556 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AIAGAZINE 



ing, since it is often seen far out on arid plains 

 many miles from the nearest water. 



As with all its kind, the world of the painted 

 chipmunk is filled with imminent peril of sud- 

 den death. Overhead, gliding on silent pmions, 

 are hawks of several species, while on the 

 ground snakes, weasels, badgers, bobcats, foxes, 

 and coyotes are .ever searching for them as prey. 



THE RED SQUIRREL (Sciurus hudsonicus 



and its relatives) 



{For illustration, sec page 546) 



Every one who has visited the forests of 

 Canada and northeastern United States knows 

 the vivacious, rollicking, and frequently im- 

 pudent red squirrel. This entertaining little 

 beast, known also as the pine squirrel and 

 chickaree, has little of that woodland shyness 

 so characteristic of most forest animals. It 

 often searches out the human visitor to its 

 haunts and from a low branch or tree trunk 

 sputters, barks, and scolds the intruder, work- 

 ing itself into a frenzy of excitement. This 

 habit, combined with the rusty red color and 

 small size of the animal, about half that of 

 the gray squirrel, renders its identity unmis- 

 takable. It has distinct winter and summer 

 coats, but in both the rusty red prevails. The 

 winter dress is distinguished, however, by small 

 tufts on the ears. 



The red squirrel, with its related small species, 

 occupying most of the wooded parts of North 

 America north of Mexico, forms a strongly 

 characterized group, with no near kin among 

 the squirrels of the Old World. In its geo- 

 graphic races it ranges through the forests of 

 all Alaska and Canada and south to Idaho, 

 Wyoming, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, northern 

 Indiana, all the Northeastern States to the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, and along the Alleghenies 

 to South Carolina. Owing to its small size, 

 this animal, like the chipmunk, is considered 

 too small for game, although occasionally 

 hunted for sport. As a consequence its in- 

 crease or decrease is usually governed by the 

 available food supply, although man interferes 

 locally when it becomes too destructive. 



This squirrel shows a strong preference for 

 coniferous forests, whether of hemlock, spruce, 

 fir, or pine, but may be common in woods 

 where conifers arc few and widely scattered. 

 Although usually diurnal and busily occupied 

 from sunrise until sunset, it sometimes con- 

 tinues its activities during moonlight nights, 

 especially when nuts are ripe and it is time to 

 gather winter stores. During warm, pleasant 

 days in spring and fall, when the nights are 

 cool, it often lies at full length along the tops 

 of large branches during the middle of the day, 

 basking in the grateful warmth of the sun. 



The nests, which are located in a variety 

 of situations, are made of twigs, leaves, or 

 moss, and lined with fibrous bark and other 

 soft material. Some are in knot-holes or other 

 hollows in trees, others may be built outside 

 on limbs near the trunk, and still others are 



in burrows made in the ground under roots, 

 stumps, logs, brush heaps, or other cover offer- 

 ing secure refuge. Apparently several litters, 

 of young, containing from four to six, are 

 born each season, as they have been found 

 from April to September. 



They do not hibernate, but are active through- 

 out the year, except during some of the coldest 

 and most inclement weather. To provide 

 against the season of scarcity, they accumulate 

 at the base of a tree, under the shelter of a 

 log, or other cover, great stores of pine, spruce, 

 or other cones, sometimes in heaps containing 

 from six to ten bushels. They also hide scat- 

 tered cones here and there and place stores of 

 beechnuts, corn, and other seeds in hollows or 

 underground store-rooms. They are fond of 

 edible mushrooms and sometimes lay up half 

 a bushel of them among the branches of trees 

 or bushes to dry for winter use. In the west- 

 ern mountains their great stores of pine cones 

 are often robbed by seed-gatherers for forestry 

 nurseries. In winter they tunnel through the 

 snow to their hidden stores and sometimes 

 continue the tunnels from one store to an- 

 other. 



Each squirrel makes its home for a long 

 period in or about a certain tree. There he 

 carries his cones to extract the seeds, and on 

 the ground beneath it the accumulation of 

 fallen scales and centers of cones sometimes 

 amounts to fifteen or twenty bushels. In ad- 

 dition to the seeds of the various conifers, red 

 squirrels eat many kinds of fruits and seeds ; 

 they also raid cornfields and orchards and even 

 make nests in barns and woodsheds to be near 

 the food supply which some farmer's industry 

 has collected. 



Red squirrels have the interesting habit of 

 voluntarily swimming streams and lakes, in- 

 cluding such bodies of water as Lake George 

 and even the broadest parts of Lake Cham- 

 plain. When they thus cross the water and 

 make their migrations, there is little doubt that 

 they are usually in search of a better feeding 

 ground. 



The red squirrels and related species have the 

 greatest variety of notes possessed by any of 

 the American members of the squirrel family. 

 In addition to the barking, scolding, chattering 

 notes already mentioned, they have a real song, 

 which is one of the most attractive of wood- 

 land notes. It is a long-drawn series of musical 

 rolling or churring notes, varied at times by 

 cadences and having a ventriloquial quality 

 rendering it difficult to locate. These notes 

 never fail to awaken pleasurable emotions and 

 to recall to me my early boyhood in the Adi- 

 rondacks, where the spring songs of the chick- 

 arees were among the first calls which awak- 

 ened me to the marvelous beauties of nature. 



The worst trait of the red squirrel and one 

 which largely overbalances all his many at- 

 tractive qualities is his thoroughly proved habit 

 of eating the eggs and young of small birds. 

 During the breeding season he spends a large 

 part of his time in predatory nest hunting, and 

 the number of useful and beautiful birds he 



