Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 123, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1903 — A BABY SQUIRREL OVERBOARD. [ARTICLE]

A BABY SQUIRREL OVERBOARD.

With Skill and Geatlencss the Mother Rescued the Youngster. “I was very much amused and very much instructed recently,” said a man who lives in the country, “by the antics of a mother squirrel in my section, and while I have grown up, as I might say, among squirrels and cypress trees, it was a revelation to me. The squirrel had nested in a low, dumpy cypress tree close to the edge of n lake, and the nest was probably thirty or forty feet from the ground. The mother squirrel happened to be in the tree at the time, although I had no occasion to notice either the old squirrel or her young until something tragical happened in the family. In some way one of tho little fellows scrambled over the edge of the nest and fell to the ground. I heard the noise, and, looking in the direction of the sound,, I saw the baby squirrel squirming around in great agony and totally unable to get on its feet. The mother squirrel rushed down the side of the cypress like a streak, and almost in an instant she was by the side of her offspring. She took in the situation at a'glance, and set to work to get the youngster Imck in the nest. She switched the hotly around and turned it over and then grabbed It with her teeth Just under the smaller portion of the hack. Instinctively, I suppose, the young squirrel threw Its arms around Übe mother’s body, and after she made sure that tbe hold was good she started Cautiously back to the nest She refiched there safely, and I saw no more of tbe distressed mother nor the youngster. 'I was very much impressed with tbe gentleness and skill site displayed In handling the Injured baby squirrel, and really 11 was an inspiring scene.”—The Mail and Express.