328 Notes on a Collection of Mammals. [ZOE 
which the squirrel has gnawed from the cones. He does not 
wait until the cone is ripe, but often gnaws the scales from the 
young cone while it is yet hanging on the tree. I have some. 
times seen this squirrel hanging head downwards a hundred and 
fifty feet from the ground feeding on acone. The gray squirrel 
does not hibernate, but usually descends lower in the mountains 
during the heavy snows. In the winter of 1891-92 I saw them 
frequently in the neighborhood of Blue Cafion running about 
over snow four feet deep. When chased they would not take to 
trees at once, but continued to run over the snow until closely 
cornered. Dogs are often used in winter to hunt them. 
25. <Aplodontia major Merr. California Sewellel. 
This striking rodent was observed in the neighborhood of 
Red Point, and about a grove of big trees, Seguoza gigantea, 
about twenty miles southeast of Red Point, in Southern Placer 
County. Near Red Point two small colonies were seen in boggy 
land about springs. Both places were densely overgrown with 
brush and weeds. No specimens were taken here, but their 
presence was noted by freshly gnawed stems about their burrows. 
At the big tree grove a much larger colony was found. Their 
burrows were in the bottom of a ravine among dense beds of 
moss, thickly shaded with tangled bushes. A delicate mountain 
cranberry, Vaccinium occidentale, grew abundantly about the place, 
and little heaps of the stems, some with the berries still attached, 
lay scattered about the entrances to the dens. Large quantities 
of stems of Ceanothus and Rhododendron were found gnawed 
into lengths of about six inches. Some were over half an inch 
in diameter and freshly gnawed, others seemed several years old. 
I heard its shrill cry several times when near this colony, but 
saw only one. 
The name ‘‘mountain beaver,’’ by which this animal is 
known to the miners, has been given to it on account of its 
habit of gnawing sticks like the beaver. The Indian name is 
‘‘sewellel.” This particular species is 4. rufus, and is found 
throughout Washington and Oregon and south in Western Cali- 
fornia to Humboldt Bay. There is a specimen in the University 
Museum taken by Mr. Chas. Fiebig at Eureka. 
26. Fiber zibethicus (Linne). Muskrat. 
