Flying Squirrel 



serve them well at imitating the fungus growth or the bark of 

 a dead tree. Such protective copying is to be seen all through 

 the woods. On the same trees I noticed small dull-white half- 

 moon-shaped patches of fungus, and on closer inspection found 

 that fully two-thirds of them were moths flattened against the 

 under sides of the branches to avoid the drip of the rain. 



But dark as it was that afternoon, it was not dark enough 

 to suit the flying squirrels, and I went away knowing them no 

 better than before. 



Nor have the few tracks they leave in the snow ever told 

 me anything of much value concerning them; perhaps because 

 there is so very little to tell. They are easy animals to catch, 

 either in box traps or in their hollow trees when you have found 

 them, but a wild animal in captivity is but very little better than 

 a stuffed specimen. 



Yet I am glad to know that there are flying squirrels in 

 my wood-lot, and trust that sometime I shall know them better. 

 About all that I do know about them, at present, is that most 

 of them live in thick woods and are social folk. Here a dozen 

 or more of them will occupy the same hollow tree and I have 

 heard of as many as forty being driven from the same hole. 

 At times they make use of a natural cavity, but most of those 

 that I have found appeared to have fashioned their own dwell- 

 ings. They generally choose a small dead tree with the top 

 broken off and with the wood soft and crumbling at the 

 heart. Near the top they gnaw a circular hole, usually beneath 

 a stub or branch, perhaps making use of the woodpecker's hole 

 already made. 



Though it requires a pretty wide cavity to accommodate them 

 at times, there are seldom any chips scattered about, which would 

 seem to indicate intelligence enough on their part to perceive the 

 importance of concealing the traces of their work. 



Species and Varieties of Flying Squirrels 



We have two very different flying squirrels in the East, 

 each divisible into two slightly different races. 



i. Southern Flying Squirrel. Sciuropterus -volant Linnaeus. Des- 

 cription and range as above. 



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