SQUIRRELS 75 



APPENDIX 



ON THE CHICKAREE, OR KED SQUIRREL 

 (Sciurus ffudsonius, Pennant). 



By Dr R. BELL, Geological Survey, Ottowa. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. East of the Eocky 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 

 Eiver, 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 Eed 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 Eocky Mountains, and on the 

 Pacific side, the varieties Sciurus Douylassi 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, 

 eto. The following notes will relate to the Chickaree in his 

 more northern haunts : 



FOOD. 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, 



