384 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:9— Dec, 1919 



tection against the colder weather. His tail is large and bushier 

 than that of the chipmunk, so fluffy as to be a truly beautiful 

 object. Like the chipmunk he uses his fore paws as hands, to hold 

 food and to wash and smooth his fur, the same stub of a toe on the 

 fore foot is seen here, a similar adaptation for safely eating his food. 



The squirrel's movements are indescribably quick, and it is 

 indeed a pretty sight to see two or three of them apparently playing 

 tag with each other in a tree. Even the gray, fox, and black squir- 

 rels, which are larger than the much more common red, seem equally 

 quick in their movements. Black squirrels are nearly extinct in 

 many parts of the country, and it was with great joy that I watched 

 a dozen or more of these graceful "fur-bearers" enjoying life in a 

 small park where they were zealously protected. Fox squirrels 

 particularly can be quite readily tamed, especially if they live in 

 some park, where every passer-by is almost sure to have a present 

 somewhere about his person, in readiness for the little fellows. 

 They soon learn to come when called in a certain manner, and will 

 clamber up even onto the shoulders of those who feed them most 

 frequently. 



In climbing about in a tree the squirrel spreads his legs as far 

 apart as possible, grasping the trunk firmly with his sharp claws. 

 He has certain highways of travel definitely established in his tree- 

 top world, and ventures out of these roads only with great caution. 

 On familiar ground however he seems fearless, and dashes along 

 at a terrific pace, leaping from the limb of one tree to the limb of 

 an adjacent tree, and seeming quite as much at home near the tips 

 of the branches as up nearer the firm trunk. He goes up and comes 

 down a tree always head first, and generally, on the side of the tree 

 away from the observer. 



The squirrel like all rodents, has large and strong incisors, fitted 

 for eating nuts, and these teeth must be continually used in 

 gnawing, or they become so long that he cannot eat at all. He is 

 very clever in extracting the meat from the hardest nuts, making 

 two or more small holes over the sections of the nut meats within. 

 He has no cheek pouches in which to store extra food, but has a 

 habit of hiding nuts which he does not need immediately, under 

 leaves or roots, or often in the ground. With his sharp fore claws 

 he digs a little hole puts the nut in and pats the earth down hard, 

 fairly standing on his head to make sure that it is carefully buried. 



In spring the squirrel is particularly fond of young green leaf 



