122 MAMMALIA. 



not been inoperative in determining the distribution of many of our 

 lower animals. Indeed, when nearly related species, having similar 

 habits, and subsisting in the main upon the same kinds of food, are 

 found inhabiting contiguous areas,— areas of equal altitude and sub- 

 ject to identical climatic conditions, — and we learn that these species 

 are limited, so far as we can ascertain, solely by the character of the 

 arboreous vegetation, we are forced to admit that influences other 

 than those which have to do merely with the necessities of existence 

 have played an important part in fixing the arbitrary and irregular 

 boundaries of the places occupied by each. In the case of the present 

 species it seems probable that the dark and sombre hues, the 

 oppressive silence, and the imposing solitude of our evergreen 

 forests impress it with a pervading sense of gloom and sadness 

 against which its cheerful nature revolts. The red squirrel teems 

 with such a superabundance of hilarity that he easily overcomes this 

 feeling of oppression which his larger cousin is powerless to combat. 



In sparsely populated districts that have long been settled, one 

 sometimes finds, half-hidden among the trees, a neglected but time- 

 honored mansion, near which a row of stately elms, extending from 

 some neighboring wood to distant fields, leads the eye past clumps 

 of scattered butternuts, beneath whose gnarled and spreading 

 branches groups of grazing cattle seek shelter from the noonday 

 sun. Here, in early autumn, a few joyous Squirrels gather at break 

 of day to feast upon the yet green nuts. Following the line of elms 

 they leap from tree to tree or run upon the zig-zag fence beneath, 

 fairly revelling with delight; and long before the savory nuts are 

 ripe, indeed when they have scarce attained their growth, the eager 

 Squirrels haste to pluck them as they hang in heavy clusters from 

 the bouehs. While biting through the adhesive, staining velvet of 

 the outer coat they sit perched upon their haunches, with a merry 

 twinkle in the eye, but, not forgetting their exposed position, main- 

 tain a prudent silence. 



Should some farmer's boy chance to pass near by, not a Squirrel 



