SCI LRUS HUDSON I US. 2O9 



SCIURUS HUDSONIUS ''alias. 

 Red Squirrel ; Chickaree. 



The Red S(|uirrel is one: oi the cominonc:st and best known ot the 

 mamniahan inhabitants of tlie Ach'rondacks, bein^' found in all parts 

 of the Wilderness at all seasons ot the \-ear. 



His diet is more varied than that of our other sc^uirrels. In addi- 

 tion to nuts and acorns he feeds upon a \-ariety of seeds and roots, 

 the buds and leaf-stems of certain trees, several species of " toad- 

 stools" and other fun^i, seeds from the cones of pines and si)ruces, 

 fruits and berries of man\- kinds, bc^etles, birds' egt^'s, and even young 

 birds. And in winter he does not look with disdain upoii scraps ot 

 meat or fish that ma)- have been left within his rc!ach. 



He is the most hilarious of the pre-eminently merry and frolicsome 

 famil\- to which he belongs, and his jo\-ous and jubilant nature 

 enables him to triumph over the sense of gloom that pervades the 

 sombre coniferous forests of the North, rendering him cheerful aiul 

 contented in the darkest and most impenetrable of our evergreen 

 thickets. Indeed, it is this happy faculty of adapting himself and 

 his modes of life to a diversity of surroundings that has permitted 

 his wide dispersion, the present boundaries of his habitat being co- 

 extensive with those of the wooded portions of the northern part of 

 our continent.'-' 



The Chickaree combines qualities so wholl)- at variance, so uni([ue, 

 so incomprehensible, and so characteristic withal, that one scarcely 

 knows in what light to regard hini. Ills iiKjuisitiveness, audacity, 

 inordinate assurance, and exasperating insolence, together with his 

 insatiable love of mischief and shameless disregard of all the ordinary 

 customs and civilities of life, would lead one to suppose that he was 

 litde entided to respect; and yet his intelligence, his untiring perse- 

 verance, and genuine industr)-, the cunning clcx^erness displayed in 

 man)- of his actions, and the irresistible humor with which he does 



* Tlic species .-iiul its scvcial geographical races arc here spoken of collectively. 



