500 GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



quotation are concerned, they are scarcely applicable to New Jersey^ 

 for no species is at present so abundant as to render its ' grain 

 depredations' appreciable. Partly on account of a general cutting 

 off of large timber, and largely in consequence of the persistent shoot- 

 ing, at all times of the year, the squirrels have become, we may almost 

 say, uncommon. In no county of the State could five hundred prob- 

 aUy be found, during the proper shooting season. As they are, in so 

 small a degree, insectivorous, it is perhaps of little moment whether 

 they be numerous or otherwise, and probably their absence is more 

 than compensated for by the true insectivorous birds (whose nests are 

 frequently destroyed by squirrels), which are, when undisturbed by 

 squirrels or men, really valuable beyond calculation." — [C. C. A.J 



SOIURUS, L. 

 S. niger, L., var. cinereus. Fox Squirrel. 



No cheek pouches ; tail bushy, as long as body ; ears long ; 

 no black stripes ; color rusty gray, but very variable. Length, 

 26 inches ; tail, 14 inches. The two following species of Abbott's 

 Catalogue are merely varieties of S. niger. 



" This squirrel is not an abundant species in the State, and is 

 the largest of the squirrel tribe found with us. A pair or two,, 

 when this species is met with, are found inhabiting large trees^ 

 and waging determined war with the hudaoniua and striatua, also 

 with the following species. In Mercer county specimens of this 

 squirrel have been quite frequently met with during the past 

 three years. They seem to prefer a clump of large shell-bark 

 hickories with open ground about them, and do not wander far 

 from the tree containing their nest. Are occasionally seen dur- 

 ing a warm spell of weather in winter." 



S. migratoriuB (Abbott's Catalogue). Gray and Black Squirrel. ' 



A variety of 8. niger. 



"A greater number of this species are to be found in New 

 Jersey than of the preceding, but as it frequents deep swamps 

 and heavily-timbered tracts, away from houses, it is not more 

 frequently seen in every-day life, and appears no more abundant. 

 It is nowhere sufficiently numerous to be destructive to any 

 extent." 



