SQUIRREL TRIBE. 139 



speed, this graceful forester will stop in an instant, 

 and turn and return by the same path, without any 

 apparent cause. When captured, he suffers himself to 

 be handled, without the least resistance, yet he seems 

 to have little individual attachment, and rarely an- 

 swers to his name, however familiar with the voice 

 that calls him, and, however much of kindness may 

 be associated with that voice. But he well knows 

 the cracking of a nut, and comes readily at the 

 sight of food. He is fond of warmth, and seems 

 to enjoy basking in the sun-beams, as his greatest 

 luxury. When evening draws in, he collects to- 

 gether a bundle of hay or straw, or withered leaves, 

 and then rolling the mass around him, he retires to 

 rest. 



We may also briefly notice the Flying Squirrel 

 of America, the Sciurus volucella of Linnaeus, as 

 affording a striking instance, that instinct, and the 

 small degree of reason which is given to the lower 

 orders of creation, beautifully harmonize with the 

 sphere of action to which they are assigned. In 

 proportion as the young are helpless and susceptible 

 of cold, so the affection and tender care of the 

 parent is increased. Thus we find that in the Caro- 

 lina Squirrel, the careful mother warms and cherishes 

 her offspring, in the ample folds of the lateral wing, 

 or membrane, with which she is invested. When 

 she leaves her nest, in order to find food for her- 

 self and them, she fondly covers her little family 

 with the moss which she has collected. Yet though 

 the Squirrel is generally found in woods, some of 

 this extensive tribe seem placed by their Creator 

 amid sterile and inhospitable scenes, as if mementos 



