504 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192 8 



LEAPING 



The red squirrel makes long leaps from tree to tree, but these are 

 always made when the landing place is lower than the point from 

 which it takes off. A jump which one of the squirrels I had under 

 constant observation made many times a day was a distance of 8 

 feet with a drop of 2 feet, and I noticed that it never tried the return 

 leap. The most remarkable leap I have seen a squirrel make was a 

 distance of 5 feet with a rise of 3 feet. Seton says that after meas- 

 uring many bounds recorded in the snow, and made by squirrels 

 pursued by dogs or hunters, he does not think that they can leap more 

 than five feet on the level. In these cases the soft snow probably im- 

 pairs the efficiency of their " take-off." 



In leaping, the squirrel extends its legs and flattens its body, while 

 the tail is straight and stiff behind it. In most cases the leap is very 

 cleanly made, but sometimes, in cases where the object from which it 

 has jumped is insecure or springy, or when the squirrel leaps with a 

 bulky load, its leap is not so well controlled, and it makes desperate 

 efforts by movements of the tail and legs to maintain its direction 

 while in the air. In such cases it often makes anythiiig but a 

 graceful landing. 



FALLING 



The red squirrel very rarely falls, but occasionally does so. I have 

 never actually seen one fall, though I have witnessed their having very 

 narrow escapes from accidents upon many occasions. I once came 

 across a young squirrel, which had apparently fallen from a high limb 

 of an elm onto a cement sidewalk. It was squatting on the walk, 

 looking very dazed, and rubbed its head with its fore paws repeat- 

 edly. Mrs. Klugh has seen a squirrel fall from a branch of the tree 

 in our garden on two occasions. In both cases the squirrel was an 

 intruder and was being vigorously pursued by the squirrel which 

 '' owned " the tree. In neither case did the squirrel alight on its 

 feet, but in one case came down so heavily on its side as to apparently 

 " knock the wind out of it " and it was some minutes before it re- 

 covered sufficiently to crawl to the tree and climb up ; and in the other 

 case the squirrel fell on its back on a sheet of ice and appeared to be 

 badly shaken. The fall in each of these cases was a distance of about 

 30 feet. 



Gosse (1840) describes how a squirrel in a grove of tall slender 

 trees was chased from tree to tree for half an hour by shaking the 

 trees violently. "He several times missed his hold, but always caught 

 a bough in his fall, except once, when he came rather heavily to the 

 ground from one of the topmost branches; he was instantly on his 

 feet again and up in a tree before I could come near him." 



