454 



Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 



Vol. 23. Art. 5 



Forester, for fiscal administration and 

 many courtesies; Mr. Louis E. Martin, 

 Superintendent of Game Restoration, for 

 assistance with special problems; Mr. 

 Robert C. Sparks, Chief Inspector, and 

 numerous conservation officers for aid in 

 collecting study material and in distrib- 

 uting questionnaires. 



University of Illinois: Dr. L. J. 

 Thomas, Associate Professor of Zoology, 

 identified all internal parasites; Dr. B. 

 V. Hall, Assistant Professor of Zoology, 

 gave information concerning the physical 

 characteristics of breeding in rodents ; and 

 Dr. Robert Graham, Head, Department 

 of Animal Pathology, cooperated in the 

 study of a number of diseased squirrels. 



Gun Clubs AND Landowners: The 

 following gun clubs extended to the senior 

 writer many courtesies and provided a 

 large number of squirrels for examination : 

 East St. Louis Gun Club, Wolf Lake; 

 Gilead Gun Club, Hardin; and Red's 

 Landing Gun Club, Hardin. The fol- 

 lowing landowners are among those who 

 gave access to their property and assisted 

 with certain phases of the study; Mr. 

 Samuel Wade, Mr. Wayne Harshman 

 and Mr. Frank Birch, all of Griggsville ; 

 Mr. Robert Allerton, through Mr. Elmer 

 Priebe, Monticello; Mr. Charles Price, 

 Charleston. To many others, not named, 

 the authors express their appreciation. 



POPULATIONS 



During the second year of the investi- 

 gation, considerable time was given to 

 study of squirrel populations on represen- 

 tative areas in Pike County, in the central 

 zone. From data gathered there, from 

 questionnaires returned by hunters and 

 from kill records supplied by the Illinois 

 Department of Conservation, detailed in- 

 formation on squirrel distribution, kill, 

 sex ratios, species ratios and related 

 subjects was obtained and added to the 

 more general information gathered in the 

 first year. 



Distribution 



The western fox squirrel, Sciurus Jiiger 

 rufiventer (Geoffroy), the northern gray 

 squirrel, S. carolinensis leucotis (Gapper), 

 and the southern gray squirrel, S. c. car- 

 oliiiensis Gmelin, are listed by Necker & 



Hatfield (1941) as occurring in Illinois. 

 The fox squirrel has statewide distribu- 

 tion ; records for the northern gray squir- 

 rel include counties in approximately the 

 northern two-thirds of the state and for 

 the southern gray squirrel several of the 

 southernmost counties, fig. 4. Both sub- 

 species of gray squirrels undoubtedly ex- 

 tend beyond the range given. 



The red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudson- 

 icus loquax Bangs, is listed by Necker & 

 Hatfield as still being present in the wild 

 in Illinois, but no observations or other 

 records of it were obtained during the 

 present study. If red squirrels occur here, 

 it is believed that they do so only in re- 

 duced numbers and in quite restricted lo- 

 calities. Kennicott (1857) gives a good 

 account of their early abundance in the 

 northern parts of the state. 



Fox squirrels are found on farm and 

 forested areas, and in cities and villages. 

 Outside of some urban communities, gray 

 squirrels are restricted to heavily wooded 

 areas, generally those having abundant 

 ground cover and brushy understory. 



^ 



FOX SQUIRREL 

 CRAY SQUIRREL 



Fig, 4. — Distribution of fox squirrels an^ 

 gray squirrels in Illinois. 



