THE SQUIRREL. 151 



and rarely ascends a tree to any great height. It is, 

 however, sufficiently agile to slip round a branch or 

 trunk to avoid the hunter's aim. It does not usually 

 take to the first tree at hand if discovered on the 

 ground, but makes for the tree containing its hole, into 

 which it disappears, leaving its pursuer to go in search 

 of a fresh victim. 



" The common gray squirrel migrates from one district 

 to another in extraordinary numbers, 'crossing,' says 

 Audubon, 'large rivers by swimming with their tails 

 extended on the water, and traversing immense tracts 

 of country where food is most abundant. During these 

 migrations they are destroyed in vast numbers. Their 

 flesh is very white and delicate, and affords excellent 

 eating when the animal is young.' 



" At one time during the last century they were so 

 numerous in a section of New England that a premium 

 of threepence per head was offered for their destruc- 

 tion. In one year this bounty reached the large sum 

 of 8,000 sterling, which shows the number of squirrels 

 destroyed to have amounted to six hundred and forty 

 thousand. 



" Perhaps the most interesting species of the Sciuridce 

 are the flying squirrels, so called from a capacity of 

 extending the skin between the fore and hind legs in 

 such a manner as to act as a sort of parachute. They 

 are thus enabled to float, or rather to sail, in a diagonal 

 direction from the top of one tree to the branches of 

 a lower one, often at a considerable distance. Usually 



