442 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



A female Flying-squirrel taken at Winnipeg by E. W. Dar- 

 bey, on April 21st, contained 6 young ready for birth; 4 young 

 found in a nest May 15th, are but little larger than the foregoing, 

 each was 4I inches long, tail i|, eyes not opened. They were 

 probably three weeks or a month old. Dr. Merriam says^^ 

 "June 1 8th, 1883, Dr. A. K. Fisher and the writer found the 

 nest of a Northern Flying-squirrel at West Pond near Big 

 Moose Lake. It was in the last year's nest of a three-toed 

 woodpecker {Picoides arcticus) in a tamarack (Larix amer- 

 icana) and the entrance hole faced the east, about ten feet 

 above the ground. On cutting down the tree the nest was 

 found to contain three nursing young, not yet one-third grown; 

 they were estimated to be about a month old. They were fed 

 on condensed milk diluted with water, until we left the woods, 

 and afterward on fresh milk and vegetables. One of them 

 grew very rapidly, attaining nearly two-thirds the size of his 

 parents by the loth of July, when it was accidentally killed. 

 They were all perfectly tame and acted much like the young 

 of the common Flying-squirrel." 



The devotion of the Flying-squirrel mother is touchingly 

 set forth by Audubon and Bachman^^ in their account of a 

 family of this species. 



"This brood was procured as follows: A piece of partially 

 cleared wood having been set on fire, the labourers saw the 

 Flying-squirrel start from a hollow stump with a young one in 

 her mouth and watched the place where she deposited it, in 

 another stump at a little distance. The mother returned to her 

 nest and took away another and another in succession until all 

 were removed, when the woodcutters went to the abode now 

 occupied by the affectionate animal, and caught her already 

 singed by the flame of the fire, and her five young unscathed." 



These with their mother were kept in confinement about 

 four months and carefully observed. 



Nursing was performed thus: "The younglings stood on 

 the ground floor of the cage, whilst the mother hung her body 



" Mam. Adir., 1884, p. 207. '^ Quad. N. A., 1849, Vol. Ill, p. 204. 



