152 THE SQUIRREL. 



this species is gregarious, companies of ten or twelve 

 living together. 



"The traveller Catesby, speaking of them, says: 

 ' When first I saw them, I took them for dead leaves 

 blown one way by the wind, but was not long so 

 deceived when I perceived many of them to follow one 

 another in one direction. They will fly fourscore 

 yards, from one tree to another. They cannot rise in 

 their flight, nor keep in a horizontal line, but descend 

 gradually; so that in proportion to the distance the 

 tree they intend to fly to is from them, so much the 

 higher they mount on the tree they intend to fly from, 

 that they may reach some part of the tree, even the 

 lowest part, rather than fall to the ground, which 

 exposes them to peril ; but having once recovered the 

 trunk of a tree, no animal seems nimble enough to 

 take them. Their food is that of other squirrels 

 namely, nuts, acorns, pine seeds, pishimon berries, etc.' 



" A kindred variety exists in the Rocky Mountains, 

 which makes very bold flights down the forest-covered 

 slopes, sailing above the summits of the intervening 

 trees until it arrives at the tree which it has proposed 

 to itself as its destination. 



" In some sections of America, squirrels, as well as 

 other predatory animals and birds, are a perfect pest 

 from their extraordinary numbers. M. Eevoil, in his 

 work on 'Shooting and Fishing in North America,' 

 says : ' Sport is so abundant that the sportsman more 

 frequently finds his ammunition run short than any 



