SCI UR US CARO LINENS IS LEUCOTIS. 
I 2 I 
SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS LEUCOTIS (Gmelin) Allen. 
Gray Squirrel ; Black Squirrel. 
The Gray Squirrel has no liking for forests of coniferous ever- 
greens, ancl is, consequently, of extremely rare occurrence in the 
central area of the Adirondacks. He is common enough, however, 
in the hardwood groves along the borders of the region, varying in 
numbers from year to year according to the abundance or scarcity of 
the nut supply.* 
The immortal Humboldt, in his Ansichten der Natur , asks : “ Who 
is there that does not feel himself differently affected beneath the 
embowering; shade of the beechen grove, or on hills crowned with a 
few scattering pines, or in the dowering meadow where the breeze 
murmurs through the trembling foliage of the birch ? A feeling of 
melancholy, or of solemnity, or of light buoyant animation is in turn 
awakened by the contemplation of our native trees. This induence 
of the physical on the moral world — this mysterious reaction of the 
sensuous on the ideal, gives to the study of nature, when considered 
from a higher point of view, a peculiar charm which has not hitherto 
been sufficiently recognized." j* 
This meditation of Humboldt’s leads me to suggest that causes 
which have exerted so marked an induence upon the dispersion, 
mental culture, and disposition of the various races of mankind have 
* For more than forty miles the valley of the Black River extends along, and parallel to, the 
western border of the Adirondack region, and the fact is of local interest that this river valley con- 
stitutes, throughout a great part of its course, the dividing line between the area inhabited and that 
uninhabited by the Gray Squirrel. While this animal is abundant in the hardwood groves west of 
the river, it is of rare or casual occurrence on the eastern side. Many hunters and guides who have 
spent almost their whole lives in the Wilderness tell me that they have never seen a Gray Squirrel 
in the interior of the Adirondacks. In the course of their irregular migrations, however, isolated 
stragglers do sometimes occur there. James Higby informs me that he saw one near Copper Lake 
many years ago, and another near the old Arnold clearing. In September and early October, 1882, 
they invaded the region in unusual numbers. About the middle of September, of that year, 
E. L. Sheppard caught one that was swimming across 2d Lake, Fulton Chain, and a few days later 
one was seen in the water near the head of Big Moose Lake. Garrie Riggs caught one swimming 
in 4th Lake, Fulton Chain, about Sept. 25th ; C. Wood saw one on the outlet of this lake, Wayne 
Bissell another on 2cl Lake, and Ned. Ball killed one between Moose River and the Forge, 
f Bohn’s translation, 1850, p. 219. 
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