MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS SCIURES. 337 



colour ; and although the northern grey squirrel and its black 

 variety were not rare in that neighbourhood, yet, during a 

 period of five or six years I never witnessed any other than 

 the present species in that locality ; and recently, after the 

 lapse of twenty years, a specimen, from which the above de- 

 scription was in part drawn up, was sent to me, which had 

 been procured on that identical spot. They appeared to 

 possess all the sprightliness of the northern grey squirrel ; — 

 appearing to prefer valleys and swamps to drier and more ele- 

 vated situations : and I observed that one of their favourite 

 trees, to which they retreated on hearing the slightest noise, 

 was a large white pine (Pinus Slrobus), in the immediate vi- 

 cinity. I was surprised at sometimes seeing a red squirrel 

 (Sciurus Hudsonius), which seemed also to have given a pre- 

 ference to this tree, pursuing the black squirrel, seeming to 

 quarrel with and scold it vociferously, till the latter was obli- 

 ged to make its retreat. When the squirrels approached the 

 stream which ran within a few feet of my seat, they often stop- 

 ped to drink, and instead of lapping the water like the dog 

 and cat, they protruded their mouths a considerable distance 

 into the stream, and drank greedily ; they would afterwards 

 sit upright, supported by the tarsus, and, with tail erect, busy 

 themselves for a quarter of an hour in wiping their faces with 

 their paw^s, the latter being also occasionally dipped in the 

 water. Their barking and other habits did not seem to differ 

 from those of the northern grey squirrel. 



General Remarks. — I have admitted this as a true species, 

 not so much in accordance with my own positive conviction, 

 as partly in deference to the opinions of all our naturalists, 

 and principally from the consideration that if it be no more 

 than a variety, it has, by time and succession, been rendered 

 a permanent race : and as the species differ so widely and 

 uniformly in colour, we may perhaps be warranted in regard- 

 ing them as distinct. The only certain mode of deciding whe- 

 ther this is a true species or merely a variety, would be to as- 

 certain if the opposite sexes of these differently marked animals 

 associate and breed together in a state of nature. Where the 

 produce of two animals, however different in size and colour, 

 are in the constant habit of propagating their species in a 

 wild state, we are warranted in pronouncing them identical. 

 Where, on the contrary, there is no such result, we are com- 

 pelled to come to an opposite conclusion. 



(To be continued.) 



Vol. III.— No. 31. n. s. 2 m 



