38 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



food, while others do not fancy it in the least. A 

 Florida cracker, however, will stand guard over a tree 

 with his rifle or gun for half a day, if he thinks he is 

 going to get a shot at a fox squirrel. As game, there 

 are few things he likes better ; and it is difficult for him to 

 find language to express himself if, after a long wait, he 

 shoots his squirrel, and the latter, merely wounded, comes 

 bumping down through the tree, catching his hind or 

 fore feet in a long festoon of Spanish moss, spins around 

 like a top while it holds him as though he were tied by 

 a strong piece of hemp twine. There he hangs perhaps 

 where it is impossible to reach him, or where a score of 

 rifle balls will not cut him loose. 



These squirrels, as well as other species, are, during the 

 summer months, infested by a larva that gives them no 

 end of trouble and dis- 

 comfort. 



When surprised in the 

 woods, the behavior of the 

 fox squirrel is quite dif- 

 ferent from that of the 

 gray species. As a rule the 

 former will put forth his 

 best endeavor to reach 

 some hollow in a tree, and 

 into this he quickly scram- 

 bles to avoid his enemy. 

 One may often see them 

 stretched out on a limb as 

 flat as possible, and they 

 will, thinking themselves 

 unperceived, remain a long 

 time in that position as 

 quiet as a mouse. If cor- 

 nered by there being no 

 hole handy for him to get 

 into, and the limb he is on 

 is too small to hide him, he 

 will begin barking at the 

 hunter or his dog in the 

 most defiant manner possi- 

 ble. It is said that a fox 

 squirrel can beat off a small dog, and will put up a hard 

 fight if one attacks him. The female has her litter in 

 the nest, wherever this may be, and the young are born 

 in April in the North and month earlier in the South. 



The habits of the several species and subspecies of 

 fox squirrels of the North, West, and South are much 

 the same, differing only as the animals are affected by 

 their environment and the influence of climate. The 

 southern species are more active than their sluggish 

 relatives of the North, and this they show in their gen- 

 eral build and appearance. 



The fox squirrels are frequently kept as pets in large 

 cages; they are usually gentle, but not as interesting as 

 many other pets of the kind. Sometimes we see them in 

 wire cages in zoological parks ; but they are not often 

 seen at liberty in the open parks of cities, places where 

 the gray squirrel is now so abundant. (Figure 2.) In 

 nearly all the large, wooded parks in and about New York 



THE GRAY SQUIRREL 



Fig. 2. All are more or less familiar with the species here shown; it is 

 a fine specimen of the Gray Squirrel, in the attitude it assumes when 

 feeding. (From life by Mr. George Kingsley, Maquoketa, Iowa.) 



City, and even well out into the suburban districts, the 

 latter species is very abundant. In such localities they 

 thrive marvelously well; and, as the law prevents their 

 being in any way molested, they become particularly tame 

 and sociable. It is no unusual thing to see, early in the 

 morning, some old gentleman, or a lady with children, 

 all being fond of squirrels, in some nook or pathway of 

 a large city park, feeding the squirrels with nuts they 

 have brought for them. Some of the little gray fellows, 

 less timid than others, will scramble up on one's clothing 

 and hunt in the pockets, or run out on one's hand and 

 arm to secure the nuts they are so fond of, and of which 

 they so often really stand in need, as the trees fail to 

 provide sufficient for the consumption of the many that 

 live in the place. Such localities afford abundant oppor- 

 tunities to study the habits 

 of this species, as they be- 

 have practically as they do 

 in their native wilds. Their 

 nests of leaves are often 

 seen in the trees, and every 

 hollow limb or trunk is 

 utilized by a pair for a 

 home in which to rear their 

 young and store away pro- 

 visions for the winter. 

 Stone and Cram have truly 

 said in their "American 

 Animals," that the gray 

 squirrels "are comfort- 

 loving animals, and away 

 in the silent forest a gray 

 squirrel must be forever on 

 the alert to guard his hid- 

 den stores against the 

 thieving red squirrels and 

 the wild mice of the woods, 

 and always listening for the 

 rustle of a fox's footstep 

 on the leaves, or the distant 

 screaming of a hawk. For 

 the red-shouldered hawks 

 are dangerous enemies, and the hours they habitually 

 choose to spend in hunting, correspond exactly with the 

 squirrel's working hours from sunrise to ten o'clock 

 in the morning, and from three in the afternoon until 

 near sunset. They watch, cat-like, for an opportunity 

 to take some unhappy squirrel unawares, or, circling high 

 above the tree-tops, their keen eyes penetrate the foliage 

 from constantly varying positions, searching branch and 

 hole and the carpet of fallen leaves beneath, till, perceiv- 

 ing the flicker of a curly tail, the long wings close of 

 a sudden, fan-like, and the hunter goes down with a 

 rush to match his quickness against that of the squirrel. 

 Or the still more treacherous goshawk or Cooper's hawk, 

 with their narrower wings and slender, yacht-like build, 

 shoot along with baffling swiftness through the under- 

 growth, just to surprise the busy harvesters at their work. 

 "The gray squirrels also know that the men found in 

 the woods in the fall, unlike the town variety, carry guns 



