ECOLOGY OF THE RED SQUIRREL ^ 



By A. Beookeb Klugh 

 Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario 



[With five plates] 

 INTRODUCTION 



The red squirrel {Sciurus hudsonicus and subspecies) is one of the 

 commonest and most generally known mammals over a large part 

 of North America. Under the name " Adjidomo " it has figured in 

 Ojibwa and Cree myths and in Longfellow's " Hiawatha," and by the 

 name of chickaree, common squirrel, barking squirrel, red squirrel, 

 and I'ecureil rouge, it has been cited in early accounts of the country. 



The present paper is the result of eight years' somewhat intensive 

 study of this species in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince 

 Edward Island, covering the typical form (hudsonicus) and geo- 

 graphical races loquax and gynmicus; and an attempt is made to 

 bring together the facts concerning the life-history, habits, food, 

 relationships to other animals, economic importance, and psychology 

 of this species which are to be found in the literature. Some details 

 concerning the daily life of the red squirrel, and many points in con- 

 nection with the psychology of this species which I have accumulated, 

 are due to the fact that I had one individual under almost constant 

 observation for months at a time for a period of two years and 

 another for a year. These squirrels made their headquarters in a 

 large sugar maple which stands in my garden, the lower branches 

 of which are on a Jlevel with my upstairs balcony and the upper 

 branches on a level with the window of my top flat. During these 

 periods other red squirrels came into this tree more or less frequently, 

 so that an opportunity was afforded to obtain data on the relations 

 of one individual to others of its species. 



1 Contribution from the Zoological Laboratory, Cornell University. Reprinted by per- 

 mission, with, slight changes hi the illustrations, from Journal of Mammalogy, toI. 8, No. 

 1, February, 1927, 



495 



