208 jNIAM.MAI.IA. 



been unable to find an)'thing upon its habits exceptini^ tlie fo]lo\vin<'- 

 account of a female and \oun<4-, narrated by Audubon antl l^achman : 

 "A brood of )ouno of this species, alon^' with the mother was kept 

 in confinement 1)\- an acquaintance of ours, for about four months, 

 and the little ones, five in number, were? suckled in the followinc'- 

 manner: the younglings stood on the ground tloor of the cage, 

 whilst the mother hung her b()d\- downwards, and sc^cured luM'sc^lf 

 from falling by clinging to the perch immediately above her lu;ad by 

 her forefeet. This was observed every da)\ and some days as fre- 

 quently as eight or ten times. 



" The brood was procured as follows : a piece of partially cleared 

 wood having been set on fire, the labourers saw a Flying Squirrel 

 start from a hollow stump with a )-oung one in her mouth, and 

 watched the place where she deposited it. in another stump at a 

 little distance. The mother returned to her nest, and took away 

 another and another in succession, until all were removed, when the 

 wood-cutters went to the abode now occupied b)' the affectionate 

 animal, and caught her already singed b)- the fire, and her five \-oung 

 unscathed. 



" After some time a pair of the young were gi\'en away to a friend. 

 The three remaining ones, as well as the mother, wcM'e killed in the 

 following manner: 



"The cage containing them was hung near the window\ and one 

 night during the darkness, a rat. or rats (M/is dccumamis). caught 

 hold of the three young through the bars, and ate off all their fiesh. 

 leaving the skins almost entire, and the heads remaining inside the 

 bars. The mother had had her thigh brokcMi and her flesh eaten 

 from the bone, and )et this good parent was so affectionately 

 attached to her brood that when she was found in this pitiable con- 

 dition in the morning, she was clinging to her offspring, and trying 

 to nurse them as if they had still been alive." '•' 



* (Quadrupeds of Nortli America, X'ol. HI, 1854, pp. 203-204. 



