September, 1945 



Brown & Yeager: Squirrels in Illinois 



493 



Staple foods, in probable order of impor- 

 tance, are acorns, nuts, buds and seeds 

 (especially of elms and maples), and corn. 

 Water is amply supplied by streams, lakes 

 and springs. Both fox and gray squirrels 

 are common in this habitat, but the latter 

 are much more restricted than the former 

 in distribution. 



Wooded Upland. — The wooded up- 

 land possesses many of the qualities of the 

 river bluffs and bottoms type, but contains 

 a larger percentage of oak, hickory, and, in 

 northwestern, central and southwestern lo- 

 calities, of walnut. Fruit-bearing shrubs, 

 wild grapes, bittersweet and brambles sup- 

 plement the basic food supply of nuts and 

 acorns. Many of the wooded areas bor- 



der fields of corn, which thus becomes 

 available as staple food, fig. 17. From the 

 standpoint of food, the wooded upland 

 type affords a habitat of higher quality 

 than does the river bluffs and bottoms 

 type, except perhaps in those bottomland 

 situations in which pecans are plentiful. 

 Den trees are not so abundant on the 

 wooded uplands as on the bottoms and 

 bluffs, due both to the presence of large 

 numbers of hickories and other species not 

 given to formation of cavities and to the 

 fact that upland stands have been more con- 

 tinuously and selectively logged, especially 

 of oaks. The residual upland stands, as 

 a result, are younger and more vigorous. 

 Despite this condition there is no pressing 



Fig. 17. — Good squirrel country in Effingham County. Oak-hickory woods adjacent to corn- 

 fields constitute a habitat with a dependable year around food supply for fox and gray squirrels. 



