198 MAMMALIA. 



would enable them to capture the most wary with ease. Moreover 

 the eao-erness and aviditv with whicli they seize and feast upon a 

 dead bird placed within reach would indicate that they were not 

 strano-ers to such a rei)ast.''' In confinement they will eat bird's 

 eggs, not discarding the shells. 



A more gende, docile, and graceful animal than the Flying Squirrel 

 does not exist, and though without anything striking in the way of 

 color or markings, it is nevertheless one of the most beautiful of our 

 mammals. The dense silky fur of an ashend^rown above and creamy 

 white beneath, rivalling that of the chinchilla in glossy softness, and 

 the large, prominent, and expressive eyes, together with its pretty 

 ways, render it an attractive and justly esteemed pet. 



Prof. V. H. King mentions the interesting circumstance that 

 when an assortment of nuts was placed within reach of a I'dying 

 Squirrel which he had in confinement, it carried otf all the acorns 

 and ha/.el-nuts, but did not touch any of the others. These two 

 kinds of nuts were the onl)- ones that grew in the immediate 

 neighborhood of the place where this scpiirrel was cai)tured, but it 

 was taken so young that it could never have seen an\' nuts })ri()r 

 to its confinement. Hence the case seems clearl)- one of inherited 

 habit.f 



Whether, in the region under consideration, this \'ariety of the 

 Flying Scpiirrel hibernates, I am unable to state with positiveness, 

 thoucdi stronolv of opinion that it does. It certainlv rc'mains in 

 its nest during the severer weather of our winters. 



Next to the bats, it is the most strictly nocturnal of our mammals, 

 very rarely being seen abroad till after nightfall. He who cpiietly 

 wanders through our groves and forests during the warm, still 



r , . . 



* Prof. F. H. King, in his admirable and comprelionsive treatise upon the Economic ReLitions 

 of Wisconsin Birds, says : " In the spring of 1S79, I placed the young of the Chipping Sparrow in 

 tlie cage with a young pet Hying sijuirrel (Sciitn>/>fi-rns -•oliiiilla). 'riie bird was seized with energy 

 and killed but not eaten." (Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. I, 1S83, p. 444.) 'Die reason the bird was 

 not eaten is hard to explain unless the squirrel was surfeited with food. 



\ Mr. E. P. Bicknell suggests that the sfpiirre! may have selected the acorns and hazel-nuts 

 because they were thinner-shelled than the others. 



