SQUIRREL TRAITS 
This common species illustrates the contrast between sum- 
mer and winter coloration prevalent in this family. In summer 
the red squirrels are truly foxy red all over the upper parts, and 
snowy white on the under surfaces, with only a faint suggestion 
of a dark line along the side separating the two color areas; 
but this is replaced in winter by a new coat of yellowish gray, 
divided from the dull white 
of the belly by a prominent 
black band, and only along 
the spine is there any red- 
ness. The young, usually 
born in April, are reddish, 
and the black side band is 
strongly marked. Squir- 
rels seem also peculiarly 
sensitive to climatic influ- 
ences, especially of exces- 
sive dryness or moisture, as 
affecting both their colors 
and form. 
Squirrels inhabit hollows 
in trunks of trees or among their roots, make globular 
summer nests of leafy twigs on lofty branches, and bear 
once a year about four young, which remain with the 
mother until the ensuing autumn or spring. Nuts form their 
staple food, but berries, fruits, roots, funguses, insect-grubs, 
etc., offer changes in fare with the recurring seasons. Sometimes 
great ingenuity is displayed in getting at this food; for instance, 
the black-tailed northwestern variety of the red squirrel called 
Richardson’s, feeds almost exclusively on the seeds of pine and 
fir, especially the whitebark. 
EUROPEAN COMMON SQUIRREL. 
“The scales of the cones are very thick, and are firmly glued together 
instead of being separate as usual among conifers. To reach the seeds the 
squirrel gnaws a hole in one side of the cone by means of which he extracts 
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