CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 7. RODENTIA. 371 



But while their members are thus not of a walking character, neither do they resemble the 

 flying extremities of the bats, nor the climbing ones of the handed animals or the sloths. Their 

 feet, both the fore ones and the hind, are fitted for making a firm plant on a very slender branch, 

 either longitudinally or across. This, of course, is done by a sort of grasping; but still it partakes 

 much more of the character of a mere plant than that of the handed animals, and is performed in 

 a correspondingly shorter time. Their motion along the small twigs near the top of a row of tall 

 trees is thus a kind of running, and running which is very neatly as well as very swiftly performed. 

 Their hind-legs are a little longer than their fore, but only a mere trifle, as their running style 

 of motion requires that they should have nearly equal command and use of all their legs. In 

 this may be seen the difference between them and the hares and jerboas on the one hand, and 

 the tree-apes, which have not the tails prehensile, on the other. The leaping animal has the hind- 

 legs long, and the muscular action of the body very much concentrated upon them. The climb- 

 ing animal has the foredegs long, and the concentration upon them. The squirrel holds an inter- 

 mediate place, and this is the reason why we consider its motions on the ground more graceful 

 than the leaping of the jerboa, and its motion in the tree more so than the climbing of the ape. 

 Their motions are indeed quite a study in animal mechanics; and on account of their lightness, 

 their gentleness and cleanliness, they are a very pleasing study. 



The eyes of the squirrels are bright and large for the size of the animals, and there are some 

 peculiarities in them which are worthy of attention. The pupils are large and rather oval, with 

 the largest diameter placed in a horizontal direction ; and there is no color reflected from the 

 choroid membrane. Hence it is probable that their vision is very keen, and that they can see an 

 object clearly with very little light. They require this, for they have to find their food, and also 

 their footing, the latter often very quickly, in the close shade of "the leaves. It is probable that 

 their hearing is as acute, for their ears are remarkably well developed, and they often terminate 

 in tufts of fur, which are generally regarded as increasing the acuteness of the sense. 



In woods, their chief food is nuts and other small fruits; but they are also fond of the sac- 

 charine juices of plants; and in some parts of our country, where they are numerous, they do 

 serious damage to the plantations of Indian corn. They are animals of temperate, and even of 

 cold countries, as well as of warm ones. They abound so much in many places of the north that 

 they are caught in traps, as well for their flesh as their skins. The great natural forests are 

 their chief abodes, where they dwell in solitude or in society, according to the species. But even 

 the most solitary of them are usually found in pairs, which are understood to associate for 

 life. Their nests are usually little spherical cabins, formed of twigs and leaves near the tops of 

 the highest trees, and with the opening above. In such places they and. their young are out of 

 the reach of all quadruped foes; but they occasionally become the prey of ravenous birds, when 

 these roam on the wing over the forest; and yet the situations in which they are placed render 

 them pretty secure from these foes also. With the exception of Australia and the remote islands, 

 squirrels of one species or another are found in all parts of the world; in Europe from Lapland 

 to the extreme south; in all parts of Asia, Africa, and North America; and they are generally as 

 abundant as they are widely distributed, for the woods which suit their economy often swarm 

 with them. 



The Common Squirrel of Europe, S. vulgaris, called "The Squirrel" by the English, is the 

 Ecureuil of the French; Scojattolo, Schiarro, and Schiaratto of the Italians; Arda, Ardilla, and 

 Esquilo of the Spaniards; Eichhom and Eichhornchen of the Germans; Inkkoorn of the Dutch; 

 Ikorn and Graskin of the Swedes; Ekom of the Danes. Its length, including the tail, which 

 measures about six inches three lines, is about fourteen to fifteen inches. Its general color is a 

 bright red, varied with gray on the flanks. Mr. Bell, after stating that it is liable to considerable 

 variety of color, becoming gray in the northern regions, and quoting the passage in "Lachesis 

 'Lapponica," which relates how the inhabitants of the Lapland Alps procure a number of these 

 species in their gray or winter clothing for the sake of their skins, proceeds to remark that even 

 n England a certain degree of change takes place in the color of the far in spring and autumn. 

 Jn summer the fur is coarser and more uniformly red, and the pencils of hairs on the ears are 

 'ost; in winter a grayish tint appears on the sides; the pencils on the ears are long and well de- 



