Douglas squirrel

“ The Douglas squirrel is the happy harvester of most of the Sequoia cones. Out of every hundred perhaps ninety fall to his share, and unless cut off by his ivory sickle they shake out their seeds and remain on the tree for many years. Watching the squirrels at their harvest work in the Indian summer is one of the most delightful diversions imaginable. The woods are calm and the ripe colors are blazing in all their glory ”

“ Yet three days inside it had been more than sufficient for the squirrel. He was cold, hungry, and cramped in every limb. To quicken the blood within him, he flung himself at lightning speed from bough to bough, from tree to tree, up and down the branches, in and out the maze of dripping foliage, until his every hair was tipped with a raindrop, and he was almost weary. Then he paused a moment for breath and shook himself, dog-fashion.
The mole’s uneasy, crimson-pointed muzzle came from a hole right on the water’s edge. He was feeling for the water. ”

“ The curves he described in the air in diving and rattling resembled those made by cords hanging loosely and attached at the same height at the ends, the loops nearly covering each other. Braver, heartier, keener, care-free enjoyment of life I have never seen or heard in any creature, great or small. The life of this comic redlegs, the mountain’s merriest child, seems to be made up of pure, condensed gayety. The Douglas squirrel is the only living creature that I can compare him with in exuberant, rollicking, irrepressible jollity. ”

“ A person who will stand still in a Sierra forest in late summer, where firs abound, will presently hear the cones thumping the ground on all sides of him. If his eyes are good, and he looks carefully, he may see the squirrels, silhouetted against the sky on far-away tree tops, seeming so small in the distance that they look the size of mice; yet the Douglas squirrel is about the size of the eastern red squirrel. He does not always let the cones fall when he cuts their stems, but sometimes carries them down the long trunk to the ground, then goes back for another. ”

“ In the far western mountains he has a cousin called the Douglas squirrel; and Mr. John Muir calls him “the brightest of all the squirrels I have ever seen, a hot spark of life, making every tree tingle with his prickly toes, a condensed nugget of fresh mountain vigor and valor, as free from disease as a sunbeam. How he scolds, and what faces he makes, all eyes, teeth, and whiskers!”
You must hear him this fall and take your scolding, whether you deserve it or not.
VIII
You ought to hear in the cedars, pines, or spruces the small thin cheep, cheep, cheep of the chickadees or the kinglets. ”

“ The Douglas Squirrel is by far the most interesting and influential of the California sciuridae, surpassing every other species in force of character, numbers, and extent of range, and in the amount of influence he brings to bear upon the health and distribution of the vast forests he inhabits. ”

“ Two or three kinds of tree-squirrels live in the pines and redwoods, the Douglas squirrel being well known in the mountains. The ground squirrel, or chipmunk, digs holes in the ground, where he hides his winter's store of grain and nuts.
Three of our smaller wild animals are very common and very troublesome to the farmer. The skunk, which looks like a pretty black and white kitten with a bushy tail, and also the weasel, destroy all the chickens and eggs they can reach, and they are so cunning that it is hard to keep them out of the hen-house. ”

“ The sound of boyish voices had utterly died away, proving that Matty must be showing considerable skill in leading his detachment along a trail.
Indeed, once the presence of human beings no longer acted as a disturbing element, a little frisky red squirrel hopped up in the open window and peeped within the shack. ”

“ The burrowing habits of the Douglas Squirrel are similar to those of related species. Steep banks seem to be chosen for burrowing into, whenever available. Many burrows open under rocks, bushes and tree roots. On open, level ground, with no protective shelter at hand, the mouths of the burrows are marked by good-sized mounds, showing the presence of an extensive system below ground. As far as we know, no one has yet made a complete excavation of the burrow system of this species. ”

“ How often had he promptly dropped his hard-earned nut in consequence, only to see it seized by a field-mouse! How often had he swung at the end of a tapering twig, while the squirrel feinted at him with all four paws!
He looked up, and caught the squirrel’s eye.
“What, awake?” she shouted. “It’s not quite time for good little dormice. You wait till it’s dark, and see how cool it is. Why, even with my tail (and she bent it into a figure of eight to show its amplitude) it is hard enough to keep warm.” ”

“ Nevertheless, the little Douglas squirrel can open them. Indians gathering the ripe nuts make a striking picture. The men climb the trees like bears and beat off the cones with sticks, or recklessly cut off the more fruitful branches with hatchets, while the squaws gather the big, generous cones, and roast them until the scales open sufficiently to allow the hard-shelled seeds to be beaten out. ”

“ He merely huddled in a corner, still grasping the nut, and breathing in queer short gasps.
“Never mind, dormouse,” shouted the squirrel, “you will know a bad egg next time. Try this.”
For five seconds there was a faint rasping sound, then a sharp crack, and the rustle of two half-nutshells through the leaves. One of them struck the side of the hazel-stump and bounded off like an elastic ball. Before the dormouse had collected his wits, a fine kernel was thrust through the nest and the squirrel had once more regained her bough.
“Eat it,” she shrieked; “eat it before the sun goes down. ”

“ He appears to be ever up and doing, is intensely in earnest at all times and strongly inclined to take a serious view of things. Both the looks and manners of Mr. Frémont, Sciurus fremonti, proclaim for him a close relationship with the Douglas squirrel of California and the Pacific coast, the squirrel immortalized by John Muir.
His most popular name is "Pine Squirrel," and he is found through the pine and spruce forests of the Rocky Mountains and its spur ranges, between the foothills and timber-line; a vertical, or altitudinal, range of more than a mile. ”

“ It is a common thing to see them perched upon the tops of fence posts or stumps. Individuals may under certain circumstances so nearly resemble Gray Squirrels as to be actually mistaken for them. This emphasis of the tree-climbing habit in the Douglas Ground Squirrel is, suggestively enough, thus associated with greater length of tail and grayer tone of color of tail, as compared with its nearest relatives. It seems, also, that this species, more generally than any other, raids orchard trees such as almond and apricot. ”

“ In such cases the squirrel population from the wild land immediately adjacent seemed to have moved in en masse, as harvest time approached, to take advantage of the special food supply thus made available. Nevertheless, the Douglas Ground Squirrel, by reason of its relatively sparse population over most of its range, and the ease with which it can be reduced in numbers with reasonable effort, does not rank as of so much economic importance as some other species. We would place it fourth among our ground squirrels, giving precedence to the California, Oregon and Fisher. ”

“ It has a soft, warm lining, though, and, if you can get up to it, you may find the baby squirrels inside in June. If they are furry you can take them away, for then they are quite easy to bring up and tame.
The Squirrel. "Squirrel means Shadowtail"
Then there is the harvest-mouse's nest, which is the most beautifully made of all, and is usually to be found in cornfields, built some way up the stalks, and looking just like a bird's-nest except that it is quite round and has no opening that you can see. ”

“ Do the birds carry the secret, and have you fellows found a way to understand their lingo?"
"Well, in a way that's correct, too, Rufus," [129] chuckled the lanky scout. "When you get on familiar terms with everything that lives in the woods, you can tell a heap. It does seem that insects, birds and animals are given instinct in place of reasoning powers. So the squirrel knows when it promises to be a severe winter, and he lays in an extra big store of nuts. And in the same way something warns these little creatures when a storm is coming, although human beings see no sign. ”

“ A high natural mortality for this species may account for its relative lack of aggressiveness as compared with the California Ground Squirrel. The testimony of a number of people from localities widely scattered over the range of the Douglas Ground Squirrel is to the effect that every few years there is a great reduction in its numbers. ”

“ The tail is at all times the most conspicuous feature of this ground squirrel. Sometimes when running to its burrow a squirrel will hold its tail in a continuously vertical position, or this member may be thrashed fore and aft. Ordinarily the tail is held nearly parallel to the ground, with more or less of an arch in it. In this posture of tail one is reminded strongly of the Gray Squirrel.
Our own observations, and the testimony of people in general who are familiar with several of our ground squirrels including the Douglas, indicate that the latter is the most prone of all to climb trees. ”

“ All Washington ground squirrels live in burrows which they construct themselves. The life histories of the two striped species are less well known than those of the more economically important species. All species hibernate. The striped species disappear in October and reappear the following March. This can be called true hibernation. The long-tailed ground squirrels probably hibernate at high altitudes but aestivate in more arid localities. In Washington the Douglas ground squirrel occupies an area that is relatively temperate and humid. ”

“ In the "digger" category of ground squirrels there is evidence that a greater or less proportion of the population hibernates each winter. In the Douglas this feature of the annual activity of the animal is clearly evident, in that the majority, or at the higher altitudes all, of the individuals disappear for weeks or months together during the winter season. In the case of the California Ground Squirrel, however, numerous individuals are to be seen aboveground in the lower country in favorable weather at any time during the winter. ”

“ An adventurous spirit leads them to race away from the forest, along fence-tops, to pay visits to ranch buildings and even to villages and small towns. Like their eastern relative, the Douglas squirrels are omnivorous, feeding on the seeds of all the conifers in their range, including spruces, firs, pines, and redwoods, and also upon acorns, and a great variety of other seeds, fruits, and mushrooms, insects, birds’ eggs, young birds, and any other meat they can find. ”

“ The hedgehog bore on his back clear tokens of his last retreat. A dozen withered leaves were clinging to his spines. The nearest pile of such lay heaped against the hen-house. The hedgehog footed through the knotgrass slowly, grubbing with his snout to right and left of [Pg 197] him. Sometimes, when cover failed, he broke into a bow-legged run.
The squirrel came from high up in the beech tree—the second fork from the top. There he had built what he called a nest, but what humans, with greater nicety of diction, call a drey. Speak not of squirrel’s “nest” to sportsmen ”

“ Going in noisy groups, and with guns so shining, they are oftentimes confronted by inquisitive Douglas squirrels, and are thus give opportunities for shooting; but the larger animals retire at their approach and seldom are seen. ”

“ He has known of as few as two and as many as fourteen embryos having been found in pregnant females.
The following definite data on file in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology show some of the kinds of food selected by the Douglas Ground Squirrel and also the quantity in which each of these kinds may be gathered at one time. A male squirrel taken on Dry Creek where crossed by the Oroville-Chico road, in Butte County, May 31, 1912, contained in its cheek pouches 29 seeds of a wild lupine (Lupinus micranthus) . ”

“ All of one Brotherhood. Beasties Courageous. Squirrel is living up to us—he does his best with eggs."
"Squirrel is living up to us?" It was a cough and splutter from above and Stoat and Cub peered upwards. Squirrel sat twenty feet away, and stamped with indignation. "Squirrel is living up to us? My plumed tail! you wait till Squirrel grows."
The Stoat tiptoed towards Him
{193} "Never mind him," said the Stoat, "he's silly."
The broad grey back had swung about, and Badger's head was lifted. Slowly it swayed from side to side, slowly it nodded.
"Where are his eyes?" whispered the Fox Cub. ”

“ Some animals, however, make nests which are not in burrows, and though these are not nearly so easy to find as birds' nests, they can be found if you know the sort of place to look for them in.
{77} There are four animals in this country whose nests can be found without having to dig, and these are the mole, the squirrel, the dormouse, and the harvest-mouse. Three of these build their nests above the ground, and the fourth, "the little gentleman in black velvet," builds the ground above his nest. ”