SCIUKUS CAROLINENIS LEUCOTIS. 223 



mild and open winters are likely to succeed "nut years" in this 

 region, and that during these winters it is not common to have a 

 continuance of very low temperature. The alternate winters, on the 

 other hand, are generally severe. There are few if any nuts, and the 

 Squirrels are none too fat when the heavy snows set in. They have 

 laid up little or no provision in their holes in the trees, and conse- 

 quently, since they do not hibernate for any great length of time, 

 must often roam about in search of food when they would much 

 prefer to remain coiled snugly in their nests. Under such circum- 

 stances they frequently come out, during continued cold, when the 

 thermometer stands at ten degrees below zero C. (14 F.), but not 

 during storms. They are occasionally met with when it is still colder, 

 and I have seen a few individuals come to a place where corn was 

 kept for them when the temperature was -19 C. (-2.2 F.), but only 

 on mild days during protracted periods of low temperature. In this 

 respect they differ markedly from their cousins, the red squirrels. 



During the winters of deep snows and scarcity of food, my father 

 has, for many years, kept a stock of corn and nuts within easy reach 

 of the Squirrels, and but a short distance from the house. Knowing 

 that they are always sure of finding a bountiful supply here, they 

 repair to it with great regularity, coming daily except during stormy 

 or very cold weather, often visiting it at times when their neighbors, 

 in more remote portions of the wood, do not venture out at all. 

 Sometimes as many as a dozen Grays and six or eight Blacks have 

 been seen there at one time, running on the snow and feeding at the 



C!> O 



boxes and barrels within twenty feet (about 6 metres) from the 

 dining-room window. While part of them remained on the boxes, 

 others carried their nuts to a tree near by, eating one at a time and 

 then returning for another. Some winters they became very tame, 

 and while we were at breakfast inside, a few used to bring their nuts 

 to the window and eat them there, perched on their haunches on the 

 sill, with their handsome bushy tails cocked over their backs. When 

 anyone went out of doors they commonly scampered off or ran up a 



