Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 477 



haunches while they gnawed the burs and removed the seeds. At 

 the time the ground was covered with snow. 



So far as we have been able to learn this habit of the Fox 

 Squirrel had not been previously observed. 



28. FLYING SQUIRREL 



SCIUROPTERUS VOLANS (Linnaeus) 



Wherever there are, about the lake, large old trees with hollow 

 trunks or limbs, one or more pairs of Flying Squirrels are likely to 

 be found. Striking such trees with an axe or maul will often in- 

 duce the squirrels to come out, especially if the tree is of proper size 

 and springy enough to vibrate well in response to blows. When 

 striking the tree is stopped, the squirrels usually return quickly to 

 their nest. By such devices as this, one is apt to discover that 

 the Flying Squirrel is a much more common animal in the neigh- 

 borhood than the number seen otherwise would indicate. On ac- 

 count of its quiet, unobtrusive ways and its nocturnal habits it is 

 not often seen except by those who know its ways. 



These squirrels usually make their nests in holes in old dead or 

 decaying trees ; they may utilize a hollow limb, a decayed and hol- 

 lowed-out portion of the trunk or a deserted woodpecker hole. Late 

 in the fall, after the cottagers have left the lake and the cottages 

 have been closed for the winter, these resourceful little animals 

 sometimes take up their residence in the loft, cupboard or some 

 suitable box in the cottages. There they build their nests and 

 dwell cosily until the warm days of returning spring tempt them 

 to return to a hole in some scraggy old oak near-by, where they will 

 spend the summer. 



Occasionally, in the evening twilight or on moonlight nights, a 

 Flying Squirrel may be seen sailing in a gentle downward curve 

 from one tree to another, the start being made from well toward 

 the top of one tree and the place of alighting at a much lower 

 point on the other. There is something ghost-like in this gliding 

 flight; it is so unlike that of any other of our native creatures; 

 there is not only an entire absence of fluttering wings, but perfect 

 silence. 



While in their nests these squirrels do more or less squeaking. 

 On the night of September 21, 1903, one or more were heard in 

 trees in the Arlington hotel grounds. On November 27, 1904, the 

 accidental burning of two cottages on Long Point ignited some of 

 the surrounding trees, one of which contained a family of Flying 

 Squirrels. They did not leave their nest until fatally burned, when 



