CORRESPOXDEXCE AND INFORMATION 



7i 



(pRRESPOlSraNCE 



AND 



Information 



or 



Observations in Prospect Park, Brook- 

 lyn, New York. 



New Brighton, Staten Island, 

 New York. 

 To the Editor : — 



In the July number of The Guide to 

 Nature Mrs. Caroline M. Hartwell 

 gives some interesting spring observa- 

 tions made in Prospect Park on gray 

 squirrels eating grass, hornbeam cat- 

 kins and the green fruit from a mul- 

 berry tree. Probably the "grey squir- 

 rel with his 'arms' full of green grass 

 which he was industriously eating" did 

 not devour it all but took some of it 

 home for nest building purposes. 

 When they can get it, the outer bark 

 of the red cedar is used for making- 

 much of the nest. 



It may be of interest to record what ; 

 the Prospect Park squirrel eats later 

 in the season, not including the peanut 

 for which he is ever on the lookout and 

 which is his perennial food. It is ob- 

 served in this respect that the gray 

 squirrels in Prospect Park are appar- 

 ently not as anxious for peanuts as 

 those in Central Park, Manhattan, 

 which is pretty good proof that in sum- 

 mer at least they can find considerable 

 else to eat. 



On the fifth of last August I found a 

 gray squirrel pulling off the still green 

 fruit of a thorn (Crataegus) which was 

 cut in two to get at the seeds. Usually 

 only two or three were eaten and the 

 remainder of the little apple dropped 

 to the ground, apparently a very waste- 

 ful proceeding. Two other species of 

 thorn had been visited for the same 

 purpose, their fruit pulled off and the 

 seeds eaten. 



A flowering dogwood (Cornus 

 florida) had lost many of its fruit, which 

 had been cut open lengthwise in most 

 instances in order to reach the interior 

 parts. 



The seeds of the hornbeam (Carpi- 

 nus) are not easily reached owing to 

 their position in the catkins. The 

 ground beneath two of the trees was 

 thickly strewn with the catkins, as 

 well as some leaves, which had been 

 gnawed off by the industrious squirrels. 

 Some of the seeds had been opened and 

 no doubt the others would be more 

 carefully considered later. 



Hickory nuts of two kinds had been 

 gnawed from the trees, and usually 

 about one half of the green and bitter 

 husk and the shell of the nut within 

 had been eaten away to get at the ker- 

 nels. Even the big mocker nut was 

 treated in this way, for the squirrels 

 were evidently fond of the green hick- 

 ory nuts and extracted the kernels quite 

 thoroughly. 



Black walnuts were also gnawed 

 from the trees, and the very bitter 

 outer covering partly removed in most 

 instances. The walnuts, however, had 

 probably been picked too green for the 

 squirrels did not seem very fond of 

 them, often casting them aside when 

 only partly eaten into. 



The acorns from several of the large 

 English white oaks were evidently 

 much prized, and they had been eaten 

 into in the characteristic squirrel fash- 

 ion ; namely, by gnawing out a small 

 portion of the cup so as to get at the 

 soft basal part of the acorn. When 

 acorns are plentiful, squirrels will test 

 each one by making a small hole at the 

 base for the weevil larvae they hope to 

 find. If the acorn contains one, the 

 larva is removed and eaten ; otherwise 

 the acorn is abandoned. Gray squirrels 

 also eat gall producing larvae and, no 

 doubt, what other edible insects they 

 can procure. 



Elsewhere we have found that the 

 squirrels cut off the pitch pine cones in 

 the summer as well as the riper ones 



