Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson LVII · Topic 6: Mammal study
57. The red squirrel or chickaree
Goal: Your child can describe how a squirrel runs, climbs, leaps, eats and talks, and how its tail and color help it.
You'll need
- Binoculars (optional)
- Woods, a park or a yard with trees (pines and spruces for red squirrels)
- A few nuts in the shell (hickory, walnut or acorns) to look for gnawed shells
- Nature notebook
What's in the book
The leading thought, the method (Comstock says a squirrel in a cage is out of place; better to watch squirrels outdoors, a few questions at a time) and twelve questions on how it runs and climbs, its routes and leaps, colors, eyes, legs and paws, tail, food and stores, nests and young, squirrel language, tracks in snow, and how it opens nuts.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
All year, and most lively in fall during the nut harvest. Red squirrels live in northern and mountain forests, especially among pines and spruces. If you have only gray or fox squirrels near you, use them; almost every question works for any tree squirrel.
Safety: never touch, feed or corner a wild mammal, and never handle a dead one. Wild animals can bite and can carry rabies and other diseases. Watch from a distance with binoculars. Don't hand-feed squirrels; they bite.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
The red squirrel by its agility and cleverness has lived on, despite its worst enemy—man. By form and color and activity it is fitted to elude the hunter.
Comstock herself says "a squirrel in a cage is an anomaly and it is far better to stimulate the pupils to observe the squirrels out of doors."
On the ground
Does the squirrel trot along or leap when running on the ground? Does it run straight ahead or stop at intervals for observation? How does it look? How does it act when looking to see if the "coast is clear"?
In the trees
When climbing a tree, does it go straight up, or move around the trunk? How does it hide itself behind a tree trunk and observe the passer-by?
Does it go down the tree head first?
Walk around a tree with a squirrel on it and see if it keeps the trunk between you.
Tail and talk
Describe the squirrel's tail. Is it as long as the body? Is it used to express emotion? Of what use is it when the squirrel is jumping?
How much of squirrel language can you understand? How does it express surprise, excitement, anger, or joy during the nut harvest?
A red squirrel will often scold you with a long, angry chatter.
Nuts
How does the squirrel get at the meats of the hickory nut and the walnut?
Look under trees for gnawed shells and pine cones stripped to the core; red squirrels leave big piles of cone scales called middens.
Put it into words
Ask your child how a squirrel's body and habits help it live in the trees. Then share the leading thought.
Nature notebook
Draw a squirrel leaping between branches, legs and tail stretched out. Add a gnawed nutshell or a stripped cone, drawn from life.
Afterwards
After snow, Comstock asks: "Describe or sketch the tracks made by the squirrel in the snow." Add them to your track page beside the rabbit's.
Tip
Comstock suggests reading squirrel stories alongside the lesson. Read one aloud after your watching walk.