SQUIRRELS 75 
AE PENDI& 
ON THE CHICKAREE, OR RED SQUIRREL 
(Sciurus Hudsonius, Pennant). 
By Dr R. Bett, Geological Survey, Ottowa. 
GroGRAPHICAL DistriBpuTiIon.—East of the Rocky Moun- 
tains the Chickaree ranges northward to near the verge of 
the forests, or to a line drawn from Fort Churchhill, on 
the west coast of Hudson Bay, to the mouth of Mackenzie 
River, and throughout the Labrador Peninsula, except the 
Barren Grounds which form its northern part. It is also 
common in Alaska. The rufous variety, universally known 
as the Red Squirrel, is abundant throughout the Canadian 
provinces and the northern, eastern, and middle states, 
extending farthest south along the Alleghany Mountains, 
or into Alabama. In the Rocky Mountains, and on the 
Pacific side, the varieties Sezwrus Douglassit and S. Fremonti 
take the place of the more widely distributed form. An 
animal which can maintain a cheerful existence over such a 
continental area must necessarily be capable of adapting 
itself to a great variety of circumstances, as to climate, food, 
etc. The following notes will relate to the Chickaree in iis 
more northern haunts :— 
Foop.—Northward of the zone of butter-nuts, beech-nuts, 
etc., the hazel extends a long way—say, to a line drawn 
from Lake St John (on the Saguenay) to Lake Athabasca, 
curving southward of James and Hudson Bays—and affords 
a large proportion of their food. Besides eating them con- 
stantly during the autumn, they store up considerable 
quantities for use later on. 
But the seeds of the black and the white spruce constitute 
their grand staple in the north. By glancing at the map it 
will be seen that the extent of territory in which the spruces 
abound, to the total or partial exclusion of other food resources, 
is so great that it may be said that the area in which the 
Chickaree lives principally on the seeds of these trees forms 
more than half of the total range of the species, so that, 
