February, 1919] 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



151 



all a squirrel's long leaps are taken from a higher to 

 a lower elevation, and I have observed that Adji- 

 domo will not attempt a long leap except under 

 these conditions. 



RESTING. 



During the hottest weather of the summer he 

 rested more than at other times of the year. He 

 selected a shady place on a large limb and stretched 

 himself out at full length. 



SUNNING. 



Last winter I was somewhat puzzled by the squir- 

 rel's fondness for a perch which did not strike me 

 as particularly comfortable on a large nail in the 

 trunk of the tree to which a clothes-line is attached. 

 This perch was not used during the summer, but 

 with the return of colder weather he again fre- 

 quents it, and it is now plain that he takes up his 

 position there because he is then sheltered and gets 

 the full afternoon sun. 



In connection with the squirrel's use of this perch 

 a little episoode occurred for which I can offer no 

 explanation, but which caused us some annoyance. 

 One day when the line held its full quota of clothes 

 the squirrel cut it through at the point where it was 

 attached to the nail, with somewhat disastrous con- 

 sequences to the "wash". Subsequently he again 

 cut the line down when it was empty, but since then 

 he has left it intact. 



LISTENING. 



I have noticed that the squirrel has two attitudes 

 which are assumed in intent listening. If it is on 

 "all fours" it folds one front paw, nearly always the 

 right, and places it against its breast. If it is sitting 

 up it folds both front paws and brings them to- 

 gether against its breast. In both cases the head is 

 elevated and is often turned from side to side. 

 PLAYING. 



This squirrel is at least three years old, how much 

 older I do not know, but it frequently plays. When 

 the first snow-fall came it plunged about in it, dashed 

 through the deep piles on the large limbs and 

 evidently enjoyed itself thoroughly. It frequently 

 goes through a remarkable performance which we 

 must classify as a game, since it certainly serves no 

 useful purpose. At the top of the trunk of the 

 maple at the point from which the main limbs are 

 given off there is a trough-shaped, vertical cavity, 

 some eighteen inches long with a pocket-shaped 

 bottom. The squirrel gets in this cavity, turns over 

 and over in a series of somersaults, sliding down the 

 trough on his back at each backward turn. He 

 sometimes seizes his tail and rolls about in the pocket 

 holding on to it. 



EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS. 



The emotions of the squirrel are expressed mainly 

 by attitudes, more rarely by the voice. Surprise, 

 fear, curiosity, anger, contentment, all have their 



characteristic attitudes. The attitude of surprise 

 is either one in which the animal draws itself back 

 on its haunches and allows both forepaws to hang 

 from the sides, or else picks up first one fore-paw 

 and then the other. In fear the body is flattened, 

 head dropped, tail straight out. Anger is shown by 

 the stamping of the bird feet, and jerking of the 

 tail, sometimes by the stamping of the front feet as. 

 well. In curiosity the neck is stretched out to a 

 surprising length. In the attitude of contentment 

 the animal is usually sitting up with the tail flat along 

 the back and the tip over the ears. These emotions 

 are well-defined but as to whether joy finds ex- 

 pression in behaviour I have not yet definitely de- 

 termined, though I have noticed a certain high 

 bounding which it exhibits only when it has dis- 

 covered a supply of food. 



The voice seems only to be used in anger and 

 pain. The scolding chatter is familiar to everyone, 

 but I have observed that Adjidomo has chattering 

 notes of different quality which he employs appar- 

 ently in different degrees of anger. A cat excites 

 his most intense wrath, and when he sees one any- 

 where near the base of the maple he breaks out into 

 a very loud, sharp chatter of such a quality that I 

 can now tell at once the cause of his indignation. 

 It takes him some considerable time to get over a 

 fit of cat scolding, and it is interesting to notice the 

 order in which the different vocal elements which 

 compose the compound chatter die out. The note 

 which persists the longest is the little nasal 

 "Tscherk", and these gradually grow fainter and 

 further apart until his equanimity is restored. The 

 chattering is always accompanied by stamping of 

 the hind feet, which action sometimes is so violent 

 as to become a veritable dance. It might perhaps 

 be claimed that the chatter denoted only excitement 

 and not anger, but this is disproved by the fact that 

 he can get very excited without chattering and that 

 upon three occasions when he has had cause for 

 anger but not for excitement he has chattered. One 

 of these episodes I will mention as typical. I had 

 put two very hard buns out for him. He had some 

 difficulty in getting a firm grip on one of the buns 

 with his teeth because of its hardness and large size, 

 but finally made off with it. He ran up the branch 

 from which he jumps to the roof of the next house, 

 gathered himself together and sprang across. But 

 in mid-air the bun slipped and fell to the ground. 

 The slipping of the bun upset his leap, but he 

 managed to alight safely, though far from gracefully. 

 He then looked over the edge of the roof after the 

 bun, "registered surprise", (as they would say in 

 the movies), and then chattered and stamped. He 

 soon returned for the other bun, again had a struggle 

 to grip it, carried it up the branch as before, and 

 jumped with the same result, the bun slipping from 



