to the same territory just back of the Inn at Longmire. In a recent encounter one squirrel jumped, or was thrown, from the top of a tall Douglas Fir tree. He landed with a thud, but raced off seemingly unhurt. There seems to be no court of arbitration and each rules as long as he is powerful enough to drive off his opponents. The Douglas Squirrel acquired his name from the tree which furnishes the greater part of his winter food supply.

Charles Landes,
Ranger-Naturalist