CHAPTER IX.
THE DOUGLAS SQUIRREL (_Sciurus Douglasii_) The Douglas Squirrel is by far the most interesting and influential of the California sciuridae, surpassing every other species in force of character, numbers, and extent of range, and in the amount of influence he brings to bear upon the health and distribution of the vast forests he inhabits.
Go where you will throughout the noble woods of the Sierra Nevada, among the giant pines and spruces of the lower zones, up through the towering Silver Firs to the storm-bent thickets of the summit peaks, you everywhere find this little squirrel the master-existence.

Though only a few inches long, so intense is his fiery vigor and restlessness, he stirs every grove with wild life, and makes himself more important than even the huge bears that shuffle through the tangled underbrush beneath him.

Every wind is fretted by his voice, almost every bole and branch feels the sting of his sharp feet.

How much the growth of the trees is stimulated by this means it is not easy to learn, but his action in manipulating their seeds is more appreciable.

Nature has made him master forester and committed most of her coniferous crops to his paws.
Probably over fifty per cent.