Evening star., 1947-11-28
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Trnce1UeH

correspondent who has not lived in Wash
ington very long wonders if the squirrels here
hibernate
They do not That is the answer: these are
gray squirrels, and they do not go into hiding
for the winter
She also wonders if they can find enough
to eat.
Yes, they seldom go hungry, thanks to the
munificence of kind persons like herself.
The local squirrels do not hide food away in
dens, as do the red specimens In the West, but
content themselves with burying nuts and seeds
in the ground.
It is always question how much of this
food they find, but evidently it is enough to
tide them over the cold.
They also find berries and seeds of old
withered ANIMALS. The food put into the
ground must often be spoiled before they
get to it, since the shells are often taken off
and only the meat buried.
Still, there is such burying going on day
after day in the parks, and suburban yards,
that much of 1t must be found.
When tc this buried treasure of food is added
that put out by kind persons, and that offered
the squirrels in the parks, it may be believed
that few il any of them really go hungry.
Perhaps our squirrels are remembered for a
lifetime by many visitors here, especially If
they have frequented the local parks, triangles
and circles.
Rock Creek Park, the creek ITSELF and many
other fingers of green that intrude into the
city Of brick and asphalt, afford the squirrels
plenty Of living space.
There are practically no red squirrels, al
though some deep brown may be found mixed
with some of the gray coats.
Two color phases are known beside the gray.
These are the black and the white. The latter
is the albino, and is not too often encountered
but there must be several thousand of the
black or melanistic form.
The black squirrels range in tone from
rusty black. such as is often seen in black cats
(so-calledD to real deep black.
These animals live with the gray ones, and
mate with them, but seldom are welcomed by
the grays at feeding stations In a typical
litter of black mother and a gray father
there may be three black young ones and one
gray.
The albino or white squirrel is compara-
lively rare, but not SO unusual as to excite
much attention There are some very pale OF
pearl gray specimens, especially in the down.
town parks.
The gray squirrel is much more peaceful
than its red cousin of the West. 1t is not given
to killing birds, and usually gets along very well
with the letter at feeding stations in the cold.
It is true that one squirrel will keep score
of songsters from a tray, but this does not
mean much after all, because the squirrel
rakes out and throws to the ground enough food
to keep them busy
Yet the sight of squirrel hogging the tray
of feeding station often makes the new
conner to bird feeding very angry. He spends
time and money and much evaporation over
the problem of creating a "squirrel-proof"
feeding device. He seldom succeeds. The
rodent is intelligent, and usually finds some
way to circumvent him. After all. the animal
is hungry. Who that eats can blame him for
eating what he can find?
Persons feeding the squirrels peanuts in the
parks should take care not to suffer bites or
scratches. These may be inflicted in haste by
an animal trying to get at peanuts in a bag.
It is best to have the food in hand before
offering IT, and not to move finger while
the creature is accepting the food A squirrel
bite is often difficult to heal, because 1t goes
SO Deep and also because antiseptic treat
ment cannot be given until later.
BY keeping very still, and permitting the
squirrel to find food for himself, there is not
much danger of getting bite or scratch;
after all, Washington squirrels have had life
long acquaintance with human beings, most
Of whom treat them kindly. 1t is seldom that
one sees park squirrel being mistreated It
is sad to think that more of them come to
harm through irate bird watchers who some
how get the idea that the free lunch" they
put out has something selective about 1t.
Hunger as our President has so persistently
pointed out. knows no boundaries or dis
cT1niuat1ouD.