Red-squirrel S25 



seeds of conifers. If these are left to ripen fully they take unto 

 themselves wings and fly away, whereas by cutting the cone 

 just before it opens the Squirrel makes sure of the prize. 



In contrast with the storage habits of the Red-squirrel I 

 quote my notes on the Fox-squirrel: "On the first of August, 

 1903, I watched for an hour the Fox-squirrels in City Park, 

 Madison, Wis. A large male that seemed master of those near 

 came forward as I offered him some peanuts. The first three 

 he ate, the rest he buried. His procedure was the same each 

 time: seizing the nut in his teeth, then in his paws, he turned it 

 two or three times in his mouth and appeared to be licking it — 

 why ? I could not guess unless it was to mark it with the smell 

 of his ownership. This trick is also practised by the Eskimo* 

 of Davis Strait, as well as by sailors and small boys of our 

 own race. 



Then the Squirrel ran along the ground in a jerky, erratic 

 way, selecting a place to bury his treasure. Having decided 

 on the spot, always in the open, away from any landmark, he 

 scratched a hole about three inches deep, thrust the nut into 

 the bottom of it and replaced the earth, packing it down with 

 his front paws, until it was levelled. If approached by 

 another Squirrel during the operation, he drove him away. If 

 another Squirrel approached the place two or three minutes 

 afterward, the owner of the treasure still showed fight, but in 

 five or ten minutes he seemed to lose the sense of ownership, 

 and other Squirrels might run over the place without provoking 

 hostilities. This Squirrel made ten holes during the hour I 

 watched. After that he seemed to be weary. The question 

 arises. How does the Squirrel profit by these " hides " .? It seems 

 to me incredible that he should remember each separate place. 

 Rather, I should say, he has a general guidance from memory 

 of locality and a particular guidance from smell. 



* "The fortunate person licked each article with his tongue, on receiving it, as a finish 

 to the bargain, and an act of appropriation. They in no instance omitted this strange 

 practice, however small the article." Franklin's First Journey, 1823, p. 17. It is well 

 known that once a cow, sheep, or dog has licked its own little foundling, the feeling of 

 kinship and possession is established. Maybe human kissing had a cognate origin. — 

 E. T. S. 



