Davis: Loca Notes ON THE GRAY SQUIRREL 127 
this as a sort of doorstep.. This nest was built in a small pine. 
On May 8, 1904, I found a gray squirrel’s nest that had been 
blown out of a tall tree. The outer structure of brown leaves was 
lined with a mass of soft bark from the cedar. The bark at the 
center was finer and softer than that nearer to the outside. One 
often notices where the bark has been pulled from the cedar trunks 
by squirrels and mice, but since these trees have become scarce, the 
squirrels often use the strips of dead bark that they pull from the 
dead branches of tulip trees. 
One of the most noteworthy gray squirrel’s nest that we have 
ever found was near the Peconic River on Long Island. The 
resourceful animal had gathered quantities of oak leaves eaten by 
the caterpillars of one of the Amsota moths that were common in 
the summer of 1910. The caterpillars had left the midrib and 
principal veins of the leaves, and the squirrel had gnawed off: 
the ends of the branches, each twig bearing several of the skele- 
tonized leaves, and with this wiry material a fine nest had been 
constructed. 
Near Richmond, on Jan. 31, 1886, we found a nest in a cedar 
tree, which had been frequented by a gray squirrel, but on this 
occasion, when the nest was poked with a pole, two flying 
squirrels appeared. | 
Gray squirrels are omnivorous creatures, and as a species will 
eat many things, but some of them have individual preferences. | 
I have tried bread with some of those in the city parks; some will 
eat it and some will not; all however are fond of peanuts; and 
I have fed them chocolate, which they liked very well. 
In a wild state gray squirrels seem to prefer nuts but our local 
gray squirrels, as has been stated, can no longer get a supply, and 
even in the past when nuts were more plentiful they ate much 
else. They may often be observed eating the buds of trees or vari- 
ous fruits, and they commence to visit the cherry trees when the 
fruit is just ripening. They are also fond of fungi. Often they dig 
a surprising number of holes in quest of food, and on Jan. 16, 1904, 
near Richmond, we saw where gray squirrels had been digging in 
