The Weasels of Eastern North America. 1 



Tail more than half as long as head and body ; head with 

 distinct black and white markings or wholly unmarked. 



Head with distinct black and white markings frenatus. 



Head without black and white markings. 



Upper parts light brown or clay color longicauda. 



Upper parts dark rich brown spadix. 



Pelage fine and soft. 



Tail not tipped with black ; size smallest rixosus. 



Tail tipped with black ; size medium or large. 



Tail almost half as long as head and body ; feet usually 



without white markings noveboracensis. 



Tail about one-third as long as head and body ; feet 

 usually with white markings. 



Under side of tail concolor with back ; tail vertebrae 



in adult male about 80 millimeters cicognani. 



Under side of tail concolor with belly ; tail vertebrae 

 in adult male about 100 millimeters richardsoni. 



Putorius longicauda (Bonaparte). Long-tailed Weasel. 

 PL I, figs. 1, la; II, figs. 1, la; III, figs. 1, la. 



Mustela (Putorius} erminea Rich., Fauna Boreali-Americana, 46-47, 1829 



(in part: the long-tailed variety from Carlton House). 

 Mustela longicauda Bonap. , Charlesw. Mag. Nat. Hist., II, p. 38, Jan., 1838. 

 No description, but based on Richardson's long-tailed variety of 

 erminea from Carlton House, Sask. (Rich., Fauna Boreali-Am., 1, 

 p. 47, 1829). 



Putorius longicauda Rich., Zool. Beechey's Voyage, p. 10,* 1839. 

 Baird, Mamra. N. Am., p. 1(59, 1857. 



Coues' Fur-bearing Animals, p. 136, 1877 ; and of most subsequent 

 authors. 



Type locality. Carlton House, Saskatchewan. The supposed type, a 

 specimen in winter pelage, is in the British Museum. 



Geographic distribution. Northern plains from Saskatchewan and Al 

 berta, south at least to Nebraska and Kansas, west to the Rocky mountains, 

 and east only to the western edge of the eastern forest belt in Minnesota. 

 Apparently abundant throughout its entire range. Inhabits parts of the 

 Canadian, Transition, and Upper Sonoran Zones. 



General characters. Size very large ; tail very long, more than one- third 

 of total length, with the black tip short, often scarcely more than the 

 pencil ; claws long, sharp, and curved ; coat in summer pelage coarse and 

 harsh. 



Color. Summer pelage: Upper parts pale yellowish brown, varying 

 individually from strong tawny to clay color, rather darker on top of head 

 and sides of nose ; under parts yellow (varying from buff yellow and 

 maize yellow to pale ochraceous and saffron yellow) ; line of demarkation 

 between colors of upper and under parts distinct and straight along the 

 sides, color of under parts extending down inside of legs and covering the 

 whole fore feet and toes and inside half of upper surface of hind feet ; chin 



