FOREST AND STREAM. 
S91 
THE GRAY SQUIRREL. 
Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. 
From Audubon and Bachman’s 
The Serpent^s Fascination. 
The illustration is a reproduction of Plate VII. of 
“The Quadrupeds of North America,” by Audubon 
and Bachman. Audubon’s account of the species, to- 
gether with that of the northern form, which he calls the 
migratory squirrel, and Dr. C. Hart Merriani s interest- 
ing story of the gray squirrel in the North Woods, in his 
“Mammals of the Adirondacks,” give an admirable idea 
of the squirrel’s habits. • » t,- u 
The supposed power of fascination or “charming which 
snakes are supposed to possess over birds and small ani- 
mals has been thought bv some persons to be exercised 
on squirrels among others; and from time to time we 
have published notes from readers who believed that they 
had observed cases of this power of fascination or 
“charming” of which squirrels were the victims. 
Of this Audubon says: “As long as we are able to ex- 
plain by natural deduction the very similar maneuvers of 
birds and squirrels when ‘fascinated’ by a snake, it would 
be absurd to imagine that anything mysterious or super- 
natural is connected with the subject; and we consider 
that there are many ways of accounting for all the 
appearances described on the occasions. Fear and sur- 
prise cause an instinctive horror when we find ourselves 
unexpectedly within a foot or two of a rattlesnake; the 
shrill, startling noise proceeding from the rattles of its 
tail as it Hbrates rapidly, and its hideous aspect, no doubt 
produce a much greater effect on birds and small quadru- 
peds. It is said that the distant roar of the African lion 
causes the' oxen to tremble and stand paralyzed in the 
fields; and Humboldt relates that in the forest of South 
. America the mingled cries of monkeys and other animals 
resound through the whole night, but as soon as the 
roar of the jaguar, the American tiger, is heard, terror 
seizes on all the other animals and their voices are sud- 
denly hushed. Birds and quadrupeds are very curious, 
also, and this feeling prompts them to draw near to 
strange objects. ‘Tolling’ wild ducks and loons, as it is 
called, by waving a red handkerchief or a small flag, or 
by causing a little dog to bound backward and forward 
on a beach, has long been successfully practiced by 
sportsmen on the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere. 
“The Indians attract the reindeer, the antelope and 
other animals until they are within bowshot, by waving 
a stick to which a piece of red cloth is attached, or by 
throwing themselves on their backs and kicking their 
heels up in the air. If any strange object is thrown into 
the poultry yard, such as a stuffed specimen of 3 quad- 
ruped. or a bird, etc., all the fowls will crowd near it 
and scrutinize it for a long time. Everybody almost may 
have observed at some time or other dozens of birds col- 
lected around a common cat in the shrubbery, or a tor- 
toise or particularly a snake. The squirrel is remarkable 
for its fondness for ‘sights,’ ■ and will sometimes come 
down from the highest branch of a tree to within three 
feet of the ground, to take a view of a small scarlet snake 
{Rhinostoma coccinea) not much larger than a pipe- 
stem, and which, having no poisonous fangs, could 
scarcely master a grasshopper. This might be regarded 
by believers in the fascinating powers of snakes as a de- 
cided case in favor of their theories, but they would find 
it somewhat difficult to explain the following circum- 
stances which happened to ourselves. After observing a 
squirrel come down to inspect one of the beautiful little 
snakes we have just been speaking of, the reptile, being a 
rare species, was captured and secured in our carriage 
box. After we had driven off, we recollected that in 
our anxiety to secure the snake we had left our box of 
botanical specimens at the place where we had first seen 
the latter, and on returning for it, we once more saw the 
squirrel darting backward and forward and skipping 
round the root of the tree,_ eyeing with equal curiosity 
the article we had left behind; and we could not help 
making the reflection that if the little snake had 
‘charmed’ the squirrel, the same ‘fascinating’ influence 
was exercised by our tin boxl” 
