CHAPTER XXX 

 THE GRAY SQUIRREL 



Up the oak-tree, close beside him, 

 Sprang the squirrel, Adjidaumo, 

 In and out among the branches 

 Coughed and chattered from the oak-tree. 



LONGFELLOW, The Song of Hiawatha. 



Habitat and Distribution. The gray squirrel (Sciu'rus caro- 

 linen'sis, Fig. 210) \vas formerly found all over the wooded 

 region of the eastern United States, and still exists, though 

 in much diminished numbers, wherever its numerous enemies 

 permit. It does not extend farther west than Minnesota and 

 Wisconsin. It prefers those regions where hardwood trees 

 grow, seldom being found in the depths of coniferous forests. 



External Structure. The elongate body is covered with a 

 skin bearing soft hair, and is clearly divisible into a head, 

 neck, trunk, and tail. There are four appendages, the legs. 

 The fore legs are used in grasping objects and bringing them 

 up to the mouth, and the hind legs for making the long leaps 

 so characteristic of the squirrel's method of progression in 

 trees. Both pairs of legs show the divisions which we have 

 already noted in the amphibians, reptiles, and birds, and they 

 are provided at the end with digits ending in horny claws. 

 The nostrils (Fig. 213, 2) are situated at the anterior extrem- 

 ity, just above the mouth. The eyes are large, and furnished 

 with an upper and lower eyelid and a nictitating membrane. 

 About the mouth and eyes are long, sensitive hairs called 

 vibrissce. At the back of the head are movable flaps of skin 

 (pinnw, Fig. 213, l), placed at the opening of the ears. The 

 long and bushy tail is useful in a number of ways : it is an 



