MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS SCIURUS. 121 



rel, several nests, composed of sticks, leaves, and mosses, 

 are usually seen on the pine trees. These are seldom placed 

 on the summits, but in the fork of a tree, and more frequently 

 where several branches unite to afford a sure resting-place to 

 these nests. This may be called their summer home, for it 

 seems to be occupied only in fine weather, and is deserted 

 during wintry and stormy seasons. 



The breeding season is in December and January, when 

 the male chases the female for hours together on the same 

 tree, running up one side and descending on the other, fol- 

 lowing her from one branch to the other, making at the same 

 time a low guttural noise that can scarcely be compared with 

 the barking notes which they utter on other occasions. The 

 young are produced from the beginning of March, and some- 

 times earlier, to April. The nests containing them which I 

 have had an opportunity of examining, were always in hol- 

 low trees. They receive the nourishment of the mother for 

 four or five weeks, when they are left to shift for themselves, 

 but continue to reside in the vicinity of, and even to occupy, 

 the same nests with their parents, till autumn. It has been 

 asserted by several planters in Carolina, that this species has 

 two broods during the season ; as far however as my person- 

 al observations have enabled me to judge, I have been led to 

 believe that they have no other product than that of early 

 spring. 



The food of this species is various ; besides acorns and the 

 different kinds of nuts, its principal subsistence for many 

 weeks in autumn is on the fruit extracted from the cones of 

 the pine, especially that of our long-leaved pitch pine [Pinus 

 palustris). Whilst the green corn is yet in its milky state, 

 the fox squirrel makes long journeys to visit the fields, and 

 for the sake of convenience frequently builds a temporary 

 summer-house in the vicinity, in order to share with the little 

 Carolina squirrel and the crow a portion of the delicacies and 

 treasures of the husbandman ; where he is also exposed to 

 the risks incurred by the thief and plunderer ; for these fields 

 are usually guarded by a gunner, and in this way thousands 

 of squirrels are destroyed during the green corn season. It is 

 doubtful whether the fox squirrel lays up any winter stores, 

 There appears to be no food in any of his nests, nor does he. 

 like the red squirrel {Sciurus Hudsonius), resort to any hoards 

 which, in the season of abundance, were buried in the earth 

 or concealed under logs and leaves. During this season he 

 leaves his retreat but seldom, and then only for a short time, 

 and in fine weather in the middle of the day. He has evi- 

 dently the power, like the marmot and racoon, of being sus- 



