Evening star., 1946-10-22
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Trace,peH.

A correspondent out Bethesda way
wants to know If the black squirrel in
his yard is different species from the
common gray squirrel.
1t Is not 1t is the same animal in q
black or melaniStic form.
Its habits are slightly different, how
ever, because it suffers from the dislike
of all the other squirrels In the vicinity.
This form of persecution, not un-
known among humans (and therefore
showing another link in the kinship to
aninals) does not arise until the animal
reaches maturity.
A mother gray may have four babies.
two Of them ordinary gray in color, and
two of them black.
Often this black is rather on the rusty
side, just as it is in black cats.
A really black cat is very rare. Most
Of them are rusty in appearance, espe-
cially when the sun strikes them.
The number of black cats in and
around Washington has been increasing
in recent years At one time the Ma
tional Capital was famous for its all
tiger cats, but in recent years the blacks
and black -and-whites have taken over
The latter are the most stubborn of
animals. Any thing they want to do,
they keep at until they do it.
The mother gray squirrel with both
gray and black babies takes the same
care of both
Both colors live together amicably.
It is not here as it is with the all
white penguin, which Is deserted by its
own parents, and then pecked to death
by the tribe.
The all-black squirrel is accepted all
his life, but in a declining manner as
he grows into maturity.
He is never actually beset by the 9TH
ers, but they will nip at him II he enters
q yard where there are several of the
normal forms.
He has no trouble in finding q mate,
and lives, by and large, happy life,
but it is easy for an observer to see that
he suffers from his different color.
Almost always when he enters a yard
where bird feeding is carried on. he is
chased away by the gray squirrels that
may have taken over the feeder.
Thus the life of the melanistic, while
not unhappy, lacks the comradeship
which seems to be a part Of the life of
these curious. happy, humorous crea-
lures
There seem to be certain centers Of
black squirrel life in and around Wash
ington. One of these is in the yard Of
the old school building just south Of
Chevy Chase Circle.
Another is in Takoma Park, and still
another over near the Arlington Ma
tional Cemetery.
The albino is still another phase of
the gray squirrel 1t is much rarer than
the melanistic. A few of them have
been seen in Georgetown from time to
time.
In the small park at Seventeenth and
I streets there is a very light, almost
silver gray, squirrel
He is quite prominent, but seldom
comes out on the sidewalk, confining his
activities to hiding nuts furnished him
by noon-time lunchers.
y \ X X
Some may feel inclined to doubt the
sense of humor of squirrels, believing
that it is rather the result of the ami
mails quick and nervous movements.
Close observation, however, in time
will convince these doubters that here
is an animal with genuine sense OF the
ridiculous.
This he shares with the blue jay, also
an undoubted humorist.
The sense of humor among human
beings is something connected with a
deviation from the normal. Much OF
our every day fun results from seeing
the incongruity in situation. We be-
lieve that the squirrel and jay, though
belonging to a world different from
ours-a world that never invented en-
gines of destruction-have a certain
small conception of the congruous and
Its opposite. Certainly squirrel on
his haunches, eating a nut and defying
the world, knows how cute he looks.
One may feel sure of it. And when the
rascal leaps and jumps and rushes
through the trees, he knows, too. how
clever it is AS for the jay, that fellow
also knows the ridiculous when he sees
it, else why does he scream 70 IN
derision?