CHICEAEEE 



205 



the chickaree from time to time utters a prolonged series of whickering 

 or whinneying notes of somewhat the same character as the single note, 

 but in rapid succession, 4 or 5 a second, and this is kept up for several 

 seconds. Such a series is sometimes answered by other squirrels in the 

 neighborhood. When come upon suddenly a squirrel may give a single, 

 startled, high-pitched squeal as it bounds toward safety. The young, 

 during the fall months, can often be distinguished from the adults by their 

 softer, less penetrating voices. 



Fig. 29. Sierra Chickaree or "Eed Squirrel." Photographed from fresh specimen 

 taken near Yosemite Point, June 4, 1915; slightly over % natural size. 



The chickaree, like the Gray Squirrel, is admirably adapted for life in 

 the trees. The body is lithe yet muscular; the claws on all of the feet are 

 curved and sharp so as to catch readily on the bark. (See fig. 29.) In 

 going up a tree, the animal gallops, using the fore and hind feet in pairs ; 

 but in descending, it goes head downward moving the feet individually. 

 On the ground the gait is also a gallop with the hind feet spread widely 

 apart, carried forward at each bound, and planted ahead of the forefeet. 



Despite the agility of the chickaree, occasionally an individual loses its 

 foothold in a tree and falls to the ground, A young badly frightened 

 animal at Gentrys in October, 1915, lost its footing and fell a distance of 

 about 20 feet. Yet it immediately picked itself up and scampered up 

 another tree. A tree squirrel seems able to distribute the shock of impact 

 with the ground by spreading out all of its feet widely, thus saving itself 

 from serious injury. 



Tree squirrels, generally, are abroad all the winter. They are able to 

 find food in greater or less abundance, even when the ground is covered 

 with snow. Furthermore, the chickaree goes to great pains to provide a 

 winter store of food, to be used to supplement whatever the animal can 

 find by random foraging. In the late summer and early autumn, when 



