SCIUROI'TKIUS VOI.rci'.LLA. 2o5 



constantly chang-ino- and of such interest in all their phases as are 

 those of the i^1)ing Squirrel a complete account can scarcely be 

 criven. Certainly it is not easy for words to represent the merry, 

 rollicking, don't-care manner in which the)- do everything. Such a 

 combination of earnestness and carelessness is seldom seen. For 

 they are earnest about their work, and in emptying a box of nuts 

 the\" seeni to feel the great importance of their undertaking and the 

 necessity of soberness and dignit)- in its execution, but yet one can- 

 not help seeing that all this is but assumed for the occasion, for their 

 eyes, and indeed their whole body, are all the time expressive of 

 mischief, and the little rogues are never so sedate that the)- do not 

 seem to be bubbling over with tun and to be rc^ady at a moment's 

 notice to engage in any mischief that ma)- occur to their scheming 

 litde heads." '''' 



.'\n adult that I once had in capti\-it)- used to make; a practice of 

 leaping froni the floor, or from some object in the room, to the top 

 of m)' head, where it would scratch and dig as if searching for beech- 

 nuts. 



The late Dr. Gideon H. Smith, ot Baltimore, in a letter to Audubon 

 and Bachman, speaks thus of these s(|uirrels : " The)- are gregarious, 

 living together in considerable communities, and do not object to the 

 compan)' of other and even (|uite different animals. \\)\' example, I 

 once assisted in taking down an old niartin-box, which had lx;en for 

 a great number of \'(;ars on the top of a \-enc;rable locust tree near 

 ni)- house, and which had some eight or ten apartments. As the box 

 fell to the o-round we were surprised to see the orreat numbcM-s of 

 bl)'ing S([uirrels, screech-owls, and leather-winged Ixits running from 

 it. W'^e cauo'ht several of each, and one of the ld\-ini>- Sciuirrels was 

 kept as a pet in a cage for six months. The various apartments of 

 the box were stored with hickor)nuts, chestnuts, acorns, corn, (Sic, 

 intended for the; winter supph' of food. There must have been as 

 many as twenty blying Squirrels in the box, as many bats, and we 



* .\nioric.'in N.ituialist, Vol. VII, Xo. 3, M.nrcli, 1S73, pp. 133-139- 



