Ground squirrel

“ The Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel is truly a ground squirrel in essential features of appearance and behavior as well as structure. Although it lives for the most part in forested regions, it keeps strictly on the ground when traveling or feeding, and only ascends rocks or logs when seeking a lookout station. The species, including its three subspecies in California, is confined to the higher mountains. ”

“ No matter where encountered, they always sought safety in holes in the ground or in crevices among rocks. They were notably quiet animals, giving only occasionally a single sharp note of alarm, or else, rarely, a low chuckle.
Fig. 25. San Bernardino Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel as taken from nest while dormant during period of hibernation. Note that the animal is curled into an almost globular shape, with head down and nose snuggled against stomach between fore and hind feet; tail curled underneath, partly concealing head. ”

“ Some observations made at the same time and place bear further on the behavior of this species of ground squirrel. When one is stalked it will make a dash of ten feet or more to a near-by shrub or rock. If the observer continues to advance the squirrel disappears down a hole or under a bush, or else makes another similar dash and stops again. It then either stands on all fours with its back humped up toward the intruder and its head turned around so as to watch, or it stands upright on its haunches, turning more toward the observer. ”

“ The sure test, on the basis of behavior, of a ground squirrel as compared with any true tree squirrel, such as the California Gray, is that the former, no matter how high in a tree when discovered, will, upon alarm, take to the ground as quickly as possible, and seek safety in a burrow below ground, rather than make off through the branches from tree to tree, or ascend into the uppermost foliage of a treetop. ”

“ On the other hand, ground squirrels like the chipmunks (Tamias) and the susliks or gophers (Spermophilus) of North America and Central Asia, at all events in the more northern districts of their range, sleep from the late autumn till the spring in their subterranean burrows, where they accumulate food for use in early spring and for spells of warmer weather in the winter which may rouse them from their slumbers. The North American flying squirrel (Sciuropterus volucella) and its ally Pteromys inornatus are believed to hibernate in hollow trees. ”

“ Examination of these "kitchen middens" will sometimes give a pretty accurate idea of the character of the squirrels' rations in any locality. A great many of the matured seeds, however, are carried directly below ground to the permanent storehouse.
Droppings, or feces, of the Ground Squirrel are to be observed widely scattered rather than deposited in piles. They may be found about the "husking places" or along the trails or paths which lead from the burrow to the feeding grounds. In the burrows they are accumulated in special places evidently set aside for the purpose. ”

“ Not infrequently, when surprised in a tree, a ground squirrel will for the time being "freeze" and attempt to escape being seen by remaining motionless. But after being further disturbed and once starting, he makes for the ground by the shortest route. ”

“ With the exception of one Siberian species (Tamias asiaticus) , ground-squirrels are confined to North America, where they are represented by a large number of species and races, all referable to the genus Tamias. In North America ground-squirrels are migratory, and may be abundant in a district one year, and absent the next. They feed on nuts, beechmast, corn and roots, and also on grubs. With the assistance of their cheek-pouches they accumulate large supplies of food for the winter, during which season they lie dormant in holes. ”

“ Because the lighter colors are paler in tone, the jet black side-stripes stand out with greater sharpness than in the Sierran race.
Color variations.—As in the Sierra Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel. In some specimens in fresh pelage the throat is pure white without a tinge of buff. Half-grown young just out of their nest-burrows show the characteristic paleness of their subspecies to as great a degree as adults in new coat. ”

“ All the evidence at hand indicates that each female raises but one litter each year. A female ground squirrel was taken on the University campus at Berkeley, on March 13, 1918, which contained eleven embryos each of which measured three-fourths of an inch long. ”

“ 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. ”

“ These forms are known as the Nelson ground squirrel and the Antelope ground squirrel. Neither are abundant enough to be of great economic importance. Golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermophilus sp.) , more often called red-headed chipmunks, are mountain species and seldom give trouble (Fig. 2) .
CONTROL OF GROUND SQUIRRELS.
H. J. .
There are two methods of destroying ground squirrels: first, by means of poisoned grain, and, second, by the liberation of carbon bisulfid in their burrows. ”

“ Their muddy tracks radiate from each den over the snow as the squirrels seek exposed forage.
General observations indicate that the female has only one litter each breeding season. The young do not reach adult size by the first autumn. Year after year, the ground squirrel population in the park is high. ”

“ Then, too, the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel eats meat, and even carrion, as we can testify from the persistency with which our meat-baited steel traps set for coyotes and other carnivores are sprung by the Copperheads. Indeed, it seems reasonable to infer that this ground squirrel would lose no opportunity to appropriate to its use the dead remains of any sort of animal. ”

“ The burrows of the Belding Ground Squirrel are generally located in the meadows which form their forage grounds. Sometimes, near timber line, one finds them in the scant gravelly soil between granite boulders, but always in or near patches of the kind of bunch grass occurring at such altitudes. The mounds are rarely conspicuous, and the holes open up to the surface steeply. Often there is no surplus earth at all around the mouths of the burrows, but this condition might be accounted for by the effects of washing from heavy rain or melting snow. ”

“ Man has destroyed a large percentage of the natural enemies of the ground squirrel. Cultivation of the land has, on the other hand, in portions of the state improved the food supply. The general tendency is for the squirrels to breed up on uncultivated land where they are least molested through human agency, and from this they spread out and invade nearby cultivated fields. ”

“ Just as the tree was ready to fall, and was wavering to and fro, the squirrel, that had kept on the topmost bough, sprang nimbly to the next tree, and then to another, and by the time the great pine had reached the ground, the squirrel was far away in his nest among his little ones, safe from hunters, guns, and dogs."
"The black squirrel must have wondered, I think, nurse, why so many men and dogs tried to kill such a little creature as he was. Do the black squirrels sleep in the winter as well as the flying squirrels and chitmunks?" ”

“ Upper surfaces of feet dull white; palms naked; soles of hind feet clothed with dull whitish hairs to about halfway forward from heel; claws blackish, with horn-colored tips. Tail flat-haired, but narrowly so, and tapering from base to tip; upper surface buffy drab; beneath dull white at base, becoming dusky pinkish buff toward end. Lower surface of body silvery white, faintly buff tinged, particularly as forming a band along each side, and with much of the leaden-hued bases of the hairs showing through.
We have at hand but two specimens of this ground squirrel, and these are both immature. ”

“ The height from which a squirrel will leap to the ground without sustaining injury, is one of those marvels witnessed by every squirrel-hunter. When a tree in which it has taken refuge is found not to afford sufficient shelter, and a neighbouring tree is not near enough for it to leap to, it then perceives the necessity of returning to the ground, to get to some other part of the woods. Some species, as the cat-squirrel, fearing to take the dreadful leap (often nearly a hundred feet) , rush down by the trunk. Not so the more active squirrels, as the common grey kind. ”

“ When feeding, the squirrel hunches over on its haunches, and uses both front feet and the fingers of these for holding and manipulating the food. When foraging the squirrels do much slinking along, with body horizontal and seemingly touching the ground. When a general alarm is sounded one sees them running in every direction, with a rather clumsy and not rapid, hopping gait. When so running the tail, short and never conspicuous, is held either out straight behind or raised at an angle of 30 degrees. ”

“ Because of the destructiveness of these rodents to the planted crops and native forage upon which man is dependent to a large extent directly or indirectly for his own food supply, the problem of ground squirrel control has become one of very immediate agricultural and pastoral importance. ”

“ The lives of the striped ground squirrels are so beset with peril that they always move abroad with watchful hesitation, pausing to listen, retreating toward their burrows at the slightest suspicious sound or movement, or rising bolt upright on their hind feet and remaining motionless as a small statue until satisfied that there is nothing to fear. ”

“ I mean that it cannot raise itself from the ground, like a bird can. But it can leap to a surprising distance, for besides a large bushy tail, it has a very curious membrane, or skin, on each side of its body, reaching from the fore to the hind leg. So when the flying squirrel leaps, it stretches out this skin as wide as possible, and as the air bears it up, it appears almost to fly from one tree to another. ”

“ Should he not succeed in discovering the desired object in the fields, he enters the forest and perches on some detached tree, tall enough to enable him to see to a great distance around. His posture is now erect, he remains still and silent, moving only his head, as on all other occasions, to enable his keen eye to note the occurrences which may take place in his vicinity. The lively Squirrel is seen gaily leaping from one branch to another, or busily employed in searching for the fallen nuts on the ground. ”

“ He sails through them a few yards above the ground, and suddenly alights on the low branch of a tree, or the top of a dead stump, from which he silently watches, in an erect posture, for the appearance of squirrels, upon which he pounces directly and kills them in an instant, afterwards devouring them on the ground. If accidentally discovered, he essays to remove the squirrel, but finding this difficult, he drags it partly through the air and partly along the ground, to some short distance, until he conceives himself out of sight of the intruder, when he again commences feeding. ”

“ The gray squirrel, who lives in a nest that he builds himself, is much more wary than the red squirrel or the chipmonk. The trap for him should be set in his runway on the ground, or in the branches of the tree which he frequents. ”

“ It lacks the long tufted ears of our Squirrel, the tail is shorter, and there are pouches inside the cheeks. Its general appearance is strikingly different from the Squirrel, for though its ground colour is red-brown, the eye is set in a white band divided into two stripes by a black line. A black stripe runs down the middle of the back, and in addition there is a white stripe bordered by black above and below along each side.
It feeds on nuts, beech-mast, grain, roots, and insects; migrating from place to place as local food-supplies become scanty. ”

“ The time to see the squirrels is in the early morning when they come to the ground to feed, and in the woods large numbers may be seen frisking about on the branches or chasing up and down the trunks. If alarmed the squirrel springs up a tree with extraordinary activity and hides behind a branch. ”

“ I must say that I felt quite envious, for I thoroughly understood that a squirrel built like that could jump ever so much further than I or any of my family could. We English squirrels can, at a pinch, clear as much as three yards in a straight line. We always spread our legs wide when we jump as well as keeping our tails stretched straight out, and that is why we can leap from great heights and reach the ground unhurt, for we drop parachute fashion. ”

“ Ground squirrels are agile climbers on cliffs and among rocks as well as in fruit trees, live oaks, and other low trees, but I have never seen them far from the ground in large trees. When on the ground they run in a series of bounds like tree squirrels. The long, bushy tail is carried almost straight out behind when they scamper off in alarm, but at other times is curved and undulating, much as in the tree squirrels. They gather and manipulate food with their front paws, sitting upright on their haunches to eat or look about. ”

“ Old woodpecker holes or natural cavities in trees are favorite nesting places, and the flying squirrel is almost never found away from the nest 38 except at night or when disturbed. It is a shy and retiring creature, preyed upon by owls, martens, weasels, and other small carnivorous animals on the rare occasions when it comes to the ground. Flying squirrels are omnivorous, nuts and other vegetable foods are apparently preferred, although meat is sometimes taken when available. ”