Besides, we do not perceive that the squirrels which are very frequent in our forests unite in troops; we do not see them travel in companies, approach the waters, nor cross rivers upon the bark of trees. Thus they differ from the grey squirrels, not only in size and colour but in natural habits; for although the navigations of the grey squirrels seem almost incredible, they are attested by so many witnesses that we cannot deny the fact.[AC]
[AC] The grey squirrels frequently remove their place of residence, and it not unoften happens that not one can be seen one winter where they were in multitudes the year before; they go in large bodies, and when they want to cross a lake or river, they seize a piece of the bark of a birch or lime, and drawing it to the edge of the water, get upon it, and trust themselves to the hazard of the wind and waves, erecting their tails to serve the purpose of sails; they sometimes form a fleet of three or four thousand, and if the wind proves too strong, a general shipwreck ensues, to the no small emolument of the Laplander who may fortunately find their bodies on the shore, as, if they have not lain too long, their furs will prepare in the usual manner; but if the winds are favourable they are certain to make their desired port. Oeuvres de M. Regnard, tom. i. p. 163.
Of all quadrupeds that are not domestic, the squirrel is, perhaps, the most subject to vary in shape and colour, and whose species has the greatest numbers of others that approach it. The white squirrel of Siberia seems to differ only in colour from our common squirrel. The black and the grey of America are, perhaps, only varieties of the grey squirrel. The squirrels of Barbary, Switzerland, and the palmist, are three species very much like each other.
We have very little information with regard to the grey squirrel. Fernandes says, that the grey or blackish squirrels of America dwell upon trees, particularly upon pines; that they feed upon fruits and seeds; that they provide provisions for the winter, and heap it up in some hollow tree, where they retire during that season, and where the female brings forth her young. The grey squirrel differs, then, from the others who make their nests at the tops of trees like birds, yet we do not pretend to affirm that the blackish squirrel, mentioned by Fernandes, is the same as the grey squirrel of Virginia, or that both of them are the same as the grey squirrel of Europe; we only think it is probable, as these three animals are nearly of the same size and colour, inhabit the same climates, are precisely of a similar form, and their skins being equally used in the furs, called the fur of the grey squirrel.
[THE PALMIST, THE SQUIRRELS OF BARBARY AND SWITZERLAND.]
THE palmist is about the size of a rat, or a small squirrel; he lives upon the palm-trees, from which he takes his name. Some call him the palm-rat, and others the palm-tree squirrel; but as he is neither a rat nor a squirrel, we call him palmist. ([fig. 123]) His head is nearly the same form as that of the campagnol, and covered with rough hair. His long tail does not lie on the ground, like that of the rat, but he carries it erect vertically, without, however, throwing it down on his back like the squirrel; it is covered with hair longer than that of his body, but shorter than the hair of the tail of a squirrel. His back is variegated with white and brown stripes, which distinguish the palmist from all other animals, except the squirrels of Barbary and Switzerland. These three animals are so much alike, that Mr. Ray thought they made but one species; but if we consider that the palmist and the squirrel of Barbary, are only found in the warm climates of the ancient continent, and that the squirrel of Switzerland, described by Lister, Catesby, and Edwards, is only to be met with in the cold and temperate regions of the New World, we must judge them to be different species. By minute observation it is easy to perceive that the white and brown stripes of the Swiss are disposed differently from those of the palmist, whose white stripe extends all along the back, while it is black or brown in the Swiss; and this brown stripe in the latter is followed by a white stripe, in the same manner as the white stripe in the former is by a brown; besides, the palmist has but three white stripes, while the Swiss has four; he also brings down his tail on his back, which the palmist does not: the latter dwells upon trees, and the Swiss is an inhabitant of the earth; from which difference he is called the land squirrel. In fine, he is smaller than the palmist, consequently there can be no doubt of their being two different species.
As for the squirrel of Barbary, as he is of the same continent and climate, of the same size, and nearly the same form as the palmist, they might be considered as varieties of the same species; yet in comparing the description and figure of the squirrel of Barbary, given by Caius, and copied by Aldrovandus and Johnson, with the description given here of the palmist, and comparing afterwards the description and figure of the squirrel of Barbary, given by Edwards, it is easy to discern that they are different animals. We have seen them all in the king’s cabinet. The squirrel of Barbary has the head and forehead more round, the ears longer, and the tail more bushy than the palmist; he is more like a squirrel than a rat, by the form of his head and body; and a palmist resembles more a rat than a squirrel. The squirrel of Barbary has four white stripes, and the palmist has no more than three; the white stripe is on the palmist’s back bone, but that on the squirrel of Barbary is brown and red. These animals have very near the same habits and dispositions as the common squirrel. Like him they feed upon fruit, and use their fore paws in carrying it to the mouth; they have the same voice and cry, the same instinct, and agility; they are lively and tractable, easily tamed, and so fond of their habitations, that they never go out but on diversion, and return spontaneously to their residence. They are both of a pretty figure; their coats, which has white stripes, is more valuable than that of the squirrel; their size is shorter, their body lighter, and their motions equally quick. The palmist, and the squirrel of Barbary, dwell on trees like the common squirrel, but the Swiss lives upon the earth, and, like the field mouse, forms a retreat that the water cannot penetrate; he is also less docile and less gentle than the two others; he bites without mercy, except completely tamed, from which it appears he is more like a rat, or a field mouse, than a squirrel, by instinct and nature.