HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



in the Philadelphia Museum of a light brownish red on all the 

 superior parts of the body. 



The gray squirrel is favorite game of American sportsmen. Durino 

 the cold weather, they are caught in traps, or shot, in great num- 

 bers. Their flesh is remarkably tender and delicate. The 

 method sometimes used for snaring them is curious, though very 

 simple, as it consists of nothing more than setting a number of 

 snares all around the body of the tree in whkh they are seen, and 

 arranging them in such a manner that it is scarcely possible for 

 the squirrel to descend without being entangled in one of them. 



The Black Squirrel is very common, but is liable to be con- 

 founded with the other varieties of the squirrel. It very Seldom 

 varies. In the summer, the pelage is rather gray on the back and 

 sides, though the whole color of the body is a black intermingled 

 with a small quantity of gray, and of a dark reddish brown on the 

 under parts. In the winter the color is a pure black, varying 

 slightly in intensity on any part of the body. The same means 

 are used by sportsmen in trapping the black squirrel as in tho 

 capture of the common gray species. They are good eating but 

 do not- possess the playful spirit of some of the other varieties. 



The Ground Squirrel is frequently called the Hackee, or Striped 

 Squirrel. 



This squirrel is most generally seen scudding along the lower 

 rails of the common zigzag or " Virginia" fences, which afford 

 him at once a pleasant and secure path, as in a few turns he finds 

 a safe hiding place behind the projecting angles, or enters his 

 burrow undiscovered. When no fence is near, or his retreat is 

 cut off, after having been out in search of food, he becomes ex- 

 ceedingly alarmed, and runs up the nearest tree, uttering a vejy 

 shrill cry or whistle, indicative of his distress, and it is in this 

 situation that he is most frequently made captive by his persecut- 

 ing enemies, the mischievous school-boys. 



The ground squirrel makes his burrow generally near the roots 

 of trees, along the course of fences and old walls, or in banks ad- 

 jacent to forests, whence he obtains his principal supplies of food 

 The burrows frequently extend to very considerable distances, 



