THE TREE-SQUIRREL GROUP 183 



consideration; and there may be a number that are not en- 

 titled to stand as independent forms. 



Nature has divided the many species of North American 

 squirrels into three easily remembered groups, as follows: 



Tree Squirrels, which live in the tree-tops. Example: 

 Eastern Gray Squirrel. 



Rock Squirrels, which live in rocks, fences, and among 

 the roots of large trees. Example: the Common Chipmunk. 



Ground Squirrels, of prairie countries, which burrow 

 deeply in the earth. Example: the Striped Spermophile. 



In each of these three groups there are several important 

 types which must be noticed. 



The Tree-Squirrel Group 



A patch of timber or a wood-lot without squirrels always 

 conveys an impression of lonesome solitude and something 

 gone — like a country graveyard. There is no other animal 

 of equal size that can add so much of life and cheerfulness 

 to a hardwood forest or a meadow as a good healthy squirrel. 

 Why is it that American men and boys kill them so eagerly .f* 

 Surely the flesh of their little bodies is not needed as food. 

 It has a taste so queer and rank that to many persons 

 it is decidedly unpalatable. Americans are the only white 

 men on earth who eat squirrels. An Englishman would as 

 readily eat a rat! 



Possibly their flesh was necessary to the hardy but hun- 

 gry pioneers of the early days; but to-day we have no ex- 

 cuse for shooting any squirrels, save the quarrelsome red 

 squirrel. Surely no true sportsman or right-minded boy 



