42 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



certainty, and the chances are that half the bones in his 

 hotly would have been broken in the bargain. 



Some time ago a rather remarkable discussion was 

 being carried on in some of the popular scientific periodi- 

 cals of the country as to when the squirrels drink, or 

 whether these little animals ever drink any water. In 

 these days this appears to be a most extraordinary in- 

 quiry to make one might as well start a similar inter- 

 rogation in regard to any other abundant and well known 

 animal, domestic cats, for example. Squirrels drink 

 whenever they are thirsty, and when they meet with 

 water sufficiently pure, they quench their thirst. They 

 will lap it off the leaves after a rain, or take it where 

 it gathers in the hollows of the trees, or in depressions 

 found on the tops of rocks with broken surfaces, from 

 pools or the brinks of streams, or indeed anywhere it is 

 c o n v e n i ent. 

 Those species 

 kept as pets 

 drink water 

 regularly and 

 suffer when 

 they do not get 

 it. They drink 

 very rapidly, 

 plunging their 

 muzzles well 

 into the fluid. 

 Sometimes it 

 may be noticed 

 that after 

 drinking, t h e 

 red squirrel is 

 attacked by a 

 peculiar fit of 

 something akin 

 to c o u ghing. 

 a c c o mpanied 

 by a kind of 

 wheezing and 

 s n e e z ing, as 

 though some of the water had been snuffed up into the 

 nostrils, or gotten into the air passages. 



An exceptionally fine species of American squirrel is 

 the black one of Florida, which is a splendid animal and 

 carries a fine, bushy tail. His coat is nearly black, set 

 off by the light gray muzzle and ears. He is a nobly 

 put-up form, full of vigor and vivacity, and extremely 

 graceful in all his actions and motions. When reared 

 from the young, he makes quite as interesting a pet as the 

 gray squirrel does, and exhibits just as much affection 

 for his owner. 



Abert's squirrel is a species fairly abundant in the 

 high pines which occur upon the mountain sides, princi- 

 pally to the northward and eastward of Fort Wingate, 

 New Mexico, and they have frequently been taken within 

 a mile of the station. A good hunter once stated that he 

 had shot nine of them, all within five miles of this 

 locality, and only hunted a few hours each day. There 

 is also a splendid black phase of this species of squirrel ; 



and very dark gray ones also occur, which are really 

 handsome animals, as the white part in them are generally 

 purer, and the specimens improve by the contrast in the 

 colors. 



Mr. H. W. Henshaw, who many years ago was con- 

 nected with Hayden's Survey, and who has collected the 

 California gray squirrel, once pointed out that that 

 species is even a handsomer animal than Abert's; but it 

 is hard to believe that anything in the shape of a squirrel 

 could surpass an Abert's in its spirited aspect, its grace 

 and beauty ; then, too, it is one of our largest varieties, 

 which also adds to its otherwise fine appearance. This 

 animal is essentially a tree lover, and rarely spends any 

 length of time upon the ground. If suddenly surprised 

 in the forest, it immediately seeks the nearest and largest 

 pine tree within its reach by a series of very active jumps 



and skips ; as- 

 cends with 

 great rapidity 

 to the first 

 branches, 

 where it often 

 stops to take a 

 look at the in- 

 truder, thereby 

 affording the 

 gunner a capi- 

 tal opportunity 

 to bag the 

 specimen. 



The Arizona 

 squirrel is a 

 somewhat 

 larger species, 

 and quite dif- 

 ferent in hab- 

 its. Unlike 

 Abert's, it is 

 rather partial 

 to the crests 

 and sidewalls 

 of the canyons of the country where found, and is very 

 much of a ground squirrel, rarely resorting to the trees 

 when surprised by the hunter. As a matter of fact, they 

 are but rarely observed in a tree. This squirrel always 

 rears its young in a hole dug in the side of a clay bank or 

 similar locality. All the squirrels are more or less car- 

 nivorous in their habits, and will eat raw meat with 

 avidity. It is stated on good authority that the red squir- 

 rels will pillage birds' nests and devour either the eggs 

 or the callow young. 



Counting the true squirrels, the flying squirrels, and 

 the chipmunks or ground squirrels, we probably have up- 

 wards of sixty different kinds of these little animals in 

 America ; to appreciate what a formidable list they make, 

 one should consult such a publication as the "List of North 

 American Land Mammals in the United States National 

 Museum, 1919," compiled by Dr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., 

 curator of the Division of Mammals in that institution. 

 Probably other species have been added to the catalogue 



RED SQUIRREL 



Fig. 8. This little Red Squirrel or "Chickaree" was captured in Virginia many years ago; it is an 

 excellent portrait of the eastern form of the species, and it is here given in another pose in Fig. 9. 



