SQUIRREL FAMILY 



177 



another, then running up this and again saihng. 

 It is surprising how quickly one of these little 

 fellows can travel a quarter of a mile. 



The Flying Squirrel is one of the most beauti- 

 ful and graceful, and by far the most gentle of 

 our Squirrels, becoming quite tame in a few- 

 days. 



On one occasion a Flying Squirrel mother and 

 four young ones were taken from a hollow tree. 

 She seemed very willing to remain with them, 

 and so the family was taken home in the pocket 

 of a coat. They were placed in a box near a 

 window, which was left partly open. At first 

 the mother remained with the young only at 

 night, but in a few days she had gained suffi- 

 cient confidence to remain with them the whole 

 day, and even allowed herself to be handled. 



This was not an unusual instance of gentle- 

 ness, for several years ago the writer knew a 

 man to capture two adult Flying Squirrels, a 

 male and a female, who took them home for 

 pets. In a short time they were very tame, and 

 at nightfall they would come from their cage 

 and play about the house as contentedly as 

 though they were in their forest home. In the 

 spring comfortable quarters were made for the 

 Squirrels in the woodhouse attic. At the rear 

 of the attic stood a large maple tree, the boughs 

 of which touched the woodhouse. The old 

 tree had but one cavity, but it was supplemented 

 by a woodpecker stub and fastened in an upright 

 position about thirty feet from the ground. It 

 did not take the Squirrels long to find an open- 

 ing at the end of the attic by the old tree, and 

 so their playground was considerably enlarged. 



In the old stub the first litter was born, and 

 as soon as the young ones were large enough to 

 enjoy night frolics, the attic became their play- 

 house. 



The distance from the old tree to the edge of 

 the forest, where nuts were plentiful, was only a 

 few rods, and even this was made easy for the 

 Squirrels by the use of a fence and orchard. By 

 the time the nuts were ripe the old instinct had 

 conquered the few months of civilizing influ- 

 ences, and the whole family must have visited the 

 forest nightly, judging by the quantity of nuts 

 that were stored in boxes in the attic and in the 

 stub of the old tree. The family lived together 

 that winter, but the next spring most of the 

 young ones sought homes of their own, prob- 

 ably in the forest near by. Other young were 

 reared in the attic and the old tree, but the 

 following August they all mysteriously disap- 

 peared, both old and young, probably obeying 



some migratory instinct. It is worthy of note 

 that the autumn following their disappearance 

 the nut crop was nearly a failure in that imme- 

 diate vicinity. Could there be any connection 

 between the two circumstances? 



Concerning the degree of intelligence of the 

 Flying Squirrel, we quote from Charles C. 



Photograpii £rom the American Museum of Natural History 



FLYING SQOTRREL 



This specimen was mounted, but the attitude in taking its flying 

 leap is very lifelike 



Abbott : " Years of familiar acquaintance with 

 these Squirrels have not enabled me to detect 

 much in their habits indicative of intelligence ; 

 and it is for this principally that I look in study- 

 ing animal life. I feel sorry to have so poor an 

 account to give of these beautiful creatures, but 

 I am compelled to say it of them — they are not 

 ' smart.' Notwithstanding all their vivacity when 

 in their native haunts, and their eminently gre- 

 garious habits, they do not suggest by any of 



