FLYING SQUIRREL, a tree-dwelling squirrel having the skin along the sides of the body between the fore and hind legs loose and capable of being drawn out by extending the legs, so as to form a parachute, enabling the animal to take long, sailing leaps. The fur is peculiarly soft and dense and the tail is long, flat horizontally and broadly furry. The two North American species are the common eastern squirrel (Sciuropterus votucella) and the northern one (S. sabrinus). The former is to be found from Maine to Florida, and westward to the treeless plains, but is rarely visible during the day, when it remains hidden in some hole in a tree, going out at dusk in search of food, which consists of buds, nuts, insects,. etc., like other squirrels. In such a hole the family dwells in winter, snugly bedded in fur and other soft materials, and having a store of nuts laid up near by; but most of the time in the colder part of its range is passed in sleep. Occasionally in summer an old bird's nest is converted into a cooler home. When' abroad these squirrels creep about the trunks of trees, and take large slanting leaps, some of nearly 30 yards from higher to lower points, swinging up gracefully to their alight ing. They can make little if any change of
direction in these glides. The common eastern species measures about nine inches, and the tail and additional four inches. It is bluish-gray tinged with brownish or bully. Throughout Canada, as far north as forests extend, lives a larger species (S. sabrinus), which is glossy wood-brown above and white below, becoming sooty-drab in summer. It has similar habits to the other. Dwelling in winter in warmly fur nished holes made by woodpeckers, as a rule, and in summer constructing globular nests of twigs and leaves. A variety (alpinus) is peculiar to the Rocky Mountains. Several other species of this genus inhabit Asia and northern Europe, one also occurring in India.
Siberia has a species of the genus Ptromys which is 18 inches long in body, and has a tail exceeding this length. Its parachute extends from the hind leg to the tail. Another species (Eupetaurus cinereus) is confined to the high Himalayas, and subsists principally on moss. A more remote family (Anomaluridcr, the scaled squirrels) in Africa contains several species with similar power of flight.