RODENTS: SQUIRRELS. 



47 



SQUIRRELS. 



Squirrels are small and very pretty animals, with 

 large bright eyes, long ears, divided upper lip, and long 

 bushy tail. They are lightly built, agile, and live upon 

 trees, and feed upon fruits and nuts. There are about 

 fifty kinds in America, and twelve or more in the United 

 States. The most prominent kinds are the large Fox 

 Squirrels of the Middle, Southern, and Western States, 

 and the well-known Gray, the Red, and the Flying Squir- 

 rels found over a large part of the United States. Gray 

 Squirrels are noted for their 

 occasional extensive migra- 

 tions. Assembling in large 

 numbers, they make their 

 way across the country, swim- 

 ming rivers, and turning aside 

 for no obstacle. Gray squir- 

 rels occur of every shade from 

 gray to jet black. 



The Red Squirrel is seen at 

 all seasons and in all weath- 

 ers. In the Northern forests 

 the deepest snows of winter 

 are soon covered with its 

 tracks, and penetrated by 

 holes bored to find the cones 

 of spruce and pine, and the nuts scattered beneath, or 

 hidden the previous autumn. It often sits for. hours 

 upon a stump or limb of a tree close to the trunk, and, 

 holding a cone or nut in its fore paws, gnaws it briskly 

 till it gets all the food it contains. If disturbed while 

 upon the ground, this squirrel runs up the nearest tree, 

 leaping from branch to branch, and from these to an- 



Fig. 86. Gray Squirrel. 



