116 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
seeds of the size and shape of the small white bean of com- 
merce. These cones would be unmanageable by the squirrel 
in the tree, and he has the habit, so common in the family, of 
dropping them to the ground, where he can dissect them at 
leisure. This he usually does early in the morning, climbing 
to the extremities of the topmost branches, where the cones 
hang, and cutting off a sufficient number to supply his wants 
for the day. He then descends, and, commencing at the base 
of the cone, tears off the scales in rapid succession, and skil- 
fully possesses himself of the seeds which they conceal. He 
is compelled, however, to supply other wants than his own, for 
the smaller pine-squirrel (Sciurus douglasii) and the ground- 
squirrel (Zumias townsendii) appropriate a large share of his 
booty. When oak-trees are near, and acorns are ripe, he has 
recourse to them for subsistence; as often as opportunity offers, 
robbing the woodpeckers of their stores, in which also he has 
the active co-operation of his more diminutive congeners. 
From the fact that he feeds upon the ground, it has been sup- 
posed that he was less active and less fitted for climbing than 
most tree-squirrels. This, I think, % not true. He is exceed- 
ingly quick and graceful in his movements; and if less fre- 
quently seen to spring from tree to tree than the black and 
gray squirrels of the eastern states, it is because he inhabits 
coniferous trees, which are remarkable for the insignificance 
of their branches compared with the size of the trunk, the 
limbs never stretching out and interlocking, as those of the oak 
and maple and other trees, in which our common species live.” 
The Californian pine-squirrel (Sciwrus douglasii) inhabits the 
pine and redwood forests of the state. He is gray above and 
red beneath, with a black stripe separating the two colors. 
Ue lives in a burrow or hollow log, but climbs well, and ob- 
tains his food chiefly from the pine-cones, which he cuts off 
in numbers at a time, and tears to pieces at his leisure, after 
they have fallen to the ground. He lays up a store of the 
seed in his burrow, for his winter supply. He is quick in his 
motions, graceful in his attitudes, and shy in his habits. 
