CHAPTER XXXVI 



THE GRAY SQUIRREL 



Up the oak-tree, close beside him, 

 Sprang the squirrel, Adjidaumo, 

 In and out among the branches, 

 Coughed and chattered from the oak-tree, 

 Laughed, and said between his laughing, 

 "Do not shoot me, Hiawatha." 



Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha 



Habitat and Distribution. The gray squirrel {Sciu'rus caro- 

 linen'sis, Fig. 212) was formerly found all over the wooded 

 region of the eastern United States, and still exists, though in 

 much diminished numbers, wherever its numerous enemies 

 permit. It does not extend farther west than Minnesota and 

 Wisconsin. It lives in those regions where hardwood trees 

 grow, seldom being found in the depths of coniferous forests. 



External Structure. The elongate body is covered with a 

 skin bearing soft hair, and is clearly divisible into a head, 

 neck, trunk, and tail. There are two pairs of appendages, the 

 legs. In addition to their use in running and in climbing, 

 the fore legs are used in grasping objects and bringing them 

 up to the mouth. The hind legs serve for making the long 

 leaps so characteristic of the squirrel's method of progres- 

 sion in trees. Both pairs of legs show the divisions which we 

 have already noted in the amphibians, reptiles, and birds, 

 and they are provided at the end with digits ending in horny 

 claws. The nostrils (Fig. 215) are situated at the anterior 

 extremity, just above the mouth. The eyes are large, and 

 furnished with an upper and a lower eyelid and a nictitating 



membrane. About the mouth and eyes are long, sensitive 



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