SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA 



459 



in hollow trunks or build them in the tops of 

 trees. These outside nests are common and 

 much like a crow's nest in appearance except 

 that they are generally more bulky and show 

 more dead leaves. They are built on a founda- 

 tion of small sticks with a rounded top of 

 leaves, and are lined with shreds of bark, moss, 

 and similar soft material. In the extreme 

 northern part of their range they live mainly 

 in hollow trees, but farther south many winter 

 in outside nests. During severe cold and in 

 stormy weather they remain hidden, sometimes 

 for days at a time. 



They have two litters of four to six young 

 a year, the first usually being born in March 

 or April. The old squirrel is a devoted mother 

 and if the nest is disturbed she will at once 

 carry the young to some safer retreat. 



In many parts of their range black, or melan- 

 istic, individuals are born in litters otherwise 

 of the ordinary gray color. In some districts 

 the number of the black squirrels equals or 

 exceeds the gray ones. 



Gray squirrels range through such a variety 

 of climatic conditions that their food varies 

 greatly. They eat practically all available nuts, 

 including acorns, chestnuts, beechnuts, hickory- 

 nuts, and pecans, besides numberless seeds, 

 many small fruits, and mushrooms. They raid 

 fields for corn and wheat, and steal apples, pears, 

 and quinces from orchards to eat the seeds. 

 Like most other small rodents, they are fond of 

 larvae and insects and also destroy many birds' 

 eggs and young birds. They are far less seri- 

 ous offenders, however, in destroying birds 

 than the red squirrel. 



On the approach of winter they lay up stores 

 of seeds and nuts in holes in trees and in little 

 hiding places on the ground. Many nuts are 

 hidden away singly. In the public parks of 

 Washington, where many gray squirrels exist, 

 I have repeatedly seen them dig a little pit 

 two or three inches deep, then push a nut well 

 down it, cover it with earth, which they press 

 firmly in place with the front feet, and then 

 pull loose grass over the spot. One squirrel 

 will have many such hidden nuts, and with 

 nothing to mark the location it appears im- 

 possible that they could be recovered. That 

 the squirrels knew what they were doing I 

 have had repeated evidence in winter, even with 

 several inches of snow on the ground, when 

 they have been seen sniffing along the top of 

 the snow, suddenly stop, dig down and un- 

 earth a nut with a precision that demonstrates 

 the marvelous delicacy of their sense of smell. 

 Although mainly diurnal, they are sometimes 

 abroad on moonlight nights, especially when 

 gathering stores of food for winter. 



Wherever they are, these squirrels are ex- 

 tremely graceful, moving along the ground by 

 curving bounds, the long fluffy tail undulating 

 as they go, or running through the tree-tops, 

 leaping from branch to branch with an ease 

 and certainty beautiful to see. When pressed 

 they make amazing leaps from tree to tree or 

 even from a high tree-top to the ground with- 

 out injury. They are extremely cunning at 



concealing themselves by lying flat on top of 

 branches or by gliding around tree trunks, keep- 

 ing them interposed between themselves and 

 the pursuer. 



Gray squirrels are so responsive to protec- 

 tion that they may continue to grace our re- 

 maining forests if we properly guard them. In 

 addition to their beauty, they are interesting 

 game animals which should continue to afford 

 a moderate amount of sport — sufficient to pre- 

 vent them from becoming overabundant and 

 destructive. Now introduced in many city 

 parks throughout the United States and in 

 parts of England, including London, their ready 

 acceptance of people as friends renders them 

 charming animals in such places ; but natural 

 food is so scarce under these artificial condi- 

 tions that care must be taken to feed them at 

 all seasons, especially in winter. 



THE FOX SQUIRREL (Sciurus niger 



and its relatives) 



{For illustration, see page 445) 



THE RUSTY FOX SQUIRREL (Sciurus 



mger rufiventer) 



{For illustration, see page 445) 



Three species of tree squirrels inhabit the 

 varied forests of eastern North America, each 

 having its marked individuality expressed in 

 color, size, and habits. All occupy a wide terri- 

 tory with varying climatic conditions, to which 

 each species has responded by becoming modi- 

 fied into a series of geographic races, or sub- 

 species. The red and the gray squirrels have 

 already been described and it remains to give 

 an account of the largest and in some respects 

 the most remarkable of the three, the fox 

 squirrel. 



No other species of North American mam- 

 mal can show such an extraordinary contrast 

 in color among its subspecies as that between 

 the rusty yellowish animal of the Ohio and 

 upper Mississippi Valleys, and the handsome 

 blackish one of the Southeastern States, both 

 of which are pictured in the accompanying 

 illustration. 



The distribution of the fox squirrel is limited 

 to the forested parts of the Eastern States. 

 There it ranges from the Atlantic coast to the 

 border of the Great Plains, and from southern 

 New York and the upper Mississippi Valley 

 southward to Florida, the Gulf coast, and across 

 the lower Rio Grande into extreme northeast- 

 ern Mexico. 



Variations in the character of the haunts of 

 the different subspecies of this squirrel almost 

 equal their differences in color. In the upper 

 Mississippi and Ohio Valleys the rusty-colored 

 race frequents the upland woods, where the 

 nut-bearing hickory trees characterize the for- 

 ests. In the South the dark-colored squirrels 

 have more varied homes, either amid the live 

 oaks draped in long Spanish moss, in the mys- 

 terious cypress forests of the swamps, or out 

 in the uplands among the southern pines. 



