North American Sciuridce or Squirrels. 67 



daybreak and shout around the fields to frighten them off from 

 destroying our corn crops." Mr. Hoffner walked from Chambcrs- 

 burg, Pa., arriving here on the 5th of October, 1805, and has 

 resided here ever since. Mr. Jerry Kierstead speaks also of seeing 

 the squirrels migrating and swimming the river, but does not remem- 

 ber the year. It must be some very urgent impulse that would 

 induce a squirrel to swim a river. 



Audubon, in 1819, saw a migration of squirrels (Northern Gray) 

 swimming the Ohio a hundred miles below Cincinnati. The river 

 was full of them, and some ot them climbed on his steering oar to 

 rest. Mr. S. F. Fletcher tells me that about fifty years ago the squir- 

 rels were very abundant in the vicinity of Richmond, Ind. , and he 

 has observed them migrating in great numbers. On his farm was a 

 long rail fence, leading from the woods up to the cornfield. The 

 top rails of this fence were a favorite roadway for the squirrels, who 

 used it in going to and from the cornfield. When he wanted a 

 mess of squirrels he would slip quietly down, so as to get between 

 the woods and the cornfield, and take up his station alongside of 

 the fence, armed with a long club. Then he would shout at the 

 top of his voice. At this the squirrels would rush for the fence and 

 back to the woods, running the gauntlet of his club, with which he 

 would secure his game. He sa) s these squirrels were very fat and 

 fine eating. The outer rows of corn would be ruined by them. 

 The Gray Squirrel brings forth from four to six young ones at a 

 birth, in the hole she has chosen for a nest. In this latitude they 

 are large enough to make delicious eating about June 1st. 



Dr. Laugdon speaks of taking a young Gray Squirrel, only about 

 a month old, on December 27, 1876. This would indicate a very 

 late, or perhaps, a second brood. I do not believe the Gray Squir- 

 rel stores up nuts or other supplies for winter use, as do some of 

 the other species. I have frequently seen them digging in the 

 snow to hunt for a nut that was buried beneath the ground, but I 

 think it was an accidental find. I have found quantities of nut- 

 shells in holes in their bed trees, but think they were eaten as they 

 were carried in, one at a time. The great bushy tail of the squirrel 

 is of great use to the animal in leaping. I once saw one in Warren 

 County, Ohio, that had lost its tail, and in attempting to jump 

 from one tree to another, it fell to the ground. A squirrel with- 

 out its "brush " is a very clumsy, helpless sort of a creature. The 

 Gray Squirrel (S. CaroUn.ensis leucoiis) occurs pure white and jet 



