600 SQUIRRELS EVERYWHERE. 



hickory, oak, maple, and chestnut. His whole length, including the 

 tail, is about two feet. As he forays plentifully among the corn-fields, 

 the inhabitants regard him as a scourge, and wage deadly war against 

 him. Like the lemming, he migrates about autumn, in immense 

 hosts ; advancing in a straight course, which no obstacle is permitted to 

 interrupt, and spreading desolation, like the course of an invading army. 



The large species of the Fox Squirrel (Sciurus vulpinus) belongs 

 exclusively to the " murmurous pine-woods" of South America. The 

 Cat Squirrel (Sciurus cinereus) is remarkable for the exquisite fine- 

 ness of his fur. In the neighbourhood of Hudson's Bay dwells the 

 Red or Hudson's Bay Squirrel (Sciunig Hudsonius), marked along the 

 middle of the back by a ferruginous line from head to tail, with the 

 belly of a pale ash-colour, mottled with black. 



In the northern districts of Africa we meet with the Barbary 

 Squirrel (Sciurus getulus), which dwells among the palm-trees, and is 

 of a grayish-brown colour, lightly shaded with red, with two white 

 longitudinal bands separated by a brown streak. Cross to the eastern 

 coast, and there we find the Abyssinian Squirrel, which has a greenish- 

 gray back, white belly, and tail ringed with black and white; on the 

 western side, the Ivory-eating Squirrel, which nibbles the tusks of 

 elephants killed by hunters ; and the Kendo Squirrel, one of the 

 smallest known. The two latter species were discovered and speci- 

 fied by M. Du Chaillu, who has named the former Sciurus eborivorus, 

 and the latter Sciurus minutus. 



Among the Indian Squirrels I may name the great Malabar 

 Squirrel (Sciurus maximus), less remarkable for his size, which is 

 more than double that of the European Squirrel, than for the variety 

 and vivacity of his colours. On the upper part of the head, the 

 flanks, and thighs are of a chestnut purple; the shoulders, hind- 

 quarters, and tail of a glossy black; the belly and inner sides of the 

 limbs, a pale yellow. 



Zoologists have classified in two genera, distinct from the true 

 Squirrels, under the names of Pteromys and Sciuroptera, the animals 

 popularly called " Flying Squirrels." The first of these genera is 



