Find a glen where acorns are abound and a few dead trees stand: then sit on a log and wait. When twilight comes, if you’re in luck, you’ll hear scurrying feet on the branches and the squeaks of these pintsized Tarzans playing aerial tag among the trees. “Wings” extended, whiskers aquiver, they soar through space, then land above you with soft thumps.

        Cousin to the red and gray squirrels, “that Remarkable Creature the Flying Squirrel” fascinated early colonists. They reported it could “fly thirty or forty yards” and imagined it had “Skinny wings, almost like those of a Bat.”

        Smaller than the northern species, G. sabrinus,  who haunts the tall timber in Canada and the western states, volans is a tasty tidbit for cats and owls, who snare him at night. During the day he curls up, hidden in a hollow tree. He does not hibernate, but stays in his hole during cold or wet weather. He usually has acorns laid aside for a rainy day and eats meat when he can get it, whether carrion, insects, or a fledgling bird. Sometimes he eats upside down, hanging by his toenails.

        Flying squirrels mate in late winter, and 40 days later the female whelps two to six young. They develop slowly and may nurse two months or longer. If alarmed, the mother may grasp a baby with her teeth and glide to safety. Southern forms, usually browner, often bear a second litter in fall.

        “A more gentle, docile, and graceful animal than the flying squirrel does not exist,” said the naturalist C. Hart Merriam. It does make a charming pet, but never grab one by tail. One lady did, and the tail fur slipped off the bone like a glove!

        Length 8-11 in. Weight 2-5 oz. Range: eastern U.S., Mexico. Characteristics:gliding membranes, flat furry tail, big eyes.

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