Fox Squirrel 



out in the making of one or another of the burrows, the near- 

 est of which is several rods away. 



Close by one of the recently made burrows I noticed where 

 the chipmunk had originally intended having his doorway and 

 twice been obliged to abandon his work on account of unfore- 

 seen obstruction beneath the surface; roots or stones probably, for 

 it seems imperative that the shape should be almost perpendicular 

 for the first few feet. One of these abandoned attempts was only 

 an inch deep and an inch in diameter at the surface, at the bot- 

 tom it was flat and decidedly larger. There was no dirt scattered 

 near, so that apparently even from the very beginning every par- 

 ticle that is removed is discreetly carrried away in the cheek 

 pouches of this wily little rodent. 



The other hole that was started a few feet away is six inches 

 deep and corresponds exactly with the first six inches of the 

 finished burrow, the walls being packed equally hard. It looks 

 as if the little chap that made it had dug out a passage just 

 large enough to squeeze into, and as he worked along, had en- 

 larged it by continually turning around and packing it on all 

 sides with his feet, in this manner insuring firm walls for his 

 home, and at the same time lessening the quantity of earth to 

 be removed. 



Fox Squirrel 



Sciurus rufiventer neglectus (Gray) 



Also called Cat Squirrel. 



Length. 23.50 inches. 



Description. The largest of the true squirrels, with very long 

 bushy tail. Colour grizzly or yellowish gray, the hairs 

 banded with black, and with more or less rusty tints on the 

 upper surface; underparts pale, ferruginous to nearly white; 

 tail rusty beneath, bordered with black. Exact colours de- 

 cidedly variable in different individuals. 



Range. Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, northward 

 through Pennsylvania and New Jersey to central New York. 

 Now nearly extinct through most of its range. Represented 

 to the West and South by related varieties. (See below). 



Fox squirrels are big vigorous fellows, adapting their habits 

 to the kind of woods they live in. Those found among hard- 



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