when in want of meat; are particularly busy at the approach of bad weather; during the cold season keep in their nest for several days together; seldom leap from tree to tree, only run up and down the bodies; their hordes are often destroyed by swine; and, when their magazines are covered with deep snow, the squirrels often perish for want of food; they are not easily shot, nimbly changing their place when they see the gun levelled; have the actions of the common squirrel; are easily tamed; and their flesh is esteemed very delicate. Their furs, which are imported under the name of petit-gris, are valuable, and used as linings to cloaks. 8. S. erythræus, the ruddy squirrel, is of a yellow color, mixed with dusky, on the upper parts; the under parts blood-red mixed with tawny; the tail the same, with a longitudinal blackish stripe; the ears slightly tufted. It is larger than the common squirrel; the fore 'paws have a large protuberance instead of a thumb. They inhabit India. 9. S. flavus, the fair squirrel, with the body and tail of a flaxen color; of a very small size, with plain round ears and rounded tail. Inhabits the woods near Amadabad, the capital of Guzerat, in great abundance, leaping from tree to tree. Linné says it is an inhabitant of Carthagena in South America. 10. S. Hudsonius, the Labradore squirrel, is of a ferruginous color along the back, the sides paler, and the belly ash color mottled with black; the tail is like the back, but barred and tipped with black; the ears are plain. It is smaller than the common squirrel, and apt to vary in color to a gray. They inhabit the pine forests of Labradore, and round Hudson's Bay. 11. S. Indicus, the Bombay squirrel, is of a dull purple color on the head, back, sides, and upper parts of the legs and thighs; the belly and lower parts yellow; the tail tipt with orange; the ears tufted. The head and body are sixteen inches long; the tail seventeen. They inhabit India, near Bombay. 12. S. Madagascarensis, the Madagascar squirrel, in the slowness of its pace and general manners resembles the sloth; but in the form of its tail, the number and form of its toes, five on each foot, and the number and arrangement of its teeth, it is more nearly allied to the squirrel. It lives in holes under ground; is slothful, timid, and sleeps much; it feeds chiefly on worms, picked from the hollows of trees by its toes. The middle toe on the fore feet is very long and naked; the thumb on the hind feet has a flat rounded nail. The ears are large, flattened, black, and covered thickly with rough hair; the face has two bunches of hair above the eyes, on the nose and cheeks, and under the chin; the fur is of two sorts, an under downy fleece-like wool, of a pale tawny, with longer straight black hairs intermixed, the face and throat are of a pale whitish tawny color; the tail is flattened, about eighteen inches long, covered with thick set white hair from the base to the middle, and the rest black; the toes on the fore paws are long; four of the claws on the hind feet are hooked and sharp-pointed. They inhabit the east side of Madagascar. 13. S. maximus, the Malabar squirrel, is of a red brown color on the upper parts; the under parts and tail black; the ears lightly tufted. It is about the size of a large cat; has small erect ears, long hair, strong black claws; and a smal! protuberance instead of a thumb on the fore paws, with a flat nail. They inhabit the Malabar coast, and province of Mane in India; feed chiefly on the milk of the cocoa nut, and have a loud sonorous voice. 14. S. niger, the black squirrel, with plain ears; sometimes wholly black, but often marked with white on the nose, the neck, or end of the tail; the tail shorter than that of the cinereus, the body equal. They inhabit the north of Asia, North America, and Mexico; breed and associate in separate troops; are equally numerous with the cinereus, commit as great ravages among the maize, make their nests in the same manner, and form magazines for winter food. The finest are taken near the lake Baikal, which are the best in all Siberia; these continue black the whole year, the others grow rusty in sum mer. 15. S. palmarum, the palm squirrel, is of a mixed black and red color, with three longitu dinal yellow stripes on the back and sides; the tail is encircled with coarse dirty yellow hair, and is barred with black.-Shreber. This species inhabit the hot regions of Asia and Africa; live much on cocoa nuts, and are fond of the sury, or palm wine, whence the Dutch call them suricatsjie, or little cats of the sury. They are only three inches long; the tail is as long, and is carried erect, the ears are short, broad, and fringed with hair at the edges; an obscure pale yellow stripe runs along the back, and other two on each side. The hair on the head, back, and sides, is a mixed black and red; on the thighs and legs redder; on the belly pale yellow. 16. S. petaurus australis, the southern flying squirrel, is the largest and most elegant of all the flying squirrels; its most remarkable characteris tic is the rounded thumbs or great toes of the hind feet, which are furnished with a flattened nail, while all the other toes, five to each foct, have sharp hooked claws; the two toes next this are united by the skin, but have separate claws; the color is a fine sable, or deep gray-brown, on the upper parts, darkest on the middle of the back, and the under parts are nearly white; the edges of the membrane are somewhat scalloped, and of a lighter color; the fur is exquisitely sof and beautiful; the tail is long and bushy, thickly clothed with very soft loose hair, longest towards the outer end; the ears are longish, and there is a black streak over each eye. They inhabit New South Wales. 17. S. petaurus petaurista, the Indian flying squirrel, or flying cat, has a tail longer than the body, flattened, and very full of long hair. Thus species is eighteen inches long from nose to rump; the head is rounded; the whiskers and claws are black; the female has six teats on the breast and belly; the eyes have long narrow pupils like those of a cat. They inhabit the islands of the Indian Ocean. There are two varieties. 18. S. petaurus sagitta, the arrow or Java flying squirrel, with a small round head, cloven upper lip; small blunt ears, two small warts at the utmost corner of each eye, with hairs grow ing out of them: neck short: four toes on the fore feet, and, instead of a thumb, a slender bone two inches and a half long, lodged under the lateral membrane, serving to stretch it out: thence to the hind legs extends the membrane, which is broad, and a continuation of the skin of the sides and belly: there are five toes on the hind feet; and on all the toes sharp compressed bent claws: the tail is covered with long hairs disposed horizontally; color of the head, body, and tail, a bright bay, in some parts inclining to orange breast and belly of a yellowish-white: length, from nose to tail, eighteen inches; tail fifteen. They inhabit Java, and others of the Indian islands leap from tree to tree as if they flew, and will catch hold of the boughs with their tails. Niewhoff, p. 354, describes this under the name of the flying cat, and says the back is black. 19. S. petaurus volans, the European flying squirrel, has round naked ears, full black eyes, and a lateral membrane from the fore to the hind legs tail with long hairs disposed horizontally, longest in the middle; its color above, a brownish ash, beneath, white tinged with yellow. They are much less than the common squirrel: inhabit Finland, Lapland, Poland, Russia, and North America; live in hollow trees; sleep in the day; during the night are very lively; are gregarious, numbers being found in one tree; leap from bough to bough, sometimes at the distance of ten yards. This action has improperly been called flying, but the animal cannot go in any other direction than forward; and even then cannot keep an even line, but sinks considerably before it can reach the place it aims at: sensible of this, the squirrel mounts the higher in proportion to the distance it wishes to reach: when it would leap, it stretches out the fore-legs, and, extending the membranes, becomes specifically lighter than it would otherwise be, and thus is enabled to spring farther than other squirrels that have not this apparatus. When numbers leap at a time, they seem like leaves blown off by the wind. Their food is the same as the other squirrels. They are easily tamed; and bring three or four young at a time. 20. S. petaurus volucella, the American flying squirrel, is of a brownish color on the upper parts; the belly white, tinged with yellow; the tail is flattened, broadest at the middle, and ends in a point. This species is easily tamed; it is about five inches long from nose to rump, with a round tail of four inches; the head is thickish; the eyes are black, large, and prominent; the ears roundish, transparent, almost naked, of a brownish ash color; the whiskers black, and longer than the head; the neck is short. The fur is very fine and soft, of an ash color, with white tips on the upper parts; on the lower, white and ash all around. The membrane extends from the ears to the fore and hind legs, adhering as far as to the toes; it includes a peculiar bone which is attached to the wrist, and helps to stretch it out in flying; on the hind legs it extends to the ancles. By this membrane the animal supports itself in the air, as if flying, for a considerable way; and it swims nearly in the same manner. This species' inhabit the temperate and warm parts of North America, living in societies in the woods, and feeding on fruits and seeds, which they procure in the evening, as they sleep much during the day. 21. S. striatus, the ground-squirrel, with plain ears; ridge of the back marked with a black streak; each side with a pale yellow stripe, bounded above and below with a line of black: head, body, and tail, of a reddish brown; the tail the darkest; breast and belly white; nose and feet pale red; eyes full. They inhabit the north of Asia, but are found most numerous in the forests of North America. They never run up trees except they are pursued, and find no other means of escaping; they burrow and form their habitations under ground, with two entrances, that they may get access to the one in case the other is stopped up. Their retreats are formed with great skill, in form of a long gallery, with branches on each side, each of which terminates in an enlarged chamber, as a magazine to store their winter provisions in; in one they lodge the acorns, in another the maize, in a third the hickory nuts, and in the last their favorite food the chinquapin chestnut. They very seldom stir out during winter, as long as their provisions last; but, if these fail, they will dig into cellars where apples are kept, or barns where maize is stored, and do a great deal of mischief; but at that time the cat destroys great numbers, and is as great an enemy to them as to mice. During the maize harvest they are very busy in biting off the ears, and filling their mouths so full with the corn that their cheeks are quite distended. They give great preference to certain food; for if, after filling their mouths with rye, they happen to meet with wheat, they fling away the first, that they may indulge in the last. They are very wild, bite severely, and are scarcely ever tamed; the skins are of little use, but are sometimes brought over to line cloaks. 22. S. vulgaris, the common squirrel, has ears terminated with long tufts of hair; large, lively, black eyes; head, body, legs, and tail, of a bright reddish brown; breast and belly white; hair on each side the tail lies flat. In Sweden and Lapland it changes, in winter, into gray. In Russia it is sometimes found black. In many parts of England there is a beautiful variety, with milkwhite tails. This species inhabit Europe and North America, the northern and the temperate parts of Asia: and a variety is even found as far south as the isle of Ceylon. It is a lively, active animal; lives always in woods: in the spring, the female is seen pursued from tree to tree by the males, feigning an escape from their embraces; makes its nest of moss and dried leaves between the fork of two branches; brings from three to seven young at a time; has two holes to its nest; stops up that on the side the wind blows, which was remarked by Pliny; lays in a hoard of winter provision, such as nuts, acorns, &c.; in summer, feeds on buds and young shoots; is particularly fond of those of fir, and the young cones; sits up to eat, and uses its fore-feet as hands; covers itself with its tail; leaps to a surprising distance; when disposed to cross a river, piece of wood often serves as its boat, its tail |