THE RED SQUIRREIi — KLUGH 507 



BALANCING OF OBJECTS 



The red squirrel is an expert in balancing objects on branches. 

 Usually it selects either a crotch, or the somewhat flat surface at the 

 point at which a horizontal branch comes off from a limb, as the 

 place of deposition. When placing anything in position it shifts it 

 a trifle to one side or the other with its paws or its muzzle, and does 

 not leave the object until it is as securely lodged as possible. I 

 noticed that when one of the squirrels I had under observation hung a 

 long strip of ham rind (an article of diet with which it could hardly 

 have had previous experience) on a branch, it shifted it until the 

 two ends hung equally on each side of the branch. 



PLAT 



Adult squirrels frequently play together, their recreation taking the 

 form of a game of " tag " in which the utmost vivacity and agility is 

 displayed. A good deal of what is commonly reported as a game of 

 tag is, however, really not play but the chasing of one squirrel by 

 another when the former has been poaching on its preserves, and 

 it is only when the same squirrel is alternately pursuer and pursued 

 that one can be sure that it is really a game. 



The squirrel which I had under observation for 2 years, and which 

 was at least 3 years old toward the end of the period of observation, 

 frequently indulged in play by itself. When the first snowfall came 

 it plunged about in the snow, dashed through the deep piles on the 

 large limbs, and quite evidently enjoyed itself thoroughly. It fre- 

 quently went through a remarkable performance which one must 

 classify as a game since it certainly served no useful purpose. At the 

 top of the trunk of the maple, at the point at which the main limbs 

 are given off, there is a trough-shaped, vertical cavity some eighteen 

 inches long with a pocket-shaped bottom. The squirrel often got in 

 this cavity, turned over and over in a series of somersaults, sliding 

 down the trough on its back at each backward turn. It sometimes 

 also seized and held onto its tail and rolled about in the pocket. 



DIET 



The diet of the red squirrel is extremely varied, and naturally dif- 

 fers considerably in various parts of the country. One reason for the 

 wide range and abundance of this species, and for its ability to in- 

 habit a region under the changed conditions produced by civilization, 

 is unquestionably its omnivorous propensity. 



