Before the deforestation of this country had destroyed so many of its natural haunts this species was extremely abundant and not only sometimes raided cultivated fields to the great loss of the farmer, but occasionally migrated in great numbers, even crossing large rivers like the Ohio. Squirrel shooting is a favorite pas time with many, and were it not for the de struction which it entails of such lovable and sprightly animals could be commended as one of the pleasantest of sports, the pursuit of which takes one into forests of noble old trees in the most •exhilarating season of the year. It necessitates long cross-country walks without the assistance of a dog, and requires a quick eye and steady hand to bring down the alter nately appearing and disappearing game as it leaps and bounds among the topmost branches or projects itself through space from tree to tree. The practice of the Kentucky pioneers of abarlcingo squirrels has been too often graphically described by Audubon and others to require more than a passing comment.
The fox squirrel (S. rufiventer), which now inhabits almost exclusively the pine forests of the Southern States, is a large species. The body is 14 inches in length and the tail 12. The color is usually a rusty gray or clay color, whitish below and tending on the tail to rufous, margined with black; the top of the head black and the nose and ears white. The colors are, however, exceedingly variable, rang ing from gray to deep black. The tail, though large, is less bushy, flatter, and the hair coarser than in the gray squirrel. Some of the varie ties of the fox-squirrel extend northward through the mountains to New York and west ward to the Dakotas, hut have been nearly ex terminated in most places and none are quite so large as the typical southern race. In gen eral the habits of the fox-squirrel differ little from those of the gray squirrel, but in the South at least it does not hibernate nor store 'food, which consists largely of fruits, green corn, etc. Because of its large size it is much sought for food by the natives.
Of all our squirrels the most abundant and best known in the northeastern United States is the red squirred or chickaree (S. hudsonicus) which, like the others, splits into several sub species and with related western species oc cupies British America and the northern half of the United States. In the east the high mountains of North Carolina are the southern limit of its range. The body is eight and the rather thinly haired tail six inches long, the color bright rusty red above, yellowish gray to light gray on the sides and below. Of all the squirrels this species is the most active, noisy and mischievous, constantly tearing. over the ground and through the trees, playing, quarrel ing and chattering with its fellows. In most places it continues active through the winter. They breed and sleep in warm, lined nests m hollow trees or in old nests of crows and other large birds roofed over with twigs, leaves, bark of grape vines, etc.; they also have burrows; used partly as retreats, partly as one of their numerous storehouses for food. Besides nuts, etc., red squirrels feed largely on the seeds of spruce and hemlock, which they extract from the cones with great skill, and they are in veterate robbers of birds' nests, as well as of the farmers' corn-cribs. A remarkable fact is
that, though so much inferior in size, this species frequently expels the gray squirrel from certain areas and it is true almost everywhere in the New England and Middle States that it is increasing and the gray squirrel decreasing in numbers.
The ground squirrels (Tamias and Eu tamias) are provided with a pair of large cheek pouches and a well-developed nail on the thumb. The skull is relatively light and narrow, the first upper premolar minute or absent, the tail small and little bushy and the colors striped. The species and races are numerous, all but one Eurasiatic species being North American. The eastern chipmunk (q.v.) or ground hackee (T. striatus) is abundant everywhere in open woods from New England to Georgia, a dis tinct variety replacing it farther north.
Spennophilus is a genus, represented by numerous species in western North America and one in northern Asia and Europe, transi tional between the ground squirrels, which they closely resemble in appearance and habits and the marmots. In deed they are ordinarily called striped marmots and by some zoologists are placed in the family Arctomyince. All have large cheek pouches, well-developed upper pre molars and usually short tails; but vary greatly in colors and their pattern. S. tridecenlineatus is marked with six light longitudinal stripes al ternating with seven rows of white dots on a brown ground. It is an abundant species on the prairies as far east as Illinois and is often wrongfully called "gopher." • Lastly come the flying squirrels, the Ameri can species of which belong to the genus Sciur opterus. In the absence of cheek-pouches and some other features of their organization these remarkable animals more closely resemble the typical squirrels than the ground-squirrels, but N depart widely from these and all other orth American mammals in the possession of a densely hairy fold of skin extending along the sides and connecting the fore and hind legs, forming a parachute which, when extended, sup ports the animal on its flying leaps from tree to tree. The tail also assists in this function, the dense fine fur spreading at the sides like the vane of a feather. The common species (S. volans) is found throughout the eastern half of the United States north to Maine, where it is replaced by a distinct species. See FLYING SQUIRREL.
The squirrels of Europe in general resemble ours, but are less numerous. The common Brit ish squirrel, pictures of which are so common, is distinguished by its tufted ears; but our gray squirrel is becoming acclimated in England and is said to be driving away from its haunts the smaller native. Many of the African, and espe cially those of Borneo and neighboring islands, are remarkable for their large size, conspicu ously striped fur, tufted ears or other peculiari ties.
Consult Allen, 'Bull. Geol. Geog. Sur. Ter ritories,) Vol. IV (Washington 1878) ; Allen, 'North American Arboreal Squirrels,' 'Ameri can (1899) ; Bailey, 'Prairie Ground Squirrels,' Bull. Biological Soc. of Washington (1893); Stone and Cram, 'American (New York 1900).