THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS. 345 



Chipmunks, in spite of the familiarity they attain when undisturbed around 

 the house, where they are often perfectly willing to eat out of your hand, do not 

 make very good cage pets, being rather too much inclined to use their sharp 

 teeth. 



The Iroquois had an interesting legend explaining the origin of the peculiar 

 markings on the chipmunk's back. It runs thus: "Once upon a time the porcupine 

 was appointed to be the leader of all the animals. Soon after his appointment he 

 called them all together and presented the question, ' Shall we have night all the 

 time and darkness, or daylight with its sunshine?' This was a very important 

 question and a violent discussion arose, some wishing for daylight and the sun to 

 rule, and others for continued night. The chipmunk wished for night and day, 

 weeks and months, the night to be separate from the days, so he began singing, 

 'The light will come; we must have light,' which he continued to repeat. Mean- 

 while the bear began singing, 'Night is best; we must have darkness.' While the 

 chipmunk was singing, the day began to dawn. Then the other party saw that 

 the chipmunk was prevailing, and were very angry; and their leader, the bear, 

 pursued the chipmunk who managed to escape uninjured, the huge paw of the 

 bear simply grazing his back, as he entered his hole in a hollow tree, leaving 

 its black imprint which the chipmunk has since retained." We may as well add, 

 "but night and day have ever continued to alternate."* 



Two varieties of flying squirrels are found in the Adirondacks, one, the common 

 flying squirrel, Schtropteriis volans Linnaeus, being found all around the borders, and 

 another, larger species, the Canadian flying squirrel, Sciuropterus sabrinus macrotis 

 Mearns, occurring in the higher central parts. The two species are quite distinct, 

 though they are often found in the same localities, where their habitats overlap. 

 The common flying squirrel measures something over nine inches in length, and 

 is drab above, with under parts pure white, while the other species is over eleven 

 inches long, and on the back is cinnamon brown in summer and sooty brown in 

 the winter, and the fur of the under parts is gray at the base. 



Except for the bats, they are the most exclusively nocturnal of our mammals, 

 and for that reason one very rarely sees them. When, however, one is camped 

 in the woods in the warm fall evenings, and, lying under the trees, listens to the 

 many sounds coming from above, then the flying squirrel is conspicuous, and 

 you can hear him as he scolds and drops the shells of the beechnuts he is eating. 

 Then, on cloudy afternoons, he may sometimes be seen sailing from one tree to 

 another, but it takes a pretty dark day to bring him out, and such occasions 

 are rare. 



* E. A. Smith. Bureau of Ethnology, 2d Rept., p. 



