58 CAROLINA GRAY SQUIRREL. 



{Sc. Capistratus,) or even found in the same neighbourhood ; this arises, 

 probably, not so much from any antipathy to each other, as from the fact 

 that very different localities are congenial to the peculiar habits of 

 each. 



We have obser\-ed the Carolina Gray Squirrel on several occasions by 

 moonlight, as actively engaged as the Flying Squirrel usually is in the 

 evening, and this propensity to prolong its search after food, or its plajrful 

 gambols, until the light of day is succeeded by the moon's pale gleams, 

 causes it frequently to fall a prey to the Virginian owl, or the barred 

 owl ; which last especially, is very abundant in the swamps of Carolina, 

 where, gliding on noiseless pinions between the leafy branches, it seizes 

 the luckless Squirrel ere it is aware of its danger, or can make the slight- 

 est attempt to escape. The gray fox and the wild cat often surprise this 

 and other species by stratagem or stealth. We have beheld the prowling 

 lynx, concealed in. a heap of brushwood near an old log, or near the foot 

 of a tree frequented by the Squirrel he hopes to capture. For hours to- 

 gether will he lie thus in ambush, and should the unsuspicious creature 

 pass within a few feet of him, he pounces on it with a sudden spring, and 

 rarely fails to secure it. 



Several species of snakes, the rattle-snake, {Crotalus durassus,) black 

 snake, {Coluber constrictor,) and the chicken snake, {coluber quadrivitta- 

 tus,) for instance, have been found, on being killed, to have a Squirrel in 

 their stomach, and the fact that Squirrels, birds, &c., although possessing 

 great activity and agilitj% constitute a portion of the food of these rep- 

 tUes, being well established, the manner in which the sluggish serpent 

 catches animals so far exceeding him in speed, and some of them endow- 

 ed with the power of rising from the earth, and skimming away with a 

 few flaps of their wings, has been the subject of much speculation. Some 

 persons have attributed a mjsterious power, more especially to the rattle- 

 snake and black snake — we mean the power of fascinating, or as it is 

 commonly called, charming. 



This supposed faculty of the serpent has, however, not been accounted 

 for. The basilisk of the ancients killed by a look ; the eye of the rattle- 

 snake is supposed so to paralyze, and at the same time attract, its intend- 

 ed prey, that the animal slowly approaches, going through an infinite 

 variety of motions, alternately advancing and retreating, imtil it finally 

 falls powerless into the open jaws of its devourer. 



As long as we are able to explain by natural deductions, the very sin- 

 gular manoeu-iTes of birds and squirrels, when " fascinated " by a snake, 

 it would be absurd to imagine that anything mysterious or supernatural 

 is connected -with the subject ; and we consider that there are many 



