370 VERTEBRATA. 



in its retreat for the winter supply. Sometimes it mounts the trees, but generally is seen upon 

 the ground. 



Sir Prancia I [ead gives us the following account of his meeting with a squirrel in Canada, prob- 

 ably one of this species. " 1 was waiting the approach of a large flock of 'wild-fowl; but a little 

 villain of a squirrel on the bough of a tree close to me, seemed to have determined that even now 

 [ should no1 resl in quiet; for he sputtered and chattered with so much vehemence, that he 

 attracted the attention of my dog. This was truly mortifying; for he kept his eyes fixed on the 

 squirrel. With my hand, I threatened the little beast ; but he actually set up his back and defied 

 me, becoming even more passionate than before; till, all of a sudden, as if purposely to alarm the 

 game, he dropped plump within a couple of yards of Rover's nose. This was too much for the 

 latter to hear, so he gave a bounce and sprang upon the impertinent squirrel; who in a second 

 was oul of his reach, cocking his tail and showing his teeth, on the identical hough where he had 

 sat before. Away flew all the wild-fowl, and my sport was completely marred. My gun went 

 involuntarily to my shoulder to shoot the squirrel; but I felt I was about to commit an act of 

 sheer revenue on a courageous little animal, which deserved a better fate. As if aware of my 

 hesitation, he nodded his head with rage, and stamped his fore-paws on the tree; while in his 

 chirruping, there was an intonation of sound which seemed like contempt. What business had 

 1 there, trespassing on his domain, and frightening his wife and little family, for whom he was 

 ready to lay down his life? There he would sit in spite of me, and make my cars ring with the 

 sound of his war-whoop, till the spring of life should cease to bubble in his little heart." 



Qenus SQUIRREL: Sciurus. — From the Ground-Squirrels we now come to the Trec-Squir- 

 rrls, which are. at the same time, the True Squirrels. They are a numerous, very pretty, and 

 highly amusing genus of rodent animals, of small size, which reside and find their food chiefly in 

 trees, and are as much at home there as the handed animals, which they in general surpass in the 

 velocity of their motions, while their aspect is as pleasing as that of the monkeys is repulsive. 

 irrels are exceedingly numerous as a genus, and their characters at once distinguish them 

 from all the rest of the rodentia. 



They are all possessed of clavicles, which enable them to use their fore-legs like arms, either in 

 grasping or in conveying substances to the mouth, but in doing so they have to use both legs, as 

 the paws are not sufficiently prehensile to be used as hands. The character from which they 

 get the name Sciurus, which means "shadowing tail," and of which the common term squirrel i^ 

 merely a corruption, is the form of the tail. This tail is very long, and it is usually covered with 

 long hair, or fur, which diverges into two parts on the under side, something after the man- 

 ner of the two webs of a feather; and the length is generally sufficient to overshadow the whole 

 body, when the tail is brought forward curving over the back. The gnawing-teeth, in the ] 

 jaw of the squirrels, are very much compressed. The hind-feet have five toes, and the fore 

 four, but sometimes the inner toe also appears on the forc-fcet as a simple tubercle; they havi 

 four tuberculous teeth on each side of both jaws, and a small one in advance of the rest in < 

 side of the upper jaw, but it falls out at rather an early age. The claws upon their toes arc 

 crooked and very sharp-pointed, so that they can take hold of small inequalities of the bark 

 trees, and the toes have a certain degree of lateral motion, by means of which they can grasp t" 

 ward the enter of the foot. 



They arc very agile, formed for climbing and leaping, and even when they are in a 

 confinement, and abundantly fed, they do not feel at home unless they have in their cage a small 

 mill, or tread-wheel, upon which they can exercise themselves. Their spine is very elastic, and 

 accords well with the ready action of the joints of their limbs, so that they are nearly as nimble 

 on the ground as they an- in climbing and scrambling about among the branches. Their Bfltioi 

 upon the ground is not running but leaping, in which the elasticity of the spine comes into phu 

 at every step; and their action is something intermediate between that of the hare and the jerl 

 less of a running action than the first, and less of a set of boundings from the hind-feet than tin 

 second. Their limb- are all articulated, so that they can be stretched outward, which prevent- 

 that steady motion parallel to the mesial plane of the body which is essential in an animal which 

 has habitually to walk the ground. 



