ANIMAL LIFE IN THE WOODS 171 



cosey nest. This state of torpidity probably continues with- 

 out interruption until the first warm days of spring, when 

 the snow begins to melt and bare patches of ground appear. 



Animals which sleep through the whole or part of the 

 winter without needing any food are said to hibernate. Do 

 you know of other animals that go into hibernation when 

 winter begins ? 



As stated above, the chipmunks reappear in early spring, 

 in March or April. As they cannot find any food at that 

 early time, they subsist on their stores. The quantity of 

 food stored is often surprising. A gill of wheat and buck- 

 wheat, a quart of hazelnuts, a peck of beechnuts, some 

 Indian corn, two quarts of buckwheat, and a small amount 

 of grass seed have been found in one nest and in it's gal- 

 leries. 



As the little animals do eat some grain, farmers have 

 generally little love for them ; still they could scarcely work 

 any considerable injury, unless they should appear in very 

 large numbers. 



19. The Tree Squirrels. 



MATERIAL : Pictures, mounted specimens or skins of the red and the 

 gray squirrel ; a summer nest, some seeds and nuts found in squirrel 

 stores ; clean skulls of squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, gophers, mice, 

 and other gnawers ; live squirrel in a cage. 



The Red Squirrel (Sciurus Hudsonius) and the Gray Squir- 

 rel (Sciurus Carolinensis) are known to every country boy. 

 Besides the two species mentioned, the Fox Squirrel and the 

 Common Flying Squirrel also inhabit the northern United 

 States east of the Eocky Mountains. The fox squirrel is 

 the largest, and its color is generally a rusty gray. But 

 both the gray squirrel and the fox squirrel exhibit much 

 variation in color. 



Examine carefully the claws of butterflies and wasps caught on milk- 

 weed flowers. 



