168 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



EASTERN RED SQUIRREL 

 Sciurus hudsonicus ( Erxlcbcn ) 



Other Names. — Chickaree. Pine Squirrel. 



General Description. — .\ medium-sized Squirrel 

 with bushy tail. Head blunt and rounded ; ears fairly 

 large and broad, clothed with short hair ; tody of 

 moderate proportions ; tail nearly as long as head and 

 body, broad and bushy ; feet of moderate length, soles 

 furred, pads naked ; general color above yellowish- 

 rufous in summer, chestnut rufous in winter. Tem- 

 perament, nervous and active. 



Dental Formula. — Incisors, 



Premolars, 



or — ; Molars, 



Canines, 



-^ 20 or 22. 



Pelage. — .Adults: Sexes identical. Sximmer. Upper 

 parts yellowish-rufous ; a conspicuous black lateral line 

 between rufous of upper parts and clear white of under 

 parts; everywhere below, pure white; no tufts on ears; 

 tail above like body, beneath, yellowish-gray bordered 

 with black and fringed with yellowish-rufous; upper 

 surface of hind feet and front of fore legs clear fer- 

 ruginous. Winter. Upper parts and dorsal stripe, 

 chestnut rufous; sides olivaceous gray; under parts 

 grayish-white; tail as in summer but fuller; short tufts 

 of hair on ears. Young: Similar to adults but colora- 

 tion weaker. 



Measurements. — Total length, 12 inches; tail verte- 

 brae. 5.5 inches; hind foot. 1.8 inches. 



Range. — Boreal North .'America. Labrador west to 

 Rocky Mountains and .■\laska. 



Food. — Seeds of conifers and of other plants, nuts, 

 buds, some insects and birds' eggs. 



Rel.\ted Species 

 Eastern Red Squirrel, or Eastern Chickaree. — 



Sciurus liitdsonicus huiisniiicus (Er.xleben). Typical 

 animal of the above description. Boreal North America 

 north of the United States. 



Southern Red Squirrel. — Sciurus hudsonicus loquax 

 Bangs. Larger than Eastern Red Squirrel ; tail 

 longer ; dorsal stripe brighter. Ontario to North 

 Carolina, and west to Minnesota. 



Little Red Squirrel. — Sciurus hudsonicus gymnicus 

 Bangs. Smallest of the Eastern Red Squirrels; tail 

 with orange-red fringe. Eastern North America south 

 of Labrador to northern New York, west to northern 

 Michigan and northern Minnesota. 



Richardson's Chickaree. — Sciurus hudsonicus rich- 

 ardsonii (Bachman). Upper surface of tail mostly 

 black, size large. Northern Montana, Idaho, north- 

 eastern Washington, and Oregon northward into British 

 Columbia. 



Douglas's Chickaree. — Sciurus douglasii douglasii 

 Bachman. See special synopsis. 



Fremont's Chickaree. — Sciurus frcinoiiti frcnionti 

 Audubon and Bachman. See special synopsis. 



The Red Squirrel in some of its related forms 

 is found in nearly every timbered area in North 

 America. This group of mediinn-sized Squirrels 

 is divided naturally into several subgroups 

 clearly distinguished by strong color differ- 

 ences. Altogether about twenty species and sub- 

 .species of Red Squirrels range north of the Rio 

 Grande and fall easily into three divisions : the 

 first, or Eastern Red Squirrel group in which all 

 the members are clear white below and generally 

 some tone of chestnut, or rufous brown above; 

 the Douglas Red Squirrel group in which the 

 members are bright orange below and reddish 

 above : and the Fremont's Chickaree group in 

 which the members are grayish white below and 

 gray above. 



The Red Squirrel is the most frolicsome, alert, 

 curious, and " sassy " of the family to which he 

 belongs. His home is usually in a hollow tree or 

 among the roots, but sometimes he constructs a 

 summer nest of twigs and leaves, located on 

 lofty branches in the forest; but if in an old 

 apple tree, it is usually not more than fifteen feet 

 from the ground. 



Nuts form the chief food of the Red Squirrel, 

 but berries, roots, ftmgi, fruits, seeds of the pine. 



and, occasionally, animal food, are also eaten. 

 Even in the coniferous forests he, with 

 his intelligence, industry and faculty of adapt- 

 ing himself to circumstances, lives and thrives. 

 If the annual nut crop fails, the other Squirrels 

 are forced to migrate ; not so with the Red 

 Squirrel, or Chickaree, as he is often called, for 

 he can subsist upon buds, roots, and even mush- 

 rooms — in fact, he is very fond of the last 

 named. Just how a Red Squirrel knows the dif- 

 ference between the poisonous and the non- 

 poisonous varieties has always been a mystery. 

 Mushrooms decay quickly if not gathered at the 

 l)roper time, and the Red Squirrels, who know 

 this as well as we do, harvest them accordingly. 

 There are also the barberries, chokecherries, 

 partridge berries and greenbrier berries which 

 they add to their store, and last, but quite im- 

 portant in many localities, are the seeds from 

 the cones of the hemlock, pine and spruce. 



But the food question is far from being set- 

 tled for the Red Squirrel, even after the supply 

 which has cost him days and days of arduous 

 toil is gathered, for he has thieving neighbors 

 constantly watching to take advantage of his 

 thrift. He suffers little from his own kind, for 



