INTELLIGENCE OF StJUIERELS. 177 



meuts. If we may judge by the commou house rat, rodents possess unusual plasticity as 

 to feeding and other habits, and not less as regards their mental life. I found that my 

 Chipmunk would take a great variety of foods, though the experiment of feeding with 

 meat was not tried. He drank milk greedily. 



There is one very peculiar habit, interesting from a physiological point of A'iew', to 

 be observed in squirrels in confinement. A writer in Nature (Sfo\. X) says : — " I have 

 noticed that whenever it [the squirrel] cleans itself, after licking, it sneezes violently three 

 or four times into its fore-paws, then rubs them thus damped over its fur." And this 

 writer raises the c^uestion as to whether this habit, which he believes voluntary, was 

 confined to squirrels. He does not mention what sort of a squirrel his own was ; bat I 

 have noticed this behaviour as of the most frec[uent occurrence in my caged Chipmunk. 

 It seems to me, on the whole, most natural to consider it a voluntary act of the same 

 character, and possibly, for a similar purpose, as clearing the throat in the human subject, 

 or perhaps even blowing the nose. And I am the more inclined to believe that it is vol- 

 untary from the account given of the Flying Squirrel, as observed by Prof. G-. H. Perkins 

 and recorded in the American Natnralùt (Vol. VII). This writer states that on one occasion 

 his squirrel lapped some ink, ))ut shortly afterwards manifi'sted disgust and indulged in 

 violent sneezings. Under these circumstances it is difficult to understand, by anything 

 in our own experience, how the act could haA'e been reflex. 



Speaking of the relative intelligence of squirrels, this writer says : — " I am inclined 

 to believe that the Flying Squirrel does not possess as much intelligence as the Grey or 

 Red or some other species." From the entire account of the Flying Squirrel given by 

 Prof Perkins, I should suppose that the intelligence of this species and that of the 

 Ground Squirrel are about on a par — the explanation of which will be considered later. 



A c[uestion of much interest to the naturalist and psychologist, it seems to me, is the 

 following, A'iz., to what extent the intelligence of animals that hibernate has been modified 

 by this process, and in what directions. With regard to hibernation, so far as the squirrels 

 are concerned, there seems to be great dearth of accurate observations ; in fact, the same 

 remark applies to the whole subject of hibernation, one of the most interesting in the 

 whole realm of physiology. A number of observations are to be found scattered through 

 the literature, but they are fatally lacking, in most cases, in precision of observation and 

 accurate record of dates. From a short but valuable paper on the " American Chipmunk " 

 in the Popular Science Monthly (Vol VII), l)y Dr. C. Abbott, we are led to believe that the 

 Ground Squirrel spends some time in his burrow before hibernation begins, and that the 

 food laid up is consumed in part before the winter torpor sets in, and more especially in 

 spring before a fresh supply is obtainable in the usual way. Concerning the winter habits 

 of other species, I have been able to learn nothing Irom any quarter that definitely settles 

 the question as to whether they hibernate or not. Audubon and Bachmann (loc. cit.) state 

 that as much as one bushel and a half of nuts has been found in a single hollow tree 

 occupied by a Chickaree or Red Sc^uirrel. They also state that this species may have 

 several hoards. From different remarks dropped by these writers, from what I have myself 

 observed, and from the statements of Dr. Bell iu the valuable notes appended to this 

 paper, I am inclined to the belief that the Red Squirrel and some other species do not 

 regularly hibernate the whole winter through. But whether they hibernate at all, in 

 the true sense of that term ; whether they have short periods of hibernation followed by 



Sec. iv, 1887. 23. 



