I 20 
MAMMALIA. 
of these birds is discovered perching on a limb near his home he 
invariably pesters it till it is glad to fly to some more congenial place. 
He is sometimes caged and makes an intelligent but unruly and 
destructive pet. 
In the choice of a site for his nest he does not limit himself 
to any fixed conditions, usually placing it in a hollow limb, some- 
times in a hole in the ground, and occasionally in a hollow log. 
The young are generally born about the first of April, four to six 
constituting an average litter. 
Where the climate is milder than it is in the Adirondack reeion 
the Red Squirrel often builds outside nests. Dr. A. K. Fisher 
writes me that he has found them about the southern end of Lake 
George, in Warren County; and that they are so common in 
Westchester County, New York, that “half a dozen may be in 
sight at one time in favorable localities. The nest is usually situ- 
ated near the top of some evergreen, in the midst of a tangled 
grape-vine. Preference is given to the red cedar (Juniper us Vir- 
ginicina), for the reason, probably, that this tree furnishes most of 
the material for the nest. It may occasionally be found in a 
deciduous tree. The nest, which is globular in shape, varies 
from two to three hundred millimetres in diameter. As a rule, the 
cavity is situated nearer the top than the bottom, thus making the 
roof thinner than the floor. At a little distance the entrance can- 
not be seen, for its borders fall together after the entrance or exit 
of the animal. The material generally used for the nest is the 
soft, silky bark of the red cedar. Sometimes that of the grape- 
vine, or the inner bark of the chestnut, is intermixed.” Mr. W. L. 
Scott, of Ottawa, Canada, tells me that outside nests of the Red 
Squirrel are common as far north as that place ; but it must be 
borne in mind that lower Ontario is Alleghanian in fauna, while 
the Adirondacks is Canadian. 
