NATURE NOTES FROM ACADIA

FLYING SQUIRRELS

Every summer since 1921, a few Northern Flying Squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus macrotis) have come to the porch of the summer residence of the Misses Bodine and Lewis, next door to Asticou Inn, at Northeast Harbor. Here these attractive nocturnal squirrels, apparently well aware of the fact that they can rely on both food and safety, come and go and allow even the guests of the two kind ladies to feed them from the hand. Miss Bodine, an expert photographer of wild life, has taken a series of excellent movies of these gray-coated large-eyed subjects.

Four of these squirrels, a mother and her three babies, were donated to us by Mr. Clarence E. Dow, manager of the Mount Desert Nurseries in late May, after the young, reared in a dresser drawer in the attic of Mr. Dow's house, had become old enough to shift for themselves. All summer they amused the children who came on our regularly-scheduled nature walks, and in early September they were taken to the woods and liberated. This species, although larger than the flying squirrel I have known in Ohio, is smaller than the species I have seen in Yosemite National Park, California. All three are essentially alike, however, with their large dark eyes, soft velvety fur, flat furry tail, and a "flying" membrane between the fore and hind legs.

- Temporary Park Naturalist