Red Squirrel 



the upper side of a branch and drink the sap that fills them, 

 coming back a dozen times a day for the sweet refreshment. 



They are hearty meat-eaters at all times, though beyond 

 robbing birds' nests they are anything but successful hunters. 

 But they follow the more successful hunters to take advantage of 

 their luck, and annoy the trapper by stealing the bait from his 

 traps. Most red squirrels are not satisfied with a single habita- 

 tion. They must have an underground hole beneath the roots 

 of a tree at all events, and in addition either a nest among the 

 branches, or in a hollow tree, or both. 



When they can get possession of the deserted nest of a 

 hawk or crow, they roof it over with moss and strips of bark 

 and pine needles and have a snug home for all weathers. 



In most pine groves there are more such nests occupied by 

 red squirrels than by the original owners. 



At other times they arrange a platform of twigs in a crotch 

 or against the trunk, and supported by small branches, build 

 their nest on this, using wet moss and cedar bark and thatch- 

 ing it over with pine needles. They also make nests of soft 

 grass in hollow logs and stumps or beneath a pile of wood. 

 Red squirrels are most erratic when it comes to laying up stores 

 for winter, sometimes they will pack away half a bushel of nuts 

 or apples in a hollow tree, but often it is two or three in one 

 place and a dozen in another. 



Holes beneath stumps and flat stones are favourite hiding 

 places of theirs. At other times they make little piles of nuts 

 on the ground and cover them up with leaves, probably intend- 

 ing to transfer them to safer hiding when the rush of harvest- 

 ing is over. They will also wedge nuts, one in a place, in the 

 forks of small branches, and in cracks in the bark. 



Varieties of the Red Squirrel 



/. Northern Red Squirrel. SciMrus hudsonicus gymnicus Bangs. 



Description and range as above. 

 2. Southern Red Squirrel. S. hudsonicus loquax Bangs. Larger 



and brighter red in winter with under parts always pure 



white. 

 Range. Southern Maine, Michigan and Minnesota to Virginia 



and Indiana, except in the Alleghanies. 



X9S 



