Squirrel Adventures

I was walking by Eaton Hall when I stopped to sit and watch a squirrel that was hopping around the lawn. The squirrel was bounding forward onto it's front feet and then settling down onto all fours, with no apparent intent toward any productive activity. It stopped at one point to roll over on it's side and scratch at its belly, it's hind leg twitching back and forth faster than I have ever seen an animal move before. I followed it over to a pile of wood chippings below a fir tree. It seemed to be sniffing around for something under the chips, but a meandering student wandered too close by and the squirrel started, bolting into a dense cluster of bushes nearby. I followed it to the edge of the cluster, watching the occasional flash of grey fur in the green and brown growth. I barely noticed when the squirrel shot out the other side toward a smaller tree. I trotted around the bushes after it, then sat back down on the grass to watch it climb up and down the tree a few times. Shortly thereafter the squirrel scampered back into the bush to hide from an offending student riding a skateboard. I watched the squirrel carefully from the outside of the bush and followed it back to the tree with the wood chips. This time the squirrel found what it had been looking for. It burrowed it's head into the chips, digging a number of little holes before coming back up holding some small white object, which it then proceeded to devour. It ran across the path and I went to the place it had been eating to look for traces of the food. I found nothing, but after a few minutes spent searching in vain, I looked up to see that the squirrel had led me to the very source of the food. It was sitting under a large tree across the path, nibbling away at a patch of white mushrooms. I sat and watched for several minutes until it scampered up the tree, at which point I decided it was time for the squirrel and me to go our separate ways.