76 TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



transverse ridges coated with enamel, and are separated from the incisors 

 by a wide gap. Canine teeth absent. Toes usually five on each foot, 

 provided with claws. 



Family i : Squirrels (Sciuridae). 

 The Common Squirrel (Sciwus vulgaris). t 



(Length of body about 10 inches ; length of tail about 8 inches.) 



A. The Squirrel is an Arboreal Animal, a True Creature of the Woods. 



1. The squirrel is an agile jumper by reason of its long and powerful 

 hind-legs and its supple body (see cat). It can cover in one leap a distance 

 of as much as 13 to 16 feet, and can spring not only from branch to 

 branch, but even from the crown of one tree to that of another. 



2. In these performances it is materially assisted by the structure of 

 its feet, the toes (five on the hind-feet, and four on the fore-feet) being 

 long, and not united with each other, but free (like the fingers of our 

 hand) . Consequently it can with ease and safety hold fast to the boughs 

 of trees and grasp thin branches. Even in the swaying crowns of the 

 trees or at the ends of branches, still vibrating from the force of its leap, 

 the squirrel maintains as firm a hold as man on the level ground. 



3. In leaping, the tail, which is almost as long as the body, and 

 covered with a double row of hairs, forms an excellent rudder. It, more- 

 over, acts as a parachute, breaking the force of its fall, in case the animal 

 should drop down from a tree or be obliged, in fleeing from a pursuer, to 

 take a downward leap from the summit of a tree to the earth. In such 

 an emergency, the animal extends its limbs horizontally from the body 

 in order to present to the air as large a surface of resistance as possible. 



4. The long, sharp claws of its toes, by which it can firmly hook itself 

 to the bark of trees, further enables it to climb with a skill unequalled 

 by any other of our native animals. Even smooth-barked trees, such as 

 the beech and birch, it ascends by leaps, with remarkable speed and 

 surety. 



B. The Squirrel as a Rodent. 



The trees of the forest provide the animal with its food. This consists 

 of acorns, beech-nuts, nuts, the seeds of the pine and fir, young juicy 

 shoots, buds, berries, fungi, and the bark of branches, according to what 

 the forest or the season of the year can supply. For getting at the 

 hard kernels of nuts or gnawing, i.e., cutting off in small bits the hard 

 bark of trees, it is provided with — 



1. Incisors, or gnawing teeth, as they are called, from their mode of 



