1 1 8 
MAMMALIA. 
I have loner been aware that this animal was an occasional 
o 
depredator of the poultry yard, and find, in a journal written twelve 
years ago, a note to the effect that a case had then come to my 
knowledge where one was caught in the act of killing both chickens 
and young ducks. 
The Red Squirrel is a good swimmer, swimming rapidly and 
with much of the head, back, and tail out of water. On the 18th 
of August, 1874, I was paddling silently down a sluggish stream in 
the heart of the Adirondacks when a slight noise on the shore 
arrested my attention. A Squirrel soon appeared at the water’s 
edge, but turned back upon perceiving the boat. The stream, 
which was about twenty feet (approximately 6 metres) in width, 
here flowed through an extensive marsh, the nearest tree being * 1 
more than a hundred yards (nearly 100 metres) away. Surprised 
at seeing a Squirrel in such a place, I stopped the boat, holding 
fast to a few bushes on the opposite bank, and after remaining 
motionless a few moments had the satisfaction of seeing him return, 
climb out on a little bush, and swim across. Again, June 28th, 
1878, while rowing on Brantingham Lake, in Lewis County, I saw 
a Red Squirrel swimming about midway between “ the Point ” and 
the main shore opposite. He was moving toward the Point, and, 
as I reached him, climbed up on the oar, ran over my back and legs, 
then along the gunwale, jumping ahead from the bow in the direc- 
tion toward which he was swimming when first seen. On overtaking 
him he again came aboard and jumped ahead as before. This was 
etc. (Bull. Essex Inst., X, 1878, p. 9.) Mr. John Burroughs says : “ Nearly all the birds look 
upon it as their enemy and attack and annoy it when it appears near their breeding haunts. Thus, 
I have seen the pewee, the cuckoo, the robin, and the wood thrush pursuing it with angry voice 
and gestures. If you wish the birds to breed and thrive in your orchards and groves, kill every 
red squirrel that infests the place.” (The Tragedies of the Nests, in The Century Magazine, Vol. 
XXVI, No. 5, Sept., 1883, p. 686.) Prof. F. H. King tells us that at Ithaca, New York, his 
attention was attracted by a pair of robins dashing wildly about the branches of an .evergreen: 
“On examining the tree the nest of the birds was discovered, and just below it sat’a Chickaree 
eating one of the Robin’s eggs.” (Geol. Wis., 1883, p. 443.) In Forest and Stream for November 
17, and December 29, 1881, Mr. Bainbridge Bishop contributes much valuable testimony of a 
similar nature. Examples might be multiplied almost indefinitely, but enough has already been said 
to demonstrate that the Red Squirrel must be ranked among the worst enemies of our small birds. 
