156 THE CHIPPING SQUIRREL. 
remembers the spots where it has deposited its store of food, and even when 
the snow lies thickly upon the earth, and has covered the ground with a 
uniform white mantle, the Squirrel betrays no perplexity, but whenever it 
requires nourishment, goes straight to the hidden storehouse, scratches away 
tke snow, and disinters its hidden treasures. 
Sometimes the food of the Squirrel is not limited to vegetable substances, 
as the animal possesses something of the carnivorous nature, and has been 
often found guilty of killing and eating sundry animated things. Young 
birds, eggs, and various insects are eaten by the Squirrel, who has been 
detected in the very act of plundering a nest, and carrying off one of the 
young birds. 
The usual colour of the Squirrel’s fur is a ruddy brown upon the back, and 
a greyish white on the under portions of the body. It is, however, a most 
variable animal in point of colour, the tint of its fur changing according to 
the country which it inhabits. Even in England the ruddy fur is sometimes 
changed to grey during a severe winter, and in Siberia it is generally of 
a bluish grey. The feathery tufts of hair which fringe the ears are liable 
to great modification, being very long and full in winter and in cold climates, 
and almost entirely lost during the hotter summer months of our own 
country. . 
THERE are so many species of the Squirrel tribe, that even a cursory 
notice of each animal would be wholly impracticable in a work of the present 
dimensions, and we must content ourselves with a brief description of those 
species which stand out more boldly from the rest, by reason of form, colour, 
or peculiar havi. 
GROUND SQUIRREL, OR HACKEE.—( Zémias Lystert.) 
THE HACKEE, or CHIPPING SQUIRREL, as it is sometimes termed, is 
one of the most familiar of North American quadrupeds, and is found in 
great numbers in almost every locality. Itis a truly beautiful little creature, 
and deserving of notice both on account of the dainty elegance of its form 
and the pleasing tints with which its coat is decked. The general colour of 
the Hackee is a brownish grey on the back, warming into orange-brown on 
the forehead and the hinder quarters. Upon the back and sides are drawn 
