642 



of Natural ^t 



SQUIRREL. (Sciurus.) A genus of Ro- 

 dent mammalia, characterized by the lower 

 incisors being very compressed, and the tail 

 long and bushy. From this latter member 

 being turned over its back when the animal 

 is in a state of rest, the genus has derived its 

 scientific name, sciurus (skia, a shade, and 

 oura, a tail), of which the English is only 

 a corruption. The fore feet have four toes, 

 with a trace of an anterior thumb ; the hinder 

 feet have five distinct toes : there are four 

 molars to each jaw, and a very small addi- 

 tional one in front, which soon falls. The 

 head is large, the eyes prominent : they are 

 active animals, ascending trees with facility. 

 Their beauty and extreme neatness com- 

 bined with their light and graceful motions 

 have made them general favourites. 



The COMMON SQUIRREL (Sciurus vulgaris") 

 is completely formed for an arboreal life; 

 and its tail is extremely long, beautiful, 

 and spreading. Its general length from 

 the nose to the tip of the tail is about fifteen 

 inches. The ears are terminated by long 

 tufts of hair ; the colour of the head, body, 

 tail, and legs, is a bright reddish brown ; 

 the belly and breast are white ; the eyes 

 large, black, and sparkling ; the fore feet 

 strong, sharp, and well adapted to hold its 

 food ; the legs short and muscular ; the 

 toes long ; and the nails sharp and strong. 

 The upper lip is cleft ; the fur short and 

 silky ; there are four molar teeth on each 

 side of the lower jaw, and five in the upper, 

 the first of which is only a small tubercle ; 

 and the incisors are two in each jaw. When 

 on the ground, they move by successive 

 leaps, with the tail extended and undu- 

 lating ; when sitting, the tail is elevated 

 over their backs like a plume ; but the forest 

 is their home, and they display wonderful 

 agility in leaping from bough to bough. 

 The Squirrel lives upon nuts, acorns, beech- 

 mast, the bark of young trees, leaf-buds, and 

 tender shoots. Like the hare and rabbit, it 

 generally sits on its hinder legs, using its 

 fore paws to convey its food to the mouth. 

 It is most provident in laying up its winter 

 stores, not merely in one place of safety, but 

 in several holes of trees, in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of its own retreat ; and there 

 vast magazines of nuts and acorns are to be 

 found in that dreary season when the trees 

 are divested both of their fruits and foliage. 

 The Squirrel's nest is constructed with great 

 art, of moss, twigs, and dry leaves, curiously 

 interlaced, and usually placed either in the 

 hollow of a tree, or in the fork between two 

 branches, where it is well defended from 

 the weather, and can be least easily dis- 

 covered. Here, generally in May or June, 

 the little animal brings forth its young, the 

 young family rarely consisting of more than 

 four or five. The Squirrel never appears in 

 the open fields, but keeps among the tallest 

 trees, and avoids as much as possible the 

 habitations of men. It is so extremely vi- 

 gilant, that if the tree in which it resides be 

 only touched at the bottom, it instantly 

 takes the alarm, quits its nest, leaps to an- 

 other and another tree, and thus travels on 

 till it finds itself in perfect security ; and it 



returns to its home by similar arboreal paths, 

 unattainable by any other quadruped. Their 

 agility is such that it is a very difficult thing 

 to shoot a Squirrel in motion. " They have 

 been seen, when hard pressed, and when the 

 distance to the next tree has been beyond 

 their most extravagant leaps, to throw them- 

 selves off, spreading abroad their limbs so as 

 to make their body as parachute-like as 

 possible to break their fall ; and on reaching 

 the ground without harm, bound along for 

 the few intervening paces, and ascend the 

 tree with a celerity almost too quick for the 

 eye to follow." The Common Squirrel in- 

 habits Europe, North America, and the 

 northern and temperate parts of Asia. In 

 Sweden and Lapland the colour changes to 

 gray in the winter season ; in Siberia it is 

 often seen entirely white ; and even in this 

 country some slight variation in the colour 

 is observable ; sometimes, indeed, it is found 

 with the tail milk-white, all the other parts 

 being of the usual colour. When in cap- 

 tivity the Squirrel may be said to be always 

 in motion. 



The GREY SQUIRREL (Sciurus Carolineiw's') 

 is extremely common in North America, 

 especially in oak, hickory, and chestnut 

 forests. Formerly it was so abundant in 

 many districts as to become a scourge to the 

 inhabitants. Its colour is usually a flue 

 bluish-gray, mixed with a slight tinge of 

 orange, and the tail is edged with white. It 

 is a small species, remarkable for its beauty 

 and activity, and when kept in confinement 

 is exceedingly playful and mischievous. 



The Fox SQUIRREL (Sciurus vuJpinus) is 

 a large species, and inhabits, exclusively, the 

 pine forests of the Southern States of Ame- 

 rica. The body is fourteen inches in length, 

 and the tail sixteen. The colour is gray and 

 black, or mottled. 



The CAT SQUIRREL (Sciurus cinemas') is 

 distinguished by the fineness of the texture 

 of its fur. The length of the body is twelve 

 inches, and of the tail fourteen : the colour 

 cinereous above, and white beneath : the tail 

 is less distichous than in the others, and 

 striped with black. It has four molar teeth 

 only on each side of the upper jaw. 



The RED SQUIRREL, or HUDSON'S BAY 

 SQUIRKEL, (Sciurus Hudsoniu^'), is a beautiful 

 species, inhabiting the pine-forests of Hud- 

 son's Bay and the Northern States of Ame- 

 rica. It is marked along the middle of the 

 back with a ferruginous line from head to 

 tail ; the sides are paler ; and the belly is of 

 a pale ash-colour, mottled with black.* The 

 tail, which is neither so long nor so bushy as 

 that of the common kind, is of a ferruginous 

 colour, barred with black ; and towards the 

 tip has a broad belt of the same colour. In 

 size it is somewhat less than the European 

 Squirrel. 



The BARBARY SQUIRREL. (Sciurvs getu- 

 lus.) This is a native of Barbary and other 

 parts of Africa, living usually in palm trees. 

 It has full black eyes, with white orbits ; 

 the head, feet, body, and tail are cinereous, 

 inclining to red ; the sides are longitudinally 



