“Because of the numer­ous squir­rel migra­tions, John Audubon and John Bach­man were con­vinced that the squir­rels on the move were a sep­a­rate species from the gray squir­rels and used the sci­en­tific name Sci­u­rus migratorius.

One of the ear­li­est ref­er­enced migra­tions occurred in 1749 in Penn­syl­va­nia. Records show the state spend­ing 3 cents for each squir­rel killed. Over 640,000 were turned in for bounty.

Some­times, hunts were orga­nized to con­trol the migra­tion. One hunt in 1822 killed almost 20,000 squir­rels. These hunts con­tin­ued through the 1850s. In 1857, it was reported a hunter killed 160 in one day.”