152 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXII 



his teeth in mid-air. After this second failure he 

 was thoroughly angry, and chattered and stamped 

 for a long time. 



I had never heard Adjidomo give vent to a cry of 

 pain, but one day he caught the other squirrel which 

 had been steahng his stores, and apparently bit 

 him so severely that he uttered several high-pitched 

 squeals. 



I have never heard Adjidomo use the long, rolling, 

 "Chrir-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r" call. This is apparently an 

 inter-communication call and thus is not used by an 

 isolated individual. 



MOODS. 

 Having this squirrel under observation day after 

 day it has become quite apparent to me that he is 

 subject to moods. On some days he is far more 

 nervous and "jumpy" than on others, and the prob- 

 ability is that on these days he has received a bad 

 fright, I say "probably", because I have not yet 

 been able to establish the connection between this 

 condition and its cause. Certainly on days on which 

 he has been made angry he is more irritable than at 

 other times. 



BEHAVIOUR UNDER UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES. 

 In judging the mentality of any animal one of the 

 best tests we can apply is the manner in which it 

 behaves under unusual circumstances. Instinct will 

 look after all ordinary activities, but instinct fails 

 when confronted with new conditions. The ability 

 to meet new conditions successfully implies in- 

 telligence. 



During the summer the portions of the limbs of 

 the maple which hung over the roof of the next 

 house were cut off, including the end of the limb 

 along which the squirrel travelled on his way to 

 the roof. Soon after this had been done Adjidomo 



appeared, ran along his old route towards the roof, 

 arrived at the cut end of the limb, paused a moment 

 and ran down the limb and up the next one which 

 projected in the direction of the roof. This limb 

 had also had its end cut off, so he again descended 

 and then tried each limb which lay towards the 

 roof in turn until he found one from which he could 

 spring to the roof. He then continued to use this 

 path for some three or four weeks, and in fact still 

 uses It for his return journey, but he has found that 

 by going a short distance up a nearly vertical branch, 

 which projects from the limb he used in the first 

 place, he can make the roof. Just when he dis- 

 covered this I cannot say as he was using this route 

 when I returned after a month's absence. 



One day the squirrel found a long piece of crisp 

 rind. He tried to carry it off, but finding it too 

 heavy and awkward to handle, he put his front 

 feet on it, and pulling with his teeth broke it in two. 



On another occasion I placed a nut with a 

 thread attached to it on the verandah and fastened 

 the other end of the thread. Adjidomo soon came 

 along, seized the nut and started to run off with it, 

 but was stopped with a jerk by the thread. He 

 turned round and tugged for some fifteen seconds, 

 then bit through the thread and carried off the nut. 

 MEMORY. 



When we returned home, after an absence of six 

 weeks, the squirrel, as soon as he caught sight of us 

 through the window, immediately darted over to his 

 old feeding place. Nothing had been placed there 

 during our absence, and the incident is interesting 

 as showing a perfect memory for six weeks, and also 

 as showing that he associated our presence with 

 the probability of a supply of food. 



