Fox Squirrel 



woods live very much as the gray squirrels do in summer, but 

 are generally less provident in the matter of preparing for the 

 cold season, preferring rather to avoid those regions where the 

 snow lies deep for any length of time and depending for food 

 on whatever they may find from day to day, scratching among 

 fallen leaves for acorns and nuts, and when these fail, living on 

 the buds of trees as best they may, 



In rough weather they keep close at home in their hollow 

 trees, choosing to go hungry rather than face the cold. In warm 

 weather they gather wild fruit, berries and mushrooms and go 

 into the corn fields as soon as the ears have reached the milky 

 stage. Among the southern pines they make large nests of Span- 

 ish moss in the tree-tops, and here they bring the cones which 

 they cut off, just as the red squirrels do the cones of the white 

 pines in the North, biting off the scales in order to get at the 

 seeds in a similar manner. The scales scattered about the foot 

 of their tree often betray them to the squirrel-hunter. 



A full-grown fox squirrel, owing to his size and strength, 

 has probably little to fear from hawks, though a red-tailed hawk 

 might not fear to attack one on occasion, or a goshawk when 

 driven south by an unusually hard winter. The fox squirrels' 

 worst enemies are undoubtedly the wild cat, gray fox and raccoon. 



In hardwoods fox squirrels build nests of dry leaves, a large 

 bunch frequently conspicuously bright yellow; the entrance to a 

 warmly lined nest of broken up leaves is a small hole in the side. 

 At other times they live in holes in trees, using dry grass and 

 strips of soft bark for a lining. 



They are much hunted as an article of food, being well 

 flavoured and heavy, but it requires skilful watching to kill many 

 of them. 



In Florida the "crackers" look for scattered chips of the pine 

 cones at the foot of each tree and, finding them recently dropped, 

 hide near-by and wait patiently for hours to get a shot. 



Varieties of the Fox Squirrel 



1. Northern Fox Squirrel. Sciurus rufi-venter neglectus (Gray). 



Description and range as above. 



2. Western Fox Squirrel. S. rufiventer Geoffroy. Similar, but 



generally partially black, sometimes all black above and 



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