232 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



enough to serve as a safe refuge. The gray squirrel is not 

 regarded generally as detrimental to bird life, but in some 

 respects it is more so than the red squirrel. Wherever both 

 species are protected in Massachusetts the gray squirrel in- 

 creases several times as fast as the red, as it has two litters 

 annually, while the red squirrel has but one. Young gray squir- 

 rels may be seen in the woods in June and in September, and 

 may be found in the nests in May and in August, even in the 

 northern part of the State. Although I have not heard of a 

 second litter on the higher elevations of western Massachusetts 

 it would not be surprising if even there two were raised in the 

 low^lands. Much has been written about gray squirrels being 

 driven out or mutilated by the red, but in my experience they 

 have occupied the same woods without serious friction. The 

 grays, if protected from gunners, constantly increase in num- 

 ber, until they have utterly destroyed quantities of corn, pump- 

 kins, nuts, pine seeds, apples, pears, strawberries and other 

 useful products. Birds feed lavishly on Juneberries, but in 

 some places where gray squirrels are numerous it is useless to 

 plant Juneberries for the birds, as these squirrels often take 

 all the berries before they are ripe enough to attract birds. 

 Thus squirrels compete with birds for food. 



This species when numerous is perniciously successful in 

 driving out birds from hollow trees. All species of arboreal 

 squirrels occupy hollow trees for nesting purposes, and where 

 gray squirrels are abundant, bluebirds, tree swallows and other 

 birds that build in tree cavities will find little chance to nest 

 unmolested. If we provide nesting boxes for birds, squirrels 

 keep them out or drive them away, enlarging the entrances with 

 their teeth if these holes are too small for squirrel uses, and 

 often destroying eggs or young birds. 



Near my camp in Wareham a gray squirrel was seen to leap 

 from a small tree into a bevy of bobwhites, in an apparent 

 attempt to catch one, and frequently I have seen individual 

 squirrels chasing small chickens, and have since suspected them 

 of killing chickens. A friend who kept pigeons in a loft com- 

 plained that rats got in somewhere and destroyed the squabs, 

 eating the grain from their crops. As there was no entrance for 

 rats except a window high up in the building I suggested that 



