The Squirrels of Eastern North America. 159 



Specimens examined. Total number, 8, from the following localities: 

 Florida: Miami, Dade Co., 7; Oak Lodge (east peninsula, opposite 

 Micco), Brevard Co.,1; also 21 from Citrus Co. (Citronelle, 2 ; Blitches 

 Ferry, 19), which are intermediates between carolinensis and exlimus. 



Sciurus hudsonicus hudsonicus (Erxleben). Red Squirrel ; Chickaree. 



1777. Sciurus vulgaris e hudsonicus Erxleben, Mammalia, 1777, p. 416. 



1778. Sciurus hudsonius Pallas, Nov. Spec. Glir.. 1778, p. 376. 



1820. Sciurus rubrolineatus Desmarest, Mamm., I, 1820, p. 333 (Encyclo 

 pedic Methodique). 



1827. Tamia hudsonia Lesson, Man. Mamm., 1827, p. 231. 



1843. Tamias rubrolineatus Schinz, Syn. Mamm., II, 1843, p. 48. 



1877. Sciurus hudsonius var. hudsonius Allen, Monog. N. Am. Sciuridse, 

 1877, p. 672. 



Type locality. Hudson Strait. 'Ad fretum Hudsonis.' 



Geographic distribution. Boreal North America, from Labrador to 

 Alaska, south to Maine and the northern peninsula of Michigan, and along 

 the tops of the higher Alleghanies to Roan Mountain, North Carolina. 



Habitat. Spruce and fir forests. Feeds largely on the seeds of conifers. 



The northern red squirrel is excessively abundant in all favorable situ 

 ations. In many places one can often count twenty or thirty individuals 

 within sight or hearing at one time. Always noisy and jerky in its 

 motions, the red squirrel is usually tame and unsuspicious. It feeds and 

 lives both on the ground and in the trees, and is a very agile climber. 



General characters. Size smallest of the eastern squirrels; tail short, 

 flat, and narrow ; a decided difference in color and markings between 

 winter and summer pelage ; * dorsal stripe in winter chestnut rufous ; 

 sides olivaceous gray ; white of underparts vermiculated with black ; in 

 summer pelage hardly distinguishable from the next subspecies by color 

 alone ; soles densely furred in winter and somewhat so in summer ; ear 

 tufts in winter, long, protruding well beyond the ear; pelage in winter 

 very full and soft. 



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

 from between the ears down upper surface of tail, bright chestnut rufous ; 

 sides, upper surface of legs and arms, and cheeks olivaceous gray, the 

 hairs banded with black ; upper surface of feet and^hands often more yel. 

 lowish ; under parts grayish white, thickly vermiculated with blackish, 

 the hairs plumbeous at base. An indistinct blackish line usually shows 

 on sides between colors of upper and under parts. On the upper surface 

 of the tail the hairs are clear chestnut rufous, and only a few have black 

 rings ; on the sides and lower surface they are dull yellowish at base and 

 tips and black in the middle. Summer pelage : Upper parts with no dorsal 

 stripe ; a peculiar ferruginous gray with an olivaceous cast, the hairs 

 banded with black, becoming clear ferruginous on upper surface of hands 

 and feet, and sometimes legs and arms also ; under parts white, often 



*In this connection, see Allen on 'Seasonal Variation in Color in 

 Sciurus hudsonius,' Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. Ill, p. 41, 1890. 



