imals,
however, have different methods of merchandising than men, although
these methods are none the less real. They give and take instead of buy
and sell and have co-operative shops which they operate with great
success. They unite for a desired end, and demonstrate their ability to
work together in a common enterprise in a way that might teach man a
good lesson.

Food and shelter are the first needs of animals. In order to obtain
these, they group themselves into foraging parties in the most ingenious
manner. Like mankind, they sometimes co-operate for dishonest ends; they
form "trusts" and organise into gangs for purposes of mutual aid.

Deer, monkeys, rabbits, foxes, and numerous others conduct their
dining-rooms on a co-operative principle. Some watch and wait while
others dine. The same is true where they go to watering places to drink
and bathe.

Perhaps the most unique and clever food conserver is the American
polecat. He not only provides for himself, but prepares a larder for his
young, so that they will have plenty of food. The nursery is usually
comfortably embedded in a cave, and is lined with soft, dry grass.
Adjoining this nursery is a larder, which often contains from ten to
fifty large frogs and toads, all alive, but so dexterously bitten
through the brain as to make them incapable of escaping. Mr. and Mrs.
Pole-cat can then visit or hunt as they please, so long as their
children have plenty of fresh meat at home!

Another interesting food conserver is the chipping squirrel, or
chipmunk, so named because his cry sounds like the chirp of little
chickens. His method of dress is most unusual; he is brownish grey in
colour, with five stripes of black and two of pale yellow running along
the back of his coat; the throat and lower part of his body is snowy
white. These colours occasionally vary, when the grey and yellow are
superseded by black.

His home is underground, usually under an old wall, near a rock fence,
or under a tree; his burrow is so long and winding that he can easily
escape almost any enemy, except the weasel, which is not easily
outwitted. His nursery and living-room is quite pretentious, but his
lateral storeroom is a marvel! He is a miser indeed, and stores up every
acorn and nut he can find, even many times more than he can ever eat.
His variety of food is almost unending--he loves buckwheat, beaked nuts,
pecans, various kinds of grass seeds, and Indian corn. In carrying food
to h