134 
MAMMALIA. 
tion of its foster mother, and the pair soon became the centre of 
attraction in the neighborhood. 
It is stated by Audubon and Bachman that the young are brought 
forth in May and June, which statement is at least two months out 
of the way. Even in this northern region the period when the impor- 
tant event takes place is rarely later than the first of April, and 
is frequently in March. The cause of their error, however, is not 
hard to explain ; for if they were unacquainted with the very immature 
condition of the young at birth, and were ignorant of the time required 
to attain full growth, they might easily have made the mistake of 
considering young found in the nest in June to be only a few' weeks 
from birth, when in reality they were two or three months old. In 
many localities south and west of the Adirondacks the Gray Squirrel 
commonly has two litters in a season, the second usually being born 
in September or October. 
In closing the biography of this interesting species it seems hardly 
necessary to remark that the Black and Gray Squirrels are identical, 
both color varieties being sometimes found in the same litter.* 
Fifteen years ago the two forms were about equally abundant along 
the western border of the region under consideration ; but the Black 
has gradually become less and less common, till now it may almost be 
regarded as one of our rarer mammals. However, it is still abundant 
in a number of places bordering Lake Ontario, both in this State and 
in Canada. 
SCIURUS NIGER CINEREUS (Linn.) Allen. 
Fox Squirrel. 
The Fox Squirrel cannot at present be regarded as other than a 
rare or accidental straggler in the Adirondack region. So far as 
I am aware, the only specimen taken here of late was killed by 
* The case lias a well-known parallel in our common mottled owl, in which species both red and 
gray plumages are occasionally met with in the same nest. 
