"
Peter Rabbit's ears stood straight up with astonishment. "How can
a Gray Squirrel be black?" he demanded.
Old Mother Nature smiled. "That is a fair question, Peter," said
she. Gray Squirrel is simply the name of Happy Jack's family.
Sometimes some of the babies are born with black coats instead of
gray coats. Of course they are just the same kind of Squirrel,
only they look different. In some parts of the country there are
numbers of these black-coated Squirrels and many think they are a
different kind of Squirrel. They are not. They are simply
black-coated members of Happy Jack's family. Just remember this.
It is the same way in the family of Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Some
members are rusty red, some are a mixture of red and gray, and some
are as gray as Happy Jack himself. Way down in the Sunny South Fox
Squirrels always have white noses and ears. In the North they never
have white noses and ears. Rusty the Fox Squirrel is just a little
bigger than Happy Jack and has just such a handsome tail. He is
the strongest and heaviest of the Tree Squirrels and not nearly
as quick and graceful as Happy Jack. Sometimes Rusty has two
nests in the same tree, one in a hollow in a tree for bad weather
and the other made of sticks and leaves outside in the branches
for use in good weather. Rusty's habits are very much the same
as those of Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, and therefore he likes
the same kind of surroundings.
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