346 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Flying squirrels are the most highly specialized of the squirrels in regard to 

 an arboreal life, and the folds of skin which extend between the legs enable it 

 to make far greater leaps than any of the other squirrels. It is, however, quite 

 unable to sail horizontally, so its first move is to climb some distance up a tree 

 and then make its leap from there. Audubon and Bachman describe most 

 interestingly a number they once saw: "At times one would be seen darting 

 from the topmost branches of a tall oak, and with wide extended membranes and 

 outspread tail gliding diagonally through the air till it reached the foot of a tree 

 about fifty yards off, when at the moment we expected to see it strike the earth it 

 suddenly turned upwards and alighted on the body of the tree. It would then 

 run to the top and once more precipitate itself from the upper branches, and sail 

 back to the tree it had just left. Crowds of these little creatures joined in these 

 sportive gambols; there could not have been less than two hundred. Scores of 

 them would leave each tree at the same moment and cross each other, gliding 

 like spirits through the air, seeming to have no other object in view than to 

 indulge a playful propensity." 



Flying squirrels make their nests in hollow trees, often using the holes that 

 have been deserted by the woodpeckers. Here, early in the spring, they bring 

 forth their young, and according to all accounts they make most interesting and 

 attractive pets. As so littie can be said of their wild life, we cannot do better 

 than to quote some of a description of them given by Prof. G. H. Perkins: "At 

 dusk they begin to stir. Not all at once, it would seem, do they awake, for the 

 material of the nest quivers and shakes for some time before the squirrel appears. 

 When, however, they conclude that they are all ready, out pop their heads, each 

 to be followed by the rest of the body, after a glance on all sides with the 

 glistening black eyes, and now all drowsiness has disappeared and an activity 

 more incessant and intense than can be described takes its place. All night long, 

 often with only the briefest rest now and then, these little animals are in vigorous 

 motion, jumping, bounding, capering, running with ever-varying movement and 

 astonishing energy. Everything they do is done with all their might. It would 

 seem to anyone watching them that the exercise of the first few minutes must 

 wholly exhaust their powers; but, on the contrary, the more their muscles are 

 used the more capable of use they seem, and great as is the energy of their 

 movements at first, they usually increase in vigor and speed until after midnight 

 and scarcely grow less before morning. Nothing affords them so much gratifica- 

 tion as a large wheel which is placed inside the cage. Into this wheel they jump 

 whenever aught disturbs or pleases them, and even when quite hungry they often 

 find it necessarv to take a few turns before commencing their meal, after which 



