2l6 MAMMALIA. 



I have long been aware that this animal was an occasional 

 depredator of the poultry yard, and find, in a journal written twelve 

 years ago, a note to the effect that a case had then come to my 

 knowledge where one was caught in the act of killing both chickens 

 and young clucks. 



The Red Squirrel is a good swimmer, swimming rapidly and 

 with much of the head, back, and tail out of water. On the iSth 

 of August, 1874, I was paddling silently down a sluggish stream in 

 the heart of the Adirondacks when a slight noise on the shore 

 arrested my attention. A Squirrel soon appeared at the water's 

 edge, but turned back upon perceiving the boat. The stream, 

 which was about twenty feet (approximately 6 metres) in width, 

 here flowed through an extensive marsh, the nearest tree bein^r 



o o 



more than a hundred yards (nearly 100 metres) away. Surprised 

 at seeing a Squirrel in such a place, I stopped the boat, holding- 

 fast to a few bushes on the opposite bank, and after remaining 

 motionless a few moments had the satisfaction of seeing him return, 

 climb out on a little bush, and swim across. Again, June 28th, 

 1878, while rowing on Brantingham Lake, in Lewis County, I saw 

 a Red Squirrel swimming about midway between " the Point " and 

 the main shore opposite. He was moving toward the Point, and, 

 as I reached him, climbed up on the oar, ran over my back and legs, 

 then along the gunwale, jumping ahead from the bow in the direc- 

 tion toward which he was swimming when first seen. On overtaking 



o o 



him he again came aboard and jumped ahead as before. This was 



etc. (Bull. Essex Inst., X, 1878, p. 9.) Mr. John Burroughs says : "Nearly all the birds look 

 upon it as their enemy and attack and annoy it when it appears near their breeding haunts. Thus, 

 I have seen the pewee, the cuckoo, the robin, and the wood thrush pursuing it with angry voice 

 and gestures. If you wish the birds to breed and thrive in your orchards and groves, kill every 

 red squirrel that infests the place." (The Tragedies of the Nests, in The Century Magazine, Vol. 

 XXVI, No. 5, Sept., 1883, p. 686.) Prof. F. H. King tells us that at Ithaca, New York, his 

 attention was attracted by a pair of robins dashing wildly about the branches of an evergreen: 

 "On examining the tree the neU of the birds was discovered, and iust below it sat a Chickaree 

 eating one of the Robin's eggs." (Geol. Wis., 1883, p. 443.) In Forest and Stream for November 

 17, and December 29, 1801, Mr. Ba.inbri.dge Bishop contributes much valuable testimony of a 

 similar nature. Examples might be multiplied almost indefinitely, but enough has already been said 

 to demonstrate that the Red Squirrel must be ranked among the worst enemies of our small birds. 



