sriruoiTKkrs YOI.UCKI.I.A HUDSOMTS. 207 



owl should lurk hard by, glides silently to a neighboring tree, and 

 starts forthwith upon his nightly tour in quest of food and sport. 

 Prompted either by hunger or curiosity, or by a combination of the 

 two, he examines every unusual object with scrupulous care, and as 

 one result is always getting into traps set for valuable fur and this 

 whether they are baited with mammal, bird, or fish. Indeed, the 

 nature of the bait seems to be a matter of the most trivial con- 

 sequence, as it often consists of red and Hying Squirrels that have 

 previously been taken in the trap. Even in this case another Flying 

 Squirrel is as likely to be the next thing caught as any animal in the 

 Wilderness. Hence it happens that the trapper comes to look upon 

 him as an unmitigated nuisance. 



These handsome Squirrels are very fond of beechnuts, and during 

 "nut years" feed largely upon them. They are thirsty creatures 

 and in the early spring, when certain of the woodsmen are engaged 

 in making maple sugar, many are found dead in the sap buckets- 

 drowned in their efforts to obtain the sweet fluid. 



They breed about a month later than their smaller relative. 

 June 1 8th, 1883, Dr. A. K. Fisher and the writer found the nest of a 

 Northern Flying Squirrel at West Pond, near Big Moose Lake. It 

 was in the last year's nest of a three-toed woodpecker (Picoidcs 

 arcticus] in a tamarack (Lan'.v Americana} and the entrance hole 

 faced the east, about ten feet above the ground. On cutting down 

 the tree the nest was found to contain three nursing young, not yet 

 one-third grown ; they were estimated to be about a month old. 

 They were fed on condensed milk diluted with water until we left 

 the woods, and afterwards on fresh milk and vegetables. One of 

 them grew very rapidly, attaining nearly two-thirds the size of its 

 parent by the loth of July, when it was accidentally killed. They all 

 were perfectly tame and acted much like the young of the common 

 Flying Squirrel (S. volucella] already described. 



In searching the scanty literature relating to this animal, which has 

 not previously been recorded from the State of New York, I have 



