Red squirrel

“ He slept well, but not long; for the red squirrel has always something on his mind to see to. In less than half an hour he whisked out again in great excitement, jumped from branch to branch till he was many yards from his own tree, and then burst forth into vehement chatter. He must have dreamed that some one was rifling his hoards, for he ran eagerly from one hiding-place to another and examined them all suspiciously. ”

“ Such scenes as this, combined with our knowledge of its bird-killing habits, appear belied by the exquisite grace and beauty of this squirrel as it sits on a branch and sends its musical cadences trilling through the primeval forest. So confirmed are red squirrels in the destruction of bird life, however, they should not be permitted to become very numerous anywhere and it may eventually become necessary to outlaw them wherever found. ”

“ The Black Squirrel sat on the edge of the bank, and dipping his nose well under the surface of the stream, drank deeply and long. Then he placed himself jauntily on his hind feet, and washed his face with his forepaws, splashing them in the stream from time to time as if he thoroughly enjoyed it.
"We are the only Black Squirrels in the world," he said with melancholy pleasure. "We find our homes in the woods and heights of North America, and even here we are becoming more rare, for the Red and Grey Squirrels drive us from our haunts, and hunters trap us for our fur." ”

“ All day long butterflies flit about in the shimmering sunlight, and by night thousands of fairies come out to dance in the pale moonlight.
In this town there once dwelt a young red squirrel named Tiny. He lived with his mother near the top of an oak tree. Mrs. Redsquirrel was a poor but industrious widow. Although red squirrels are said to be the most mischievous animals of the forest, she had taught Tiny to conduct himself in a proper way. In fact, he was much better behaved than Chatty Chipmunk, who lived in the ground at the foot of the tree. ”

“ The Red Squirrel by his color, during the summer it is a red-brown with a white vest bordered on the sides with a dark line. He changes his coat twice a year, and his winter garment is duller and not nearly so red, while the vest is gray without the dark border.
When you find a squirrel’s nest in the crotch of a tree instead of in a hole you may be pretty sure it belongs to the gray squirrel, which is said to be the most easily tamed of all its family.
Do not mistake
The Chipmunk for a squirrel, although he does resemble one and his lively chatter seems to be in the same language. ”

“ When I speak sharply to him, in the midst of his antics, he pauses a moment with uplifted paw, watching me intently, and then with a snicker springs upon a branch of an apple-tree that hangs down near the wall, and disappears amid the foliage. The red squirrel is always actively saucy, aggressively impudent. ”

“ The red squirrel is one of the wild things which I have thoroughly studied because I have had the opportunity to do so. When a writer asserts that the red squirrel is a poor provider, and without family ties, I know that his observations have been haphazard, and that he does not understand the life history of the little animal of which he writes. ”

“ If I can set him to scolding, all the birds in the neighborhood will flock this way to ascertain what the trouble is. The device works to a charm; in half a minute the excitement is intense. Nuthatches, white-throats, chickadees, kinglets, and wren, all take a hand in vituperating the intruder, and a youthful redstart comes from the opposite side of the way to satisfy his more gentle curiosity. One creature, strangely enough, remains neutral: a red squirrel, who sits on end at the top of a stump and gazes at me in silence. ”

“ You seldom see two woodchuck holes near each other, or two rabbit burrows. The red squirrel runs a fruit farm. He owns and controls trees that bear nuts or cones, and other reds respect his rights, and do not invade his territory unless there is a famine. A red squirrel will fight savagely for his home and property, and usually drives all intruders from his domain. ”

“ The red squirrel is also good food at certain times of the year, but because of its lesser size, and its greater agility and cunning, it has succeeded in living not merely despite of man, but because of man, for now he rifles corn cribs and grain bins and waxes opulent by levying tribute on man's own savings. ”

“ From contact with civilization some wild animals flourish while others are soon exterminated by association with man. To this latter class belongs the black squirrel. Within my own memory this beautiful creature was almost as common in the rural districts of New York State as was the red squirrel; but now it is seen no more except in most retired places; while the red squirrel, pugnacious and companionable, defiant and shy, climbs on our very roofs and sits there scolding us for daring to come within his range of vision. ”

“ Its general color is gray, as its name indicates, and it has a very large, bushy tail, which sometimes hides almost its whole body.
The red squirrel, or Chickaree, as he is sometimes called in the Middle States, is the next largest of the four, and is a common and beautiful animal, often seen on the trees by the road-sides. Frequently, you will hear a half barking and half twittering noise, and, looking up, you will see a red squirrel on the limb of a tree, a few feet above you, from which the sound proceeds. ”

“ The Red-squirrel is safe and happy only when in the tall trees, but his kinsmen have sought out any and every different environment. One enormous group of his great grandfather's second cousins have abandoned tree life altogether. They have settled down like the Dakota farmers, to be happy on the prairie, where, never having need to get over anything higher than their own front doorstep, they have lost the last vestige of power to climb. ”

“ Although the red squirrel is familiar to us all, yet, I think, there are few who really know its habits, which are as interesting as are those of bear or lion. Note, for example, the way he peeps at us from the far side of the tree, and the way he uses his tail as a balance and a help in steering as he leaps. ”

“ Hector and Louis remarked that the red and black squirrels never were to be found very near each other. It is a common belief that the red squirrels make common cause with the gray, and beat the larger enemy off the ground. The black squirrel, for a succession of years, was very rarely to be met with on the Plains, while there were plenty of the red and gray in the "oak openings." ”

“ Of the abundant smaller mammals, none are more attractive or beautiful than the arboreal squirrels, of which several species are widely known. One of these, the common red squirrel, is remarkable for its wide range and adaptability to a great variety of conditions. It is abundant in the valley of the Yukon and even north of the arctic circle, throughout the forest-covered portions of Canada, and as far south as the South Atlantic States. ”

“ Right or wrong, it is a fact that the red squirrel bears a disreputable character. He is called a thief because he takes the farmers' corn, and a bloodthirsty wretch for robbing birds' nests. From my experience with the chickaree I am led to believe that he is not so black as painted. I used to think that he spared neither eggs nor young, but savagely - 68 - robbed every bird's nest which he chanced to find. I certainly got this idea from books, for I cannot recall an instance where a bird's nest was robbed by a red squirrel. ”

“ It must have wings, but it has no feathers!"
"It has no wings, dear lady, but it has a fine ridge of fur, that covers a strong sinew or muscle between the fore and hinder legs; and it is by the help of this muscle that it is able to spring so far, and so fast; and its claws are so sharp that it can cling to a wall, or any flat surface. The black and red squirrels, and the common grey, can jump very far, and run up the bark of the trees very fast, but not so fast as the flying squirrel." ”

“ As to color, it seems as if there are two species, but it is only the difference between the young and the very old. Young squirrels are bright red on the back and sides, with the under parts usually a pure white. Old squirrels are red along the back bone, gray on the sides, and a dirty white below. Some specimens are shot that are nearly all gray. Gunners claim that such squirrels are a cross between the red and the gray, but they are simply old red squirrels.
Dame Nature has been unusually kind to the red squirrel. ”

“ Habits of the Red Squirrel.—Dr. R. Bell, of the Canadian Geological Survey, says that over more than one half of its range, the chickaree, or red squirrel (Sciurus Hudsonius, Pennant) , lives chiefly on the seeds of the black and the white spruce, and evidently thrives on this diet. "Their mode of obtaining a supply of cones is ingenious. The cones grow principally at the tops of the spruce-trees, and the largest and finest are always to be found there. ”

“ The red squirrel is quick-witted and full of resources. If new and unusual conditions confront him he is equal to the occasion. I have had proof of this hundreds of times.
I will relate one instance: I feed hemp-seed to the birds. The red squirrels and chipmunks are fond of the seed, and unless I stand guard, will manage to get the lion's share. The chipmunks stuff their pouched cheeks, and would carry away a bushel every day if it was fed to them.
When Tiny is present, no squirrel or chipmunk dares to meddle with the food. ”

“ We usually regard nuts as the main food of squirrels, but this is not necessarily so; for they are fond of the seeds of pines and hemlocks, and also hang around our orchards for apple-seeds. In fact, their diet is varied. The red squirrel is a great thief and keeps his keen eye on chipmunks and mice, hoping to find where they store their food so that he can steal it if he can do so without danger to his precious self. ”

“ The red squirrel, with its related small species, occupying most of the wooded parts of North America north of Mexico, forms a strongly characterized group, with no near kin among the squirrels of the Old World. In its geographic races it ranges through the forests of all Alaska and Canada and south to Idaho, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, northern Indiana, all the Northeastern States to the District of Columbia, and along the Alleghenies to South Carolina. ”

“ The male squirrel assists his mate to fill a storehouse for family use and then hides stores for himself on territory which he owns. Most observers see the squirrel hiding nuts here and there, and jump to the conclusion that he is improvident. When there are nuts the red squirrel lays up a store for his family and for himself, so that he and his family are well fed through the winter. ”

“ America is particularly rich in squirrels. Not counting ground-squirrels or chipmunks, we have over seventy-five different forms on this continent. The widest spread is probably the red-squirrel; but the best known in the United States is the common gray-squirrel. Its gray coat white breast, and immense {142} bushy tail are familiar to all eastern children. It is found in most of the hardwood timber east of the Mississippi and south of the Ottawa River and the State of Maine. Most of the nut trees in the woods of this region were planted by the gray-squirrel. ”

“ He bitterly assails the red squirrel as a nest-robber, but some things in his story lead me to think he has culled the library for his statements. This story may fit a chipmunk: "that the squirrel brought six chest-nuts to his store, which he emptied from his 'cheek pockets.'" I venture to say, that no man living ever saw a red squirrel carry six nuts at one mouthful. This squirrel has no cheek pouches like the chipmunk, and usually carries one nut, seldom two at a time. ”

“ Even the red squirrel (Sciurus hudsonianus) of North America retains its activity in spite of the sub-arctic conditions that prevail. The same is true of its European ally Sc. vulgaris. The North American grey squirrel (Sc. cinereus) , although more southerly in its distribution than the red squirrel of that country, hibernates partially. Specimens running wild in the Zoological Gardens in London disappear for a day or two when the cold is exceptionally keen, but for the most part they may be seen abroad throughout the season. ”

“ Each squirrel makes its home for a long period in or about a certain tree. There he carries his cones to extract the seeds, and on the ground beneath it the accumulation of fallen scales and centers of cones sometimes amounts to fifteen or twenty bushels. In addition to the seeds of the various conifers, red squirrels eat many kinds of fruits and seeds; they also raid cornfields and orchards and even make nests in barns and woodsheds to be near the food supply which some farmer’s industry has collected. ”

“ But the truth is that I describe wild life just as I find it, not as some books say I ought to find it. If - 98 - the red squirrel was as destructive as reported, there would not be a young bird reared around my cabin. My notes show that last year the following named birds nested near my cabin, and probably every nest was known and visited by the red squirrel:
A ruffed grouse nest was looted by the crows when it contained but four eggs, after which the bird resorted to a swamp, and reared a brood. ”

“ There is a black variety, quite rare, but mating freely with the gray, from which he seems to be distinguished only in color.
The track of the red squirrel may be known by its smaller size. He is more common and less dignified than the gray, and oftener guilty of petty larceny about the barns and grain-fields. He is most abundant in old bark-peelings, and low, dilapidated hemlocks, from which he makes excursions to the fields and orchards, spinning along the tops of the fences, which afford, not only convenient lines of communication, but a safe retreat if danger threatens. ”