1896.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 195 



the house, or in the garden, where he goes for fruit. Of all the 

 tribe he is the greatest eater of berries and the like, and I have even 

 known of his scratching sweet potatoes out of the ground and making 

 a dinner off one of half a pound weight. 



" When closely hunted he is very much more wary than the Gray 

 Squirrel and the way he can hug a limb and spread himself out 

 flat on the bark is truly artistic. In his movements he is the very 

 acme of animated silence, seeming at all times to fear a noise and it 

 is not an infrequent ruse of hunters, by making a great outcry, to 

 scare him from a secure hiding place. As a table game he is much 

 inferior to his gray relation, being tougher, and the very red bones 

 always give an uncanny appearance to the dish, cook it as you may. 

 * * 'iJ * As a caged pet he is dull, gets over-fat, becomes stu- 

 pid, is ill-natured, has no gloss to his hair and is a dismal fail- 

 ure. He is bravest of the tribe, often refusing to leave the ground 

 when pursued by a small dog ; has been seen to stand at bay and 

 hold off such. Rarely he mates with the Gray Squirrel, when the 

 produce is called a ' ferrydiddle.' I have killed two such in my 

 forty years of squirrel hunting. One at all familiar with the two 

 species would at once recognize its hybrid origin." 



Referring to the black phase of this squirrel, Mr. Miles says : "I 

 never saw any blacks save those like the Fox squirrel. Have 

 seen two killed in this county, but when in Memphis, in 1871-'74, 

 my uncle frequently purchased Black Squirrels in the markets. 

 We understood they came from Mississippi (never from Arkansas), 

 10 or 20 miles below Memphis, and we both thought them a dis- 

 tinct species ; no resemblance to Fox Squirrel save in size and 

 that the tip of the nose in each is gray. Have frequently observed 

 that the bones of Black Squirrel were the same color (violet) as in 

 the Gray Squirrel, while the bones of Fox Squirrel were invari- 

 ably a deep salmon or red when brought to table. * * * * I 

 never saw or heard of the black phase of Gray Squirrel save 

 through you." 



Specimen — Samburg, 1. 



24. t Sciurus niger cinereus (L.). Northern Fox Squirrel. 



I base the admission of this subspecies to the list, first, on evi- 

 dence from hunters of the Great Smoky Mountains that the Fox 

 Squirrel is found there, and secondly, because Dr. J. A. Allen in- 

 cludes the Southern AUeghenies in the geographical distribution of 

 this form. 



