RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



The Red Squirrel in the Adirondacks. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM, M. D. 



[Fi'om advance nheets nf Vtil. IJ. Traiitr: Linn. Soc, N. Y.] 



The Red Squirrel is one of the common- 

 est and best known of the mammalian in- 

 habitants of the Adirondacks, being found 

 in all parts of the wilderness at all seasons 

 of the 3'ear. 



His diet is more varied than that of our 

 other squirrels. In addition to nuts and 

 acorns he feeds upon a variety' of seeds and 

 roots, the buds and leaf-stems of certain 

 trees, several species of '■'toad-stools" and 

 other fungi, seeds from the cones of pines 

 and spruces, fruits and berries of many 

 kinds, beetles, birds' eggs, and even young 

 birds. And in winter he does not look 

 with disdain upon scraps of meat or fish 

 that maj' have been left within his reach. 



He is the most hilarious of the preemi- 

 nentlj' merry and frolicsome famil}^ to which 

 he belongs, and his joyous and jubilant na- 

 ture enables him to triumph over the sense 

 of gloom that pervades the sombre conifer- 

 ous forests of the North, rendering him 

 cheerful and contented in the darkest and 

 most impenetrable of our evergreen thick- 

 ets. Indeed, it is this happy facultj' of 

 adapting himself and his modes of life to a 

 diversity of surroundings that has permitted 

 his wide dispersion, the present boundaries 

 of his habitat being coextensive with those 

 of the wooded portions of the northern part 

 of our continent.* 



The Chickaree combines qualities so 

 wlioU}' at variance, so unique, so incompre- 

 hensible, and so characteristic withal, that 

 one scarcely knows in what light to regard 

 him. His inquisitiveness, audacity, inordi- 

 nate assurance, and exasperating insolence, 

 together with his insatiable love of mischief 

 and shameless disregard of all the ordinary 

 customs and civilities of life, would lead 

 one to suppose that he was little entitled to 

 respect ; and yet his intelligence, his untir- 

 ing perseverance, and genuine industry, the 

 cunning cleverness displayed in many of 

 his actions, and the irresistible humor with 

 which he does ever3'thing. command for 

 him a certain degree of admiration. He is 

 arrogant, impetuous, and conceited to an 



* The species and its several geographical races are 

 here spoken of collectively. 



extreme degree, his confidence in his own 

 superior capabilities not infrequently cost- 

 ing him his life. In fact, these contradic- 

 tions in character and idiosyncrasies in dis- 

 position render him a psychological problem 

 of no easy solution. 



From earliest dawn till the setting sun 

 has disappeared behind the distant hills, 

 the Red Squirrel enlivens the silent solitude 

 of the forest with his merry ways and saucy 

 chatterings ; and he ma}^ sometimes be dis- 

 covered in the darkest hours of the night, 

 stealing softly over the ground — bent, 

 doubtless, on some errand of dubious pro- 

 priety. Moonlight evenings he is often as 

 active, though not so noisy, as during the 

 da}', and in early autumn he vies with the 

 flying squirrel in nocturnal nut-husking ex- 

 ploits. Though an expert climber, delight- 

 ing in long leaps from bough to bough, 

 which he executes with grace and precision, 

 he spends far more time on the ground 

 than the other arboreal squirrels, sometimes 

 even making his home in holes in the earth. 

 Old logs, stumps, wood-piles, and brush- 

 heaps are favorite places of resort, and by 

 excavating burrows beneath, he converts 

 them into the securest of retreats. Our 

 fences serve as highways upon which he 

 travels from wood to wood, and the zig-zag 

 rail-fence in particular is one of the boons 

 of his existence. It is his most frequented 

 path, his playground, his race-course, and 

 when pursued, his readiest means of escape. 

 It is the step-ladder from which he leaps 

 into the branches of neighboring trees, and 

 the place where he meets his friends at all 

 hours of the day. He frequently follows it 

 to the farm-house and takes up his abode in 

 the woodshed or other out-building, placing 

 his nest between the ceiling and roof, or in 

 some other equally out-of-the-way spot, 

 whence he is with great ditliculty dislodged. 



He is the least wary of the squirrels, 

 rarely taking the trouble to hide himself at 

 the approach of man. In fact, on such 

 occasions he usually assumes an aggressive 

 attitude, drippers, shakes his tail in an im- 

 pudent and wholly uncalled-for manner, 

 but takes care to keep just out of reach. 

 This daring fearlessness is clearly the re- 

 sult of the fact that he is not worth the 

 powder necessary for his destruction, and 

 he is therefore tolerated, though an acknowl- 

 edged nuisance. But there are times when 

 his conduct becomes so scandalous that the 



