66 
FORE ST_ ANP_ STREAM. 
[July 2§, igQd. 
a tree four tinies while a wat is going up once, then there 
is something wrong with its system. Extremely violent 
movements while in a cage are generally an indication of 
good health. To ship a squirrei a long distance success- 
lully, always place in with it the hardest nuts procurable 
for foodj such as extra thick-shelled black walnuts or 
butternuts, together with some moist food such as arti- 
chokes. Jr'rovide straw and not hay to hide in, and Jme 
the mjide of the box with i-mch mesh wire netting. Jf 
gomg a very ' long distance, such as to England, then 
p.ace a water bottle in in place of the artichokes,^ with a 
notice on the outside of the box, "Give us a drink." 
Worth America is the home of the squirrel, although 
there is a single variety in Great Britain. The British 
representative is a common small animal not nearly so 
interesting as our little red squirrel. It extends through- 
out h-urope and is the same variety that is found in such 
immense numbers in India. There is another variety in 
the vicinity ot Eapiand— quite a handsome animal with 
tutted ears and bushy tail, ihis ammai is migratory, and 
m migrations will oiten cover an acre of water, swimming 
across small lakes and rivers in its cttorts to get to a good 
nut-bearing district. As a fur-beanng animal, there are 
few skins so handsome as that ot the Russian gray 
squirrel. This fur is as beautiful as the ermine, and re- 
seniDics it with the exception that it has a narrow strip 
of gray down the center of the back. I should thmk that 
wiin a little trouble, or rather pleasure, it could be bred 
pui-e white. As tar as I know, there are no varieties ol 
squirrels in Africa or Australasia or even m South 
America, and with the exception of the above varieties 
the rest are confined to North America. 
For the benefit of your readers who have not studied 
the matter, 1 will give the size, color, habits and location 
of some of the best known varieties: Black squirrel {^ci- 
urus mger)— It is glossy jet black all over, having a body 
13 inches long and a very bushy tail of the same length. It 
is a native of Ontario, but is not to be found north of 
Muskoka. It is one of the hardest squirrels to tame, being 
very shy in its nature. I have possessed one that would 
run all over a person in search of nuts and play with the 
cat and kittens under the stove. When I let it out m my 
barn with a mate, in a day it grew to be as wild as the 
wildest of them. This is the rule with all of them that i 
ever experimented with. The male is mute; the female 
has three distinct cries— one while in the nest, one exactly 
like the female fox squirrel and then the well-known qua, 
qua, which denotes that she is with young. After she has 
her young she becomes ragged looking and is very shy, 
and, like the Queen's old Scotch servant, must nay be dis- 
turbed. She will not allow her lord entrance to her nest. 
The flesh of this squirrel makes splendid soup or pie, and 
the fur can be made into an excellent hat or boa. This 
variety has from one to five young at a time, and breeds 
from April to October, having three litters a year if well 
fed. Sweet acorns— the nut of the white oak— is their 
favorite food, although they will eat any nut— even the 
bitter acorn after it has been buried and has sprouted, thus 
sweetening it to a certain extent. From the first the 
young have a very bushy tail. The case is the reverse with 
the tox squirrel, which come out of their nest with a 
very thin tail indeed. The mother always accompanies 
them for the first few weeks after they leave the nest, play- 
ing with them and teaching them all kinds of gymnastics. 
Pure white and black and white freaks of this variety are 
not uncommon. ' * 
The Fox Squirrel, Northern, Western and Southern 
(5". capistratus, S. sub-auratus, S. sayn)—'Tht Northern 
is the largest, having a body I4>^ inches long and a tail 
153^ inches long. The Western is a little smaller, and the 
Southern is smaller still. In all the varieties the color is 
the same, S. sayii being a little lighter under color than 
S. sub-aurams. The color of the fox squirrel is a mixture 
of black and cream colored hairs, with a solid red throat, 
belly, under parts of legs and tail. The fox and the black 
squirrel are not the same squirrel by any means, as some 
vC^ould have us believe. The black squirrel, in order to 
protect itself, lately has got into the habit of breeding 
freaks of color, such as cinnamon, all black with a brown 
tail, gray and black mixed, cream color, etc. But in 
five years' experiment I have never got them even to 
mate, much less breed. The head of the fox is very much 
broader than that of the black, the ears are much 
smaller, the neck is thicker and the tail is flat at the 
bottom and rounded along its top length, whereas the 
tail of the black is round and bushy. The fox squirrel 
is a very bold animal, is readily tamed and remains tame. 
Mine delight to tease the dogs ; they will hang head down 
Just out of reach of their bounds, chattering at them and 
thoroughly enjoying their rage at getting so near and yet 
so far. In defending their nests, a pair of fox squirrels 
will thrash a small dog ot a cat. Their bite for the size 
of the animal is terrific. The bull dog tenacity with which 
they attack will never be forgotten if you once experience 
it as I have. There is another peculiarity about the 
fox squirrel; there is probably not another animal that 
can stand so much punishment and come to after it is 
over; not even the 'possum can stand the same beating 
that the fox squirrel can. The female makes a noise 
exactly like the female black, with more bark and less qua. 
The male makes a low chattering like the little red 
squirrels, without the r-r-r-ni-ru-ru ending. Besides 
this, he will whistle when he is beaten by another fox 
squirrel. Fox squirrels breed only once a year, in the 
early part of march, and have from five to seven young in 
the nest at a time. The fox squirrel is extremely fond 
of its home, and never emigrates except when starved 
into doing so. Like the Northern gray, it is not a great 
treetop squirrel, but stays more on the ground. This 
squirrel is getting rapidly cleaned out of Michigan, and, 
in fact, all the States Avith the exception of Kansas and 
Missouri. In this Province it has been entirely ex- 
terminated. The last one I saw in this Province was in 
Muskoka; there were about twenty red squirrels chat- 
tering around it, but, boy-like, I thought of squirrel soup 
and fired, killing eleven reds, but the fox carried off what- 
ever shot struck him. That was about eighteen years ago. 
Northern or Migratory Gray Squirrel {S. migratorius) 
— It is a solid steel gray all over, and has a bushy tail. 
Its body is 12K inches long, tail 14 inches. In all these 
measurements I do not pick out the smallest specimen I 
know of. As a pet, this variety is unreliable, being apt 
to pick up and travel. It will cross with the black 
squirrel, half the young being one db\or and half the 
other. The powers of this squirrel for locating are 
marvelous, finding a nut it has buried through 2 feet of 
snow. This I have often witnessed. This squirrel is a 
great weather and crop prophet, foretelling the future 
crop of a distant section by migrating to it a season ahead 
of time. 
The silver or Virginia gray (S. Carolina) is smaller 
than the Northern gray. The forehead and forelegs and 
sides are reddish brown ; the throat, belly and under parts 
are white; the tail is .silver-tipped and edged, and the body 
and back are gray. The tail is flat and about the same 
length as the body. It makes a good pet, lays up a store 
of nuts and will .stay at home. I have some specimens 
that are seven years old, and have never tried to get 
away yet. The female will chatter and scold very hard 
those who molest her nest, but otherwise makes no noise. 
On the other hand, the male is a constant barker. It is 
very pleasant to hear them in my back yard ; it makes me 
dream of the "Dismal Swamp," where they are very- 
plentiful. This is the only variety I have that vyill.come 
out of a moonlight night and wander quietly around. 
Unfortunately, I had a number of them smothered by 
smoke. The stable next door to mine was set on fire by 
fire crackers on the night of the celebration of the capture 
of Pretoria. A brick wall separated the two stables, and 
thus prevented a scorching, but admitted the smoke. 
After the fire was out Deputy Chief Noble and I went up 
with a lantern and discovered the floor covered with 
dead, or apparently dead, squirrels. W^e opened the doors 
and let out the smoke, the result being that all the fox 
came to, as did nearlj^ all the black, but exactly half the 
silver grays were dead, and stayed dead. 
The California gray (6". fossor) is the largest of all the 
squirrel family; it is a blue gray with white underparts. 
The tail is longer than the body by ^ inch. 
The Texas black {S. auduboni) is a large blackish 
brown squirrel ; 12 and 12 is its size, although there may 
be larger specimens. It is a native of Texas, Louisiana 
and Mexico. This is a much larger animal than the 
Tennessee black, which has a white nose. 
The weasel-like squirrel of California pine woods (S. 
musteliniis) has a lo^-inch body and a I3j4-inch tail. 
Men may live all their life time beside this squirrel and 
never know of its existence, so quick and quiet is it. It 
lives on pine nuts, and passes its time amid the thick, lofty 
pine trees. Its hair grows rather thin on the body, or the 
two specimens I saw stuffed were summer animals. 
The common red squirrel {S. hudsoni) is to be found 
from Alaska to Labrador. I haA^e seen them on the north 
shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence so thick that in half 
an hour Avith a catapult I gathered enough to make a 
good soup. They are small — the body 7 inches and the 
tail 6 inches. The body is reddish broAvn and the under- 
parts a dirty white. Chickaree, the name he giA^es him- 
self, is the quickest piece of impudence alive. They are a 
constant annoyance to the black bucks, pursuing up one 
tree and doAvn another, until they can grab them in a 
tender spot. The butternut reds are much more vicious 
than their pine tree brothers — in fact, it is impossible to 
carry tAvo or more in a cage that is darkened, for when 
you have arrived at your destination and remoA^ed the 
curer you discover that they have killed each other. In 
carrying red squirrels from one place to another, always 
do so in an open cage and avoid jolting. You Avill ob- 
serve that the pine squirrel has a rounder head than the 
butternut squirrel, and they are much more tractable, not 
snapping and biting at each other and eA^ery one Avho 
approaches them. Feed the pine squirrel on sunflower 
seeds and the butternut squirrel on bitter acorns and 
butternuts. The Avoods of Canada are alive with these 
squirrels, as their old enemies, the lynxes and the pine 
martins, are not present in sufficient numbers to keep 
them down. This species will bring out young as early as 
the month of February. 
As pets the chipmunk and flying squirrels are failures, 
as they are eaten up by cats as soon as they are liberated. 
The flying squirrel is a night animal; its chief food is the 
jitter acorn; its chief enemy is the owl. The further 
north you go the larger the flying squirrel. Those up in 
Parry Sound are twice as large as those in Missouri. 
The chipmunk's favorite food is the hazel nut. It, as well 
as the flying squirrel, Avill readily breed in captivity. 
There is only one tufted-eared squirrel in America. It 
is a large squirrel, and has its home in Colorado. It is 
brownish black in color, and as far as I can find out is 
very rare. Let us hear about it through Forest and 
Stream. 
The following variety of squirrels are very rare or ex- 
tinct. I would like to' hear of them: Cat {Sciurus 
cinereus) ; Eastern and Middle States; formerly was A'^ery 
common; excellent eating. It was a large ground squir- 
rel ; stumpy in build, about the size of the Northern graj'. 
Color, brown, red and black, Avith white nose. Downy 
(S. lanuginosus) . Long-haired or wooly {S. latiigerus). 
Soft-haired (S. mollipilosus) . Hare (6". leporinus) . Lit- 
tle Carolina red (S. douglassii) ; the belly of this squirrel 
is red as distinguished from the common red or pine squir- 
rel. Red-tailed (5". rtihicaiidatus) . Red-bellied squirrel 
{S. ferruginiventris) ; Middle States. In its locality it is 
probably called fox squirrel. There are other varieties 
mentioned bA^ Audubon, Bachmann and Taylor that I fail 
to see any trace of now, such as S. colliai; S. fremonti; 
S, ftiliginosus ; S. alberfi. Many of these are Oregon and 
Pacific Coast squirrels. Let us hear of them. 
In placing squirrels in parks, care should be taken to 
provide retreats for them, for the trees are not large 
enough nor holloAV to secure them from marauding boys. 
This is the case with our OAvn High Park. 
G. H. CORSAN. 
Toronto, Canada. 
[Mr. Corsan wrote also of "Black Squirrels in Domesti- 
cation" in our issue of June 23.] 
^^Fofest and Stfeam'* m Paifis, 
The Forest and Stream is on sale at Brentano's, 37 
Avenue de I'Opera. Paris. It is on file in the Herald Read- 
ing Room, 61 AA^enue de I'Opera; at the Forest and 
Stream exhibit in the Exposit-ion, and Avith the American 
Bicycle Company, 20 and 22 Bis Rue Grande. 
The Cornfed Philosopher — "It is hard for me to ac- 
knowledge that I do not know it all, but I confess I can- 
not see Avhy the rock-the-boat idiot is alloAved to live until 
he is strong enough to tip it over," — Indianapolis Press. 
^tti^ ^nd 0m 
Toledo and Thereabouts. 
The Cedar Point Clab — A Prominent Organization — Some- 
thing About Its Attitude 'ioward Sptmg bhoot- 
ing and Game Protection. 
Toledo has a shooting club that is never heard of in 
the newspapers — at least so rarely as to mal<e the excep- 
tion fortify the statement. Its spacious club house, lo- 
cated on the extreme northeasterly point of Maumee 
Bay, is almost in sight of the lower wards of the city, and 
looking northward the daily steamer from Toledo to Put- 
in-Bay and ClcA'Cland can be clearly traced from the 
broad porches that shelter its members, while a few miles 
away to the southward run the iron ways that are con- 
stantly bringing Eastern culture and enlightenment to 
the benighted West. But in their S,ooo acres of middle 
ground between the na\-igable Avaters of Lake Erie and 
the corn fields of the great State of Ohio the Cedar 
Point Club has a little realm of its own in which the con- 
ditions of primeval nature still remain unfrayed by con- 
tact with ciA'ilization, and those who are fortunate enough 
to own a gun locker within its walls are ne\'er disap- 
pointed in their search for solid content. Let me tell 
you something about it. 
It was somewhere about 1878 that several sportsmen of 
Toledo- — who had cA^en then developed their business in- 
terests to a point where they felt themseh'es justified in 
taking an occasional Saturday afternoon off — began to 
give audible expression to their dissatisfaction Avith the 
meager accommodations available for those Avho desired 
to enjoy the excellent shooting Avithin the environment 
of the Maumee Bay. Water fowl of all A'-arieties were 
plentiful along its shores, but it was seriously incon- 
venient, not to say unpleasant, for the luckless hunter 
who chanced to be overtaken by night or storm on any 
of his expeditions to find in miles of the best hunting- 
territory nothing better in the way of shelter than a 
muskrat house. Three of these gentlemen- — Messrs. Peter 
Berdan, M. D. Carrington and John Cummings — accord- 
ingly decided to build a floating camp, Avhich they could 
take with them into adjacent hunting waters and which 
would furnish comfortable if not luxurious accommo- 
dations for eating and sleeping. When their amphib- 
ious structure was completed they had a house boat built 
on the model of a scow, with bunks for ten men and of 
a draft light enough to permit of navigating it through 
and over most of the northAvestern Ohio marshes. This 
answered its purpose admirably for the next two or three 
years, when it gave way to the next step in the evolu- 
tion of the Cedar Point Club. 
Along the southern shore of Lake Erie to the east- 
ward of Toledo there lay at this time a wide expanse of 
marsh land which afforded the finest feeding and nest- 
ing ground for Avater foAvl. The territory lying between 
Cedar Point on the Avest and Crane Creek on the east 
Avas appropriated by all this tribe as a favorite resort, 
and at this time it belonged to the Federal GoA^ernment, 
which had never taken the trouble to locate and survey 
it. Toledo hunters and others found in it some of the 
finest shooting in the State, and some of the gentlemen 
who had planned and built the house boat, with their 
associates, concluded that it Avould make an admirable 
location for a shooting box. Somewhere about i88x a 
committee consisting of H. M. FTanna (brother of the 
present Ohio Senator), M. D. Carrington and Emery 
D. Potter went to Washington and succeeded in obtain- 
ing the passage of a bill in Congress authorizing the 
survey and sale of the tract in question. Five thousand 
acres, located as already described, was bought under the 
resulting sale by Mr. H. M. Hanna and by him trans- 
ferred to the Cedar Point Club, an association incorpo- 
rated without profit under the general law of Ohio re- 
lating to corporations. Upon the dryer portion of the 
property a club house of sixteen rooms was built, Avhich 
included besides the spacious dining room, gun rooms, 
kitchen, etc., a separate room and gun locker for each 
member. Until recently access to the club house could 
only be had by water, but a private telephone line con- 
nects it Avith the city. Comfort rather than display has 
been the motive which has inspired the arrangement and 
furnishing of the club house, and nothing is lacking which 
would be calculated to enhance the enjoyment of the 
members or their guests. The lounging room is warmed 
and lighted by a mammoth old-fashioned fireplace, and 
above its heavy leather upholstered furniture hang faith- 
ful reproductions, in form and color, of all the game 
birds of the locality, the work of noted Cleveland and 
Toledo artists, while in the dining room are a number 
of the finest specimens, prepared by the deft fingers of 
the taxidermist. In these rooms on the chill autumnal 
evenings such veteran story tellers as Hanna and Ellis 
are wont to recount experiences that have been gath- 
ered on the hunting fields of every section of our own 
and foreign lands; and to their hearers the narration has 
proved scarcely less pleasurable than the reality. 
As originally organized, the Cedar Point Club con- 
templated a membership of ten only and the list has al- 
ways been full from the beginning. Of the gentlemen 
connected with it, those Avhose names are marked with 
an asterisk have passed over to the majority. The rolls 
include Hon. W. C. Whitney, late Secretary of the Navy; 
Col. D. H. Payne, son of the late Senator Payne, of 
Ohio; M. D. Carrington,* Peter Berdan,* Warren Corn- 
ing, H. M. Hanna. Frank H. Ellis, John Cummings, 
Robert Cummings, Joseph K. Secor.* Henry Card.* W. 
H. Sage, Arthur Secor and W. T. Carrington. The two 
last named gentleman, who are Avorthy descendants of 
honored sires, have received their shares by inheritance, 
and it is needless to add are most enthusiastic lovers of 
the gun and rod. Such other transfers as have been 
made of the ten shares of the club have been on a A^alua- 
tion of $5,000 each, and before the new purchaser can 
be inducted into membership he must have unanimous 
consent of the other nine. 
The marshes of the club are to-day, as they were twenty 
years a.go, the resort of hosts of blue-Aviner teal (perhans 
the most numerous of the duck tribe on these grounds), 
the green-wing teal, the widgeon, wood duck, mallard, 
black duck, pintail, red-neck, and canvasback, although 
