FLYING SQUIRRELS 
LYING squirrels are the original in- 
ventors of the aeroplane. Thous- 
ands of years before human beings ever 
thought of such things, these little animals 
had tasted well this mode of travel. The 
flying squirrel has very much the same 
structure as other squirrels, except that 
there is a fold of skin along the sides, con- 
nected with the fore and hind legs, so that 
it can be extended by spreading the legs 
wide out when the creature leaps. The 
great Audubon has given us interesting ac- 
counts of how these aeronauts leap from the top of 
one tree to the base of another fifty yards away, 
making a curve upwards at the end so as to land 
among the branches. Dr. Eugene Barker who 
has made a special study of these squirrels, declares 
that they can turn at will, at sharp angles when 
flying, the tail being held out stiffly and seeming to 
serve as a rudder. 
The flying squirrels are night folk. They usually 
sleep during the day, and about nine o’clock in the 
evening awake, and are very active. They. nest in 
cavities in trees, usually rather high up. Often they 
take possession of an abandoned woodpecker’s nest. 
or some other ‘‘cave for rent’, using even bird boxes. 
They frequently make their nest in a dead tree, 
cutting out a cavity with their strong teeth until it 
is large and commodious; the entrance is small, and 
preferably beneath a branch, where it is not too 
obvious. The nest is lined with fine moss or other 
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