MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS SCIURUS. 161 



the roots, then light ash, then a line of black and tipt with 

 white, giving it on the outer surface an iron-grey appearance. 

 The tail, which does not present the flat distichous appear- 

 ance of the majority of the other species, but is more rounded 

 and narrower, is composed of hairs which, separately exa- 

 mined, are of a soiled white tint near the roots, then a narrow 

 marking of black, then white, then a broad line of black, and 

 finally broadly edged with white. 



Another specimen is dark grey on the back and head, and 

 a mixture of black and cinereous on the feet, thighs, and un- 

 der surface. Whiskers nearly all white. The markings on 

 the tail are similar to those on the other specimen. 



DIMENSIONS. 



IN. LIN. 



Length of head and body 11 3 



Ditto of tail, (vertebra) 9 6 



Ditto to the tips 12 6 



Height of ear posteriorly „ 6 



Palm and middle fore claw 1 6 



Heel and middle hind claw 2 9 



Length of fur on the back „ 7 



Geographical Distribution. — This has been to me a rare 

 species. It is said to be common in the oak and hickory 

 woods of Pennsylvania, and I have occasionally met with it 

 near Easton and York ; I also observed one in the hands of a 

 gunner near Fredericksburgh, Virginia. In the northern part 

 of New York it is exceedingly rare, as I only saw two pair 

 during fifteen years of close observation. In the lower part 

 of that state, however, it appears to be more common, as I 

 recently received several specimens procured in the county of 

 Orange. 



This squirrel has many habits in common with other spe- 

 cies, residing in the hollows of trees, and building in summer 

 its nest of leaves in some convenient crutch, and subsisting 

 on the same variety of food. It is, however, the most inac- 

 tive of all our known species : it mounts a tree, not with the 

 lightness and agility of the northern grey squirrel, but with 

 the slowness and apparent reluctance of the little striped 

 squirrel [Tamias Lysteri). After ascending it does not mount 

 to the top, as is the case with other species, but clings to the 

 body of the the tree, on the side opposite to you, or tries to 

 conceal itself behind the first convenient limb. I have never 

 observed it leaping from branch to branch. When it is in- 

 duced in search of food to proceed to the extremity of a limb, 

 it moves cautiously and heavily, and returns the same way. 

 On the ground it runs clumsily, and makes slower progress 

 than the grey squirrel. It is usually fat, especially in au- 



