Squirrels of B. America. 437 



tlie Oliio river in a llit-boat, or ark, cliiefiy vvitli tlie intention of 

 seekino- lor birds then unknown to us. About one hundred miles 

 below Cincinnati, as we were floating down the stream, we observ- 

 ed a larg(^ number of sijuirrels swimming- across the river, and 

 we c-oiitinued to see them at various places, until we had nearly 

 reached Smithland, a town not more than about one hundred 

 miles above the mouth of the Ohio. 



At times they were strewed, as it were, over tlie surface of the 

 water, and some of them beino- fatiiifued souo-ht a few moments* 

 rest on our lonir " steering oar, " which hung into the water in a 

 slanting direction over the stern of our boat. The boys, along the 

 shores and in boats were killing the squirrels with clubs in great 

 numbc-rs, although m(^st of them got safe across. After they had 

 reached the shore, we saw some of them trimming their fur on the 

 fences or on loQfs of drift-wood. 



We kept some of these squirrels alive ; they were fed with 

 hickory nuts, pecans, and ground or pea-nuts, [Arachls hypo cea^ 

 Immediately after eating as much as sufficed for a meal, they hid 

 away the remainder beneath the straw and cotton at the bottom 

 of their cage in a little heap. A very tame and gentle one we 

 had in a ro<jm at Shippingport, near Louisville, Kentucky, one 

 night ate its way into a bureau, in which we had a quantity of 

 arsenic in powder, and died next morning a victim to curiosity or 

 appetite, probably the latter, for the bureau also contained some 

 wheat. 



Geographical Disthibution. — Occurs as far north as the 

 Hudson's Bay ; in Upper Canada, along the St. Lawrence and 

 westward. Never seen in the valley of the Ottawa; does not exist 

 in Lower Canada nor in the Southern States, nor as far west as the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



THE BLACK SQUIRREL. 



SciURUs Niger. — Linn. 



" Head a little shorter and more arched than that of the 

 ' Northern gi'^y squirrel ; incisors compressed, strong, and of a 

 deep orange colour anteriorly ; ears elliptical and sliglitly rounded 

 at the tip, thickly clothed with fur on both surfaces, the fur on 

 the outer surface extending three lines beyond the margin ; there 

 are, however, no distinct tufts ; whiskers a little longer than the 

 heal ; tail long, not very distichous, thickly clothed with mode" 

 rately close hair ; the fur is softer than that of the Nortliern 



