Part 24

The fox squirrels become fatter than most of their kind and their flesh is not so dry, although all furnish appetizing meat. Owing to their size and the quality of their flesh, they have been such desirable game animals that with the constantly growing number of hunters and the destruction of forests they have already disappeared from large areas where formerly abundant and are in real danger of extermination in the not-distant future. They are among the most notable and attractive of the forest animals in the Eastern States, and before it is too late every effort should be made to protect them from overshooting. With reasonable conservation they will continue to thrive and keep some of the old-time primitive spirit in our woods. Formerly they had the same predilection as the gray squirrel for the farmers’ corn fields and were under the ban, but their numbers are now so reduced that they give little trouble in this way. In some city parks where they have been introduced, they soon become tame and do well, except that in losing their fear of man they become subject to many accidents.

Fox squirrels, like many others of their kind, have homes both in knot-holes or other hollows in tree trunks, and in bulky nests of sticks and leaves high up among the branches. Both kinds of nesting places are often located in the same tree, the owner living in the outside nest in warm weather and retiring to the shelter of the hollow trunk in severe weather or to escape an enemy. The young, two to four in number, are usually born in March or April, and it is not definitely known whether there is a second litter. These squirrels have a barking call as well as several other rather deep-toned chucking notes.

They are as omnivorous as any of their kind, eating many kinds of nuts, seeds, fruits, mushrooms, insects, birds, birds’ eggs, and other flesh food when available. The principal nuts in their haunts are hickory-nuts, beechnuts, walnuts, pecan nuts, and the seeds of pines and cypresses. Toward the end of summer and in fall they work busily gathering and storing food for winter in hollow trees, in old logs, about the roots of trees, and in any other snug place where it may be kept safely until needed. Many single nuts are buried here and there in little pits three or four inches deep dug in the soft surface of the earth under the trees. These scattered stores are located when needed by the acute sense of smell which the owners possess.

=THE ABERT SQUIRREL= (=Sciurus aberti= and its subspecies)

(_For illustration, see page 550_)

THE KAIBAB SQUIRREL (Sciurus kaibabensis)

(_For illustration, see page 550_)

Among the many kinds of squirrels which lend animation and charm to the forests of North and South America, none equal in beauty the subjects of this sketch--the Abert and the Kaibab squirrels. These are the only American squirrels endowed with conspicuous ear tufts, which character they share with the squirrels occupying the forests in the northern parts of the Old World from England to Japan. In weight they about equal a large gray squirrel, but are shorter and distinctly more heavily proportioned, with broader and more feathery tails.

Their range covers the pine-forested region of the southern Rocky Mountains in the United States and the Sierra Madre of western Mexico. The Abert squirrel and its several subspecies is the more widely distributed, being found from northern Colorado, south through New Mexico, Arizona, Chihuahua, and Durango. The Kaibab squirrel, which is even more beautiful than its relative, shows marked differences in appearance and yet is evidently derived from the same species.

The typical Abert squirrel lives in the pine forests along the southern rim of the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, and the Kaibab squirrel lives in the pines visible on the northern rim of the canyon less than 15 miles away. It is confined to an islandlike area of pine forest above 70 miles long by 35 miles wide, on the north side of the canyon, on the Kaibab and Powell plateaus, directly across from the end of the railroad at the Grand Canyon Hotel. The two species live under practically identical conditions as to vegetation and climate.

In these sketches of our mammal life I have repeatedly noted the effect of changing environment in modifying the animals subject to it. In the present case the change in the squirrels on the north side of the Grand Canyon has evidently been brought about by that powerful factor in evolution known as isolation. Cut off from their fellows by the deepening canyon of the Colorado, Kaibab squirrels have occupied a forest island ever since, with the resulting change in characters we now have in evidence.

The home of both the Abert and the Kaibab squirrels is almost entirely between 6,000 and 9,500 feet altitude, on the mountain slopes and high plateaus overgrown with a splendid open forest of yellow pine mixed in many places with firs and aspens. Occasionally, as food becomes scarce in their ordinary haunts, they range up into the firs or down into the oaks and piñon pines. In winter their haunts are buried in snow, but in summer on every hand present lovely vistas among the massive tree trunks, varied here and there by gemlike parks. Everywhere the ground is covered with grasses and multitudes of flowering plants. In the wilder parts of this fascinating wilderness roam bears, mountain lions, wolves, deer, and wild turkeys, and only a few decades ago still wilder men, belonging to some of our most dreaded Indian tribes.

Although these squirrels commonly make use of large knot-holes or other hollows in trees, they regularly build high up in the branches bulky nests of leaves, pine needles, and twigs and line them with soft grass and shredded bark. Sometimes several full-grown squirrels may be found occupying one of these outside nests, probably members of one family. They are active throughout the year, but remain in their nests during storms and severe winter weather. In northern Arizona I have known them to stay under cover for a week or two at a time in midwinter.

The young appear to be born at varying times between April and September. Although not definitely known, it seems probable that they have two litters of from three to four young each season.

The seeds and the tender bark from the terminal twigs of the yellow pine (_Pinus ponderosa_) furnish their principal food supply. During periods when pine seeds are not available the squirrels cut the ends of pine twigs, letting the terminal part bearing the leaves fall to the ground, while the stem, several inches in length, is stripped of bark. Often at times of food scarcity the bark will be eaten for a considerable distance along the outer branches, almost like the work of porcupines. The ground under the pines where the squirrels are at work is sometimes almost covered with the freshly dropped tips of branches.

The Abert squirrels also eat the seeds of Douglas spruce, of the piñon pine, acorns, many seeds, roots, green vegetation, mushrooms, birds’ eggs, and young birds. Now and then they rob cornfields planted in clearings, but they do little damage to crops. Some years they are extremely numerous and are in evidence everywhere; again they become scarce and so wary that it is difficult to see one, even where its fresh workings are in evidence.

Both these squirrels have a deep churring or chucking call, sometimes becoming a barking note resembling that of the fox squirrel. They also have a variety of chattering and scolding notes when excited or angry. At times they become almost as aggressive as the red squirrel and come down the tree trunk or to a lower branch, whence they scold and berate the object of their disapproval.

When much alarmed they are expert at hiding among tufts of leaves near the ends of branches, on tops of large limbs, or behind trunks. They will remain hidden in this way for an hour or more, patiently waiting for the danger to disappear, but one is often betrayed by the wind blowing the feathery tip of its tail into view.

On the ground the tail is usually carried upraised in graceful curves. Here these squirrels spend much time among fallen cones and in digging for roots and other food. When they walk they have an awkward waddling gait, but when they are alarmed, or desire to move more rapidly for any cause, they progress in a series of extremely graceful bounds, which show the plumelike tail to good advantage. When the Kaibab squirrel is moving about on the ground its great white tail is extraordinarily conspicuous in the sunshine. This repeatedly drew my attention to these squirrels, even at such long distances that they would otherwise have been overlooked.

Although so heavily built, these squirrels are adept in leaping from branch to branch and from tree to tree. On one occasion a branch on which an Abert squirrel was standing near the top of a pine tree was struck by a rifle ball; the squirrel promptly ran to the end of a large branch about fifty feet from the ground, and although no tree was anywhere near on that side, leaped straight out into the air, with its legs outspread just as in a flying squirrel. It came down in a horizontal position and struck the ground flat on its under side and the rebound raised it several inches. Without an instant’s delay it was running at full speed across a little open park and disappeared in the forest on the other side. I was standing only a few yards to one side of the falling squirrel and the widely spread feet and legs were perfectly outlined against the sky. It was evident that this squirrel and probably all of its kind appreciate that such an attitude will help break the force of the descent. This suggested the possibility of a similar habit having influenced the origin of the flying squirrel’s membranes.

One summer day in the Sierra Madre of western Durango I sat on a mountain slope watching for game. Below me stood the hollow-topped stub of an oak, the top being on a level with my eyes and about twenty yards away. Soon after I arrived the heads of four half-grown squirrels of the Abert family appeared in a row at the upper border of the opening, their bright eyes turning on all sides. Suddenly a hawk glided by, one of its wing tips almost brushing the noses of the squirrels. Instantly they vanished from sight and a noise of scratching and frightened chattering continued for several minutes, as though they were burying themselves under the nest. About twenty minutes later the boldest of the family showed the tip of his nose at an opening in a hollow branch near the top of the stub, but it required another ten minutes for him to venture forth his head. Finally, becoming confident that no danger threatened, he came out on the limb and deliberately stretched himself, yawning as widely as his little mouth would permit, after which he flirted his tail and frisked over to the trunk of the stub, where he began frolicking about with all the abandon of a kitten at play. When I departed his more timorous companions were still peering fearfully out of the hole, anticipating the return of the dreaded hawk.

=THE FLYING SQUIRREL= (=Glaucomys volans= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 551_)

No one can see one of our small flying squirrels in life without being charmed by its delicate grace of form and velvety fur, nor fail to note the large black eyes which give it a pleasing air of lively intelligence. Flying squirrels are distinguished from all other members of the squirrel family by extensions of the skin along the sides, which unite the front and hind legs, so that when the animal leaps from some elevated point with legs outspread the membrane and the underside of the body present a broad, flat surface to the air. This enables it to glide swiftly down in a diagonal course toward a tree trunk or other vertical surface on which it desires to alight. It is able to control its movements and to turn with ease to one side or the other, or upward before alighting. When gliding down a wooded hillside or through thick growths of timber, it is thus able to avoid obstacles and alight on the desired place.

Flying squirrels are circumpolar in distribution. In the Old World they occupy forested areas in eastern Europe, and nearly all of Asia. In the New World they are peculiar to North America, where they frequent nearly all the wooded parts from the Arctic Circle to the Mexican border, and in forests in Mexico along the eastern border of the highlands as well as through Chiapas and Guatemala. In Asia, the center of development of these interesting rodents, many extraordinary forms occur. Some are giants of their kind, measuring nearly four feet in total length. In America there are two groups of species, the smaller and better known of which, the subject of this sketch, occupies the eastern United States and southward. The northern and western animals are larger, some of them more than twice the weight of the eastern species.

In many parts of the United States flying squirrels are common and even abundant, but their habits are so strictly nocturnal that they are infrequently seen. They make their homes in woodpecker holes, knot-holes, and hollows in limbs, and trunks of trees and stubs. In addition they take possession of many odd places for residence, among which may be mentioned bird-boxes, dove-cotes, attics, cupboards, boxes, and other nooks in occupied or unoccupied houses that are located within or at the borders of woods.

They also make nests of leaves, lining them with fine fibrous bark, grass, moss, fur, or other soft material placed securely in the branches or in forks in trees. They often remodel old bird or squirrel nests into snug homes for themselves. The size and construction of these outside nests vary according to the locality and the material available.

As a rule, the nests are small and accommodate only a single pair with their young, and sometimes hold only a single individual, but numerous exceptions to this have been observed. In southern Illinois fifty flying squirrels were discovered in one nest in a tree; in Indiana fifteen were found in a hollow stump; and near Philadelphia thirty were evicted from a martin box they had usurped.

In the southern part of their range flying squirrels are active throughout the year, but in the North they become more or less sluggish if they do not actually reach the stage of real hibernation during the severest weather.

Their food is extremely varied and includes whatever nuts grow in their haunts, as beechnuts, pecans, acorns, and others, with many kinds of seeds, including corn gathered in the field, and buds, and fruits of many kinds. They also eat many insects, larvæ, birds and their eggs, and meat. Taking advantage of their known liking for bird flesh, they may frequently be caught by concealing a trap on top of a log in the woods and scattering bird feathers over and about it. Trappers for marten and other forest fur-bearers are much annoyed in winter by the persistence with which the flying squirrels search out their traps and become caught in them, thus forestalling a more valued capture. Trappers in Montana who run long lines of traps for marten through the mountain forests capture hundreds of these squirrels in a single season.

Flying squirrels have several notes, one of which is an ordinary _chuck, chuck_, much like that of other squirrels. They also utter sharp squeaks and squeals when angry or much alarmed, and a clear musical chirping note, birdlike in character, which is frequently repeated for several minutes in succession and is undoubtedly a song.

These beautiful little animals become the most delightful of pets, as they are notable for extraordinary playfulness and a readiness to accept man as a friend. Many interesting accounts have been published concerning the affectionate attachment they form for their human hosts and the amusing and tireless activity they show at night. By day they remain sound asleep, rolled up in a furry ball in some dark corner.

They are known to have a litter of from two to six young in April, and young are born at various times throughout the summer, but it is still unsettled whether there is more than one litter a year. The mother is devoted to the young, and if driven from them will keep close by at the risk of her life, showing much anxiety and readiness to do what she can to protect them. One instance well illustrates this maternal care. From a nest in a hollow stub the helpless young were taken and placed on the ground at its base, while the despoiler of the home stood by to observe the result. The mother soon returned and not finding her family in the nest promptly located them on the ground. Quickly descending, she took one in her mouth, carried it to the top of the stub and, launching into the air, sailed to a tree thirty feet away, up which she carried her baby and placed it safely in a knot-hole. The trip was quickly repeated until the family was reunited in its new location.

At night the curiosity of flying squirrels about strange things and their mischievous activities are often most entertaining, and sometimes exasperating. Whatever is accessible within their territory is certain to be thoroughly explored. A large apartment building, seven stories high, in Washington stands on the border of the woods of the Zoological Park. During one summer night a friend occupying an apartment on the seventh floor of this building, fronting the park, observed some movement on one of his window sills and by later observation and by inquiry among the other residents learned that flying squirrels were habitually climbing all about the high walls to the top of this building, using it and some of the rooms as a nightly playground. Several occupants of apartments in different parts of the building regularly placed nuts of various kinds on the window ledges for them, and now and then were amused to find that during the night the squirrels had carried away some of their nuts, but had replaced them with other kinds, sometimes brought from a window at a considerable distance on another side of the building. The presence of these squirrels was warmly welcomed and furnished much interest to their hosts.

The constant activity of these little animals at night enables owls and cats to capture many, but their small size and the shelter of their homes by day will prevent their serious decrease in numbers so long as suitable forests remain to supply their needs.

=THE BLACK-FOOTED FERRET= (=Mustela nigripes= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 551_)

Of all the varied forms of mammalian life in America, the black-footed ferret has always impressed me as one of the strangest and most like a stranded exotic. It is about the size of a mink, but, as the illustration shows, is entirely different in appearance and has the general form of a giant weasel. It has no close relative in America, but bears an extraordinarily close resemblance in size, form, and color to the Siberian ferret (_Mustela eversmanni_).

The black-footed ferret occurs only in the interior of the United States, closely restricted to the area inhabited by prairie-dogs, from the Rocky Mountains eastward and from Montana and the Dakotas to western Texas. It is known also west of the mountains in Colorado. Like others of the weasel tribe, it must have a wandering disposition, since one was captured at 9,800 feet altitude, and another was found drowned at 10,250 feet in Lake Moraine, Colorado.

These ferrets exist as parasites in the prairie-dog colonies, making their homes in deserted burrows and feeding on the hapless colonists. In Kansas their presence in certain localities appears to have been effective in exterminating prairie-dogs, and similar activities may account for the deserted “dog towns” which are not infrequently observed on the plains with no apparent reason for the absence of the habitants.

They do not appear to be numerous in any part of their range and little is known concerning their habits. Now and then they are seen moving about prairie-dog “towns,” passing in and out of the burrows at all hours of the day, but it is probable that they are mainly nocturnal. This probability is strengthened by the extreme restlessness shown at night by captive animals. With the occupation of the country and the inevitable extinction of the prairie-dog over nearly or quite all of its range, the black-footed ferret is practically certain to disappear with its host species.

It has the same bold, inquisitive character shown by the weasel, and when its interest is excited will stand up on its hind legs and stretch its long neck to one side and another in an effort to satisfy its curiosity. When surprised in a “dog town” it commonly retreats to a burrow, but promptly turns and raises its head high out of the hole to observe the visitor. As a result ferrets are readily killed by hunters. When one is captured it will at first hiss and spit like a cat and fight viciously, but is not difficult to tame.

Although mainly dependent upon prairie-dogs for food, there is little doubt that ferrets, after the manner of their kind, also kill rabbits and other rodents in addition to taking whatever birds and birds’ eggs may be secured. In one instance a black-footed ferret lived for several days under a wooden sidewalk in the border town of Hays, Kansas, where it killed the rats harboring there.

=THE LARGE WEASELS, OR STOATS= (=Mustela arcticus= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 554_)