4 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



able between types of our gray squirrel from widely 

 separated regions, accompanied by local peculiari- 

 ties of habit, at first misled naturalists, but only one 

 species is now recognized, Sciurus carolinensis. 



The first litter of young among the wild gray 

 squirrels is seen in March in the warmer parts of 

 the country, and somewhat later in the more north- 

 ern States and in Canada. At least one more 

 brood usually follows before winter. Our friends 

 in the grove, however, sure of food and lodging, 

 bring out their broods with little regard to season. 

 One female, which has been known to us for years 

 as the "mother squirrel," seems rarely without a 

 family ; and Dr. Phillips assures me that he has 

 known her to bear four litters in a single twelve- 

 month, thus braving all sorts of weather. 



This exhibits the hardihood of these little ani- 

 mals. No weather seems cold enough to daunt 

 them. They endure the semi-arctic climate north 

 of Lake Superior, remain all the year on the peaks 

 of the Adirondacks, where their only food is the 

 seeds of the black spruce, and appear in midwinter 

 in Manitoba; but when a sleet storm comes, and 

 every branch and twig is encased in ice, then the 

 squirrel stays at home. I remember one such storm 

 which was of unusual severity and did vast damage. 

 The ice clothed the trees for several days in suc- 

 cession, and the imprisoned animals became very 

 hungry. The Doctor and I had swung from tree 

 to tree a line of bridges made of poles along which 



