The Squirrels of Eastern North America. 161 



Sciurus hudsoiiicus loquax subsp. nov. Southern Chickaree. 



1815. Sciurus carolinensis Ord, Guthrie's Geog., 2d Am. ed., II, 1818, p. 292. 

 (Name preoccupied by Gmelin for the southern gray squirrel.) 



Type from Liberty Hill, Conn., No. 4270, tf adult, collection of E. A. 

 and O. Bangs. Collected by Outram Bangs December 24, 1895. Total 

 length, 323 ; tail vertebra, 141 ; hind foot, 47. 



Geographic distribution. Transition and Carolinian zones, from southern 

 Maine and southern Minnesota to Virginia, west to the edge of the plains. 

 Not found in the tops of the higher Alleghanies where hndsonicus typicus 

 takes its place. 



Habitat. Mixed woods, groves, and in fact almost everywhere ; per 

 haps most numerous where there are large tracts of Pinus rigida, the seeds 

 of which it is very fond of. Very abundant over the whole of its range 

 except the southern part, where it becomes rare and local. 



General characters. Size somewhat larger than hudsonicus typicus ; tail 

 longer ; color of dorsal stripe in winter pelage usually brighter red ; under 

 parts pure grayish white, not vermiculated; soles and palms furred in 

 winter, naked in summer. 



Color. Winter pelage : upper parts with a broad dorsal band extending 

 from between ears down upper surface of tail, varying from bright fer 

 ruginous to orange rufous ; sides and upper surface of arms and legs yellow 

 or rusty gray, with sometimes an olivaceous cast, the hairs banded with 

 black ; under parts clear grayish white, without verrniculations, the hairs 

 plumbeous at base ; usually a black line shows indistinctly along sides 

 between colors of upper and under parts ; hairs of upper surface of tail 

 clear ferruginous ; those of lower surface and sides dull yellow at base and 

 tip and black in middle. Summer pelage : Impossible to tell with cer 

 tainty from summer pelage of hudsonicus typicus, but usually more fer 

 ruginous gray and less olivaceous gray. 



Cranial characters. Skull averaging larger than that of hudsonicus typi 

 cus; otherwise similar. Size of an average adult skull (the type) : basilar 

 length, 40; occipitonasal length, 46.4; zygomatic breadth, 27; greatest 

 height of cranium above palate, 16.4 ; greatest length of single half of 

 mandible, 28. 



Size. Average measurements of eight adult specimens from Liberty 

 Hill, Conn. : total length, 318.3; tail vertebra, 133.5 ; hind foot, 47.42. 



General remarks. Professor Baird, in his Mammals of North America, 

 first pointed out the fact that northern examples of Sciurus hudsonicus had 

 the under parts vermiculated with black and the southern examples did 

 not. Dr. Allen, in his Monograph of the North American Sciuridse, dwelt 

 at some length on the differences between the two races, but did not sep 

 arate them by name. In winter pelage Sciurus hudsonicus typicus and 

 Sciurus hudsonicus loquax can be told apart at a glance, but in their sum 

 mer coats they are not so easily distinguished ; as a rule, however, loquax 

 is more rusty and less olivaceous, and the difference in size between indi 

 viduals of the same age is well marked, hudsonicus typicus being always 

 the smaller of the two. 



29-Biot. Soc. WASH., Vor,. X, 1896 



