THE SQUIRREL FAMILY. 301 



THE SQUIRREL FAMILY. 



The Sciuridae, or Squirrel family, show a wide range of 

 variation, passing from the heavy terrestrial marmots or 

 ground hogs, with their short limbs, ears and tails, through 

 the Chipmunks, and Spermophiles or Susliks, to the grace- 

 ful arboreal Tree Squirrels with slender limbs and long 

 tails, and the ariel Flying Squirrels. The family is widely 

 distributed, being represented in all parts of the world 

 except Australia. True Squirrels abound in the torrid as 

 well as the temperate zone, but the ground squirrels are 

 found only in the temperate and colder latitudes. The 

 center of abundance is in Asia. Africa also has a long 

 list of species, and North America comes next, 'being 

 especially rich in the number and variety of its ground 

 squirrels. The eastern European and Asiatic Marmots 

 are the most numerous and valuable commercially. Only 

 a few species of the Sciuridae are represented in Europe 

 and South America. 



The range of the Common Squirrel (Sciurus-vulgaris), 

 which is the type representative and finest furred species 

 of the Tree Squirrels, extends through Europe and into 

 Asia. The best skins come from Siberia and Russia, 

 those from the eastern side of the Ural Mountains being 

 grey and in some cases almost blue ; the darkest skins 

 having the greatest value, if free from the reddish cast 

 that shows in many of the species on the Continent of 

 Europe, and which is characteristic of most North Ameri- 

 can tree squirrels. Too much dependence, however, must 

 not be placed upon colorization in deciding the geographi- 

 cal location of a species, as one variety of the Western 

 Continent is called the Grey Squirrel. 



All Tree Squirrels have large pointed ears, long bushy 

 tails, and are able to sit up on their haunches, and use 

 their fore-paws like hands, and the Common Squirrel has 

 pencil tufted ears like the lynx. The bellies of this species 

 are white, and the tail, which is quite as long as the ten 

 inch body, is very bushy. Tree Squirrels are active and 

 agile, living in the trees, although they often descend to the 

 ground and run about there and feed on all kinds of nuts 



