SCIURUS CAROLINENIS LEUCOTIS. 
125 
milcl and open winters are likely to succeed “nut years’’ in this 
region, and that during - these winters it is not common to have a 
continuance of very low temperature. The .alternate winters, on the 
other hand, are generally severe. There are few if any nuts, and the 
Squirrels are none too fat when the heavy snows set in. They have 
laid up little or no provision in their holes in the trees, and conse- 
quently, since they do not hibernate for any great length of time, 
must often roam about in search of food when they would much 
prefer to remain coiled snugly in their nests. Under such circum- 
stances they frequently come out, during continued cold, when the 
thermometer stands at ten degrees below zero C. ( 1 4 F.), but not 
during storms. They are occasionally met with when it is still colder, 
and I have seen a few individuals come to a place where corn was 
kept for them when the temperature was -19° C. (-2.2 F.), but only 
on mild days during protracted periods of low temperature. In this 
respect they differ markedly from their cousins, the red squirrels. 
During the winters of deep snows and scarcity of food, my father 
has, for many years, kept a stock of corn and nuts within easy reach 
of the Squirrels, and but a short distance from the house. Knowing 
that they are always sure ot finding a bountiful supply here, they 
repair to it with great regularity, coming daily except during stormy 
or very cold weather, often visiting it at times when their neighbors, 
in more remote portions ot the wood, do not venture out at all. 
Sometimes as many as a dozen Grays and six or eight Blacks have 
been seen there at one time, running on the snow and feeding at the 
boxes and barrels within twenty feet (about 6 metres) from the 
dining-room window. While part of them remained on the boxes, 
others carried their nuts to a tree near by, eating one at a time and 
then returning for another. Some winters they became very tame, 
and while we were at breakfast inside, a few used to bring their nuts 
to the window and eat them there, perched on their haunches on the 
sill, with their handsome bushy tails cocked over their backs. When 
anyone went out of doors they commonly scampered oft' or ran up a 
