DICE — MAMMALS OF ALASKA 
25 
Erethizon epixanthum myops Merriam. Alaska Porcupine. — A specimen was 
taken by H. J. Christoffers beside a small slough about nine miles from Fairbanks 
where tooth marks were numerous on small alders and white spruces. Another 
specimen was taken July 9, 1912, under a growth of large willows along the North 
Fork of the Kuskokwim a few miles above the East Fork. It is reported to be 
numerous along the Kuskokwim below Georgetown, and one was seen August 12 
on the gravelly shores of the river below the mouth of the Aniak River. 
Citellus osgoodi (Merriam). Yukon Ground Squirrel. — Reported by natives 
to occur in the mountains northeast of Tanana and in the mountains near 
Takotna. 
Sciurus hudsonicus hudsonicus Erxleben. Northern Red Squirrel. — Common 
at Fairbanks, Tanana, and along the Kuskokwim at the head of the North Fork, 
at the junction with the McKinley Fork, and near the mouth of the Takotna 
River. A few were seen along the Takotna River and near the mouth of the 
Aniak River. It lives in the forests of white spruce and also occurs rarely in 
black spruces. It is seldom seen far from spruces probably because of its depen- 
dence upon these trees for food. In opening the cones it bites off the scales 
beginning at the base. Huge piles of the discarded scales mark the places where 
the squirrels live. October 16, 1911, one was observed to bite off and eat the buds 
of black spruces. The nests are placed from six to twenty feet above the ground 
in large white or black spruce trees. Often several are found close together in 
the same tree or in adjacent trees. They are supported by some of the smaller 
branches and are usually though not always placed near or against the tree trunk. 
These nests are spherical structures mostly of dried grass, each nest being about 
a foot in diameter. No food or excreta was found in the few nests examined. 
In the fall of 1911 before the snow became deep, spruce cones were collected in 
great numbers and either buried in the ground, placed in the branches of trees^ 
piled on the ground, or stored in the old piles of scales. At the bottoms of the 
trees in which squirrel nests were placed, piles of cones a foot to two feet in height 
and extending four or five feet around the tree were made. Near Tanana the 
first cutting and piling of the cones was noted September 6, and the work was 
still in progress though nearly complete on October 13. The cones may be cut 
singly, but often they are cut in the natural clusters of several cones and stored 
in that shape. September 6, 1911, near Tanana a red squirrel was watched while 
he was cutting cones from the top of a high white spruce. The cones were thrown 
away from the tree by a backward toss of his head and fell in all directions. He 
seemed to have no regular method of going over a branch for its cones, and I 
think several times returned to the same branch. During fifteen minutes he 
worked continuously, dropping cones sometimes one per second, though they 
usually fell more slowly. No other squirrels were near, but twice during the 
fifteen minutes he stopped to give his rattle. 
A red squirrel on October 1, 1911, had a nest on a shelf in an old cabin north 
of Tanana. This squirrel had collected a great many mushrooms and stored 
them on the shelves. Those not entirely dry were spread out separately from the 
others. Every open can in the cabin was packed tightly with the dried fungi. 
A grouse head later put out for a weasel was picked up by the squirrel and placed 
with the mushrooms. 
